questions about recurving

[stuckinthemud]

Hi All,

so I was putting a recurve into the tips of my laurel bow by boiling them for a half hour and then bending them gently around a form, when the first one failed by breaking out across the back where I was bending. The timber was lovely and soft and the form was next to the cooker so the bending was done immediately it came out of the water; the break occurred where I had cut across the ring as the limb reduced in thickness. Presumably the exposed(back) timber in the area to be recurved needs to be all of the same ring to avoid this? I have flooded the break with cyano and it seems to be reasonably strong in compression but I guess it would be really dumb to try again, even if I support the bend with a strap?

[PEARL DRUMS]

I like the last 12" of limb tip to be on one ring on the belly side. I also prefer to bend about a 5/8" square tips. Some just crack no matter, but there are a few things you can do to help. 30 minute isn't long enough, Id steam them at least 45 minutes. And you cant have more than a 15-20 second gap between removing from heat and bending it.

[Pappy]

I don't true recurve many anymore but what Pearl said is how I would do it, another thing and old bowyer told me when I started and wanted to recurve or flip the tips, always be prepared to loose it before you make the decision to do it.    it sometimes happens.
 Pappy

[stuckinthemud]

This bow has become a bit of a test-bed for new techniques, and so losing it is something I am prepared for, better this one than a really lovely future-bow that I haven't practised for.  I still seem to be under-estimating the amount of heat needed  If recurves is no longer an option with it then I can always experiment with some fancy overlays....

[PEARL DRUMS]

Get your self a few 8" long very thin strips of hardwood and put underlays on the belly side of the statics. The crack wont matter anymore and the statics will be just that.

[wizardgoat]

Don't know much about laurel. I never worry about opening up cracks on recurves, I just fill them with thin super glue and clamp it down. Just did it last night

[gutpile]

I always boil 3o min to 1/4 inch of thickness and put a thin strip of sheet metal on belly when I bend on form this will prevent any splinters of cracking..gut

[Springbuck]

In all honesty Al these techniques work, but I have almost come to expect them to crack slightly on the belly side, and having to overlay them. Frankly this works awesome, and since I have a bet sander, leveling off on the belly so I can glue on the overlays is no big deal.   I have taken to making them way too thin on purpose, and then building them back up.

But otherwise, getting down as thin as you dare, and chasing a ring on both sides, and making the curves gentle, and boiling forever, and even doing two stage bends helps. Like, doing a gentle bend, letting it cool and dry, and cslowly clamping to a different, more bent, form, and finishing with dry heat.

As for learning stuff.  I do that with practically every bow, just because I can't stop.  I never make the same bow twice, and I'm always trying some new thing, which is like why I finish about every third bow I start.