about that steam bending....

[half eye]

Hey fellas,
    Been several discussions on here about steam bending wood. Well here are 3 examples of steam bent wood that is more than 100 years old.
    In the pics there are 3... 1/2 wheel rims...these were made and kept as "repair" parts. The top one is for a buggy and is about 1-1/2" X 1-1/2" white oak.
    The second one is a heavy cargo wagon rim and is about 2" X 4" and made of white ash. The third is a general duty wagon wheel and is about 2" X 3" and also of white ash.

     The rims have been stored in an "open-air" wood shed for the past 30 odd years and in a barn before that....There original shape has not changed enough to make them "not-useable" Steam bent wood will hold it's shape.
rich

[Aaron H]

Great example Rich

[burchett.donald]

Rich,
        I agree, steamed in reflex has worked great for me...No issues...Temperature is temperature internally...The thing I like about steam is it only takes 5 minutes on a 1/2" thick limb to bend like rubber...
                                                                                                                                     Don

[PatM]

Keep in mind that nobody has been bending these in the opposite direction though.

[bradsmith2010]

yeah Pat,,

[mikekeswick]

Steam bent wood gives hornbows their shape and they keep it too. 'Enhanced' slightly by sinew but still

[PatM]

 Aren't you forgetting the horn  being glued to the reflexed surface?

[burchett.donald]

 PatM,
           How about it? what do you think about steam? Got any positive info you could share with us rookies...?
                      Don

[PatM]

 I steam static portions of a bow.

[Marc St Louis]

Don't forget there is also chemical bending of wood which is used commercially, although I don't know if they were using that method 100 years ago

[mikekeswick]

Aren't you forgetting the horn  being glued to the reflexed surface?

Oh yes I forgot about that.....
Do you mean the horn that is less stiff than the wood to which it is glued.....The shape of a hornbow is entirely reliant on the wood.
Do you have a point?!?

[PatM]

Aren't you forgetting the horn  being glued to the reflexed surface?

Oh yes I forgot about that.....
Do you mean the horn that is less stiff than the wood to which it is glued.....The shape of a hornbow is entirely reliant on the wood.
Do you have a point?!?

   You don't think it aids in holding shape despite its lower stiffness?
 

[Marc St Louis]

Steam bent wood gives hornbows their shape and they keep it too. 'Enhanced' slightly by sinew but still

I'm a bit confused about that statement.  All that I have read about hornbows, never have I seen mention of the core wood being steam bent before gluing the horn and I did not do this to the ones I have worked on.  I"ll have to look at Adam's book again, maybe I missed something

[wizardgoat]

In Adams book he uses steam to bend his maple cores before glueing on the horn.
I think it's a perfect combo of horn, sinew, and core which allows a horn bow to keep its shape.
Although my bighorn bow with no wood core seems to hold its shape just fine

[Hrothgar]

Interesting Rich. I've noticed most of the Amish buggies around here tend to have round wheels too.