Flipping Tips, Boiling, Steam or Dry Heat.....

[Stingray45]

I'm working on a board bow right now for the PA bow exchange. It's going to be a maple board, really straight grain, pyramid style. 66" tip to tip. My question is I want to flip the tips and I was thinking of boiling the tips and then bending them. If I do this, is the best method to have the rough shape of the bow but leave the full thickness (3/4" right now) then boil it and put it in the form. Then once it dries out I'll start floor tillering and shaping the thickness. Or should I floor tiller first and then boil and put into the form. I've tried bending with heat before and I've had some splinters raise on the belly and I'm sure the same can happen with boiling. So I thought if I left full thickness when I bent it, the tillering process would remove any splinters that might raise up. Thanks for the advice.

~Barry

[tattoo dave]

I've tried to flip a few 3/4" thick, and they all broke. I seems like a little too much wood to bend. I'm sure it's possible, but that's just my experience, so I always bend after some of the wood is removed. Try it on a scrap piece first.

Tattoo Dave

[Knapper]

Barry, your right when dry heat is used I have problems with splinters and cracks, that why when bending, especially aggressive bends I use steam. Just posted a picture on the trade thread showing the steamer used. When the wood is hot and damp no worry of either !!! just get it in the clamps quick as possible. Wood like this bends very easy. I've never boiled wood though so can say about the effects? Or time to process. When steaming its an hour per inch of thickness. And yes I floor roller before bending. Hope this helps.
Knapper

[Pappy]

Not sure about boiling ,but steam work good,I would get it close to limb thickness
as I could,maybe leave a little thicker in case of a splinter but 3/4 sounds mighty thick to me,It will bend easier the thinner it is.
  Pappy

[Stingray45]

Thanks for the quick responses guys. Maybe I'll try some steaming to see how that works. I think I'll take it down a little closer to the end thickness before I steam. I usually taper from 3/8" at the tips to between 1/2" & 5/8" at the fades. So maybe I'll leave it around 1/2" or so at the tips, steam and bend. Then I'll take it down the rest of the way.

[PEARL DRUMS]

5/8 thick max. Just bent a set of statics last night. One hour of good steam then make the band in one swoop. Clamp it down and leave it for an hour or so, then do the other end.

[dwardo]

Never had any problems with dry heat in the past for mild curves. Tried this recently with a thicker tip and no matter how much heat i applied for how long it broke. Next time for anything more aggressive than a mild recurve its steam.

[crooketarrow]

 SEASONED WOOD DRY HEAT.
 GREEN WOOD STEAM.

[bobbykelley]

I've had luck with using steam. As with others I worked the wood down some then steamed. What I did find was that some wood likes to stay on the form longer. Also read that in tbb 2. I had a red oak that I steamed and took off the next day and it held but my maple did not.

[dwardo]

SEASONED WOOD DRY HEAT.
 GREEN WOOD STEAM.

I understand the risks of checking due to rapid moisture loss but do you think "not quite seasoned yet" wood can resist dry heat rather than steam?
I know heat is heat but I wonder if for the thicker and more resistant the wood then maybe steam is better due to its more encompassing and slower nature? I would have trouble maintaining a nice none burn temperature than I would steam. I dunno but gonna try steam again next.
On the subject of boiling I assume the wood could not get hotter than 100 ish deg C where as steam by nature can get much hotter. Maybe being immersed in water the heat transfer medium makes is better and more penetrating/even. Where are the bleedin physicist`s when you need em?

Ramblings after a Friday night beer, apologies.

[BOWMAN53]

Soak it for 24hours then boil for 1 1/2 hours. Ive bent some really thick hickory like that.

[PEARL DRUMS]

Dry wood dry heat means nothing in regards to bending statics, steam them all in regardless of wood type or age. If you are reflexing, flipping, straightening or any of that dry heat dry wood is the rule.