Heat treating Elm

[John K]

When heat treating Elm is it best to use dry heat or steam 

Thanks 

[Marc St Louis]

Heat treating needs dry heat

[John K]

Thanks Marc ! i have a stave i roughed out today and i need to straiten the limbs on it 

[El Destructo]

Heat treating needs dry heat

Mark....even if it's a fresh cut Stave that you have just roughed out....should you still use dry Heat?? I just roughed out a Red Elm Stave...and one limb has a Propeller Twist in it....I was going to steam it....do you still recommend Dry Heat??

[Jesse]

I think heat treating is done in the final stages and only an the belly with dry heat. If you are just trying to straighten it out not heat treat thats different. I have heard to use steam on wet wood and dry heat on dry wood. If using dry heat on white wood you might want to use some oil to avoid burning it.
Jesse

[Pat B]

For straightening wood...dry heat for dry wood...wet heat for wet wood!   
For heat treating wood use dry heat. You are drying out the belly cells and the resin,etc to increase compression strength. Wet heat would defeat the purpose.
Green wood is easier(less effort) to straighten and manipulate than dry wood. If you use steam in the process, the heat from the steam will force out some of the moisture that is in the stave aiding the drying process.   Pat

[DanaM]

See my thread A New Project, I used dry heat to take out twistsm whoop de doos whatever in that elm stave
It fought me tooth and nail though, Make sure you use some grease on it.

[John K]

Will do 

[El Destructo]

My Bad I misunderstood!!!!!!!!  I know how to Heat treat I was wanting to know what to use for taking out a twist...not strengthening the Belly

[Pappy]

If it is still really green you can just clam it to something and over twist it a little in the shape
you want and put it in a good dry place and let it season a while,that works pretty good on green wood.Or like others have said steam will also work and help season it a little quicker.If you
use dry heat on green wood it will probably check. 
 
    Pappy