Heat gun bending?

[1776J]

So guys,....
seeing this I didn't see anything in direct reference to heat bending Hickory?

Does it work well?  Anyone here ever done it successfully and so on?
I'm curious about it as Hickory was a common wood used by the Woodland Indians of this area and others and you see reflex in them as well as other bows I've seen in a few of the
Traditional Bowyer's Bibles.....
 

[osage outlaw]

I tried dry heat to put some curve in the tips of a piece of HHB and it cracked the belly fibers.  From now on, I will use steam for whitewoods and dry heat for osage.

[Gordon]

Outlaw, you pushed the wood too hard. When you use dry heat you need to go slow and easy.

[sailordad]

I tried dry heat to put some curve in the tips of a piece of HHB and it cracked the belly fibers.  From now on, I will use steam for whitewoods and dry heat for osage.

i agree with Gordon
i have never had hhb do that
not that i have bent all that much of it,but i have done it with great success

[Pat B]

I have had mixed success bending hickory with dry heat.  Some the wood bent well but it didn't hold once the bow was stressed.   Ideally, if you start with green hickory, shape it to floor tiller stage and steam bend it I think the bends would hold better plus the act of steaming will force moisture out of the wood and aid in the drying process. You will still have to wait a considerable amount of time for complete drying.   I am haveing very good success recurving the tips on a 60" elm static recurve. This wood was well seasoned and so far it has bent well. I won't know how well untill I get the bow finished and a few shots through her. I have very little experience with bending other whitewoods.

[1776J]

Thanks for the reply fellas,...
I just was curious if I ended up working some Hickory what path would be the best to follow.

Now if you had tried heat bending a piece of Hickory and it didn't work well, and wanted to go ahead and steam bend it afterwords, could you still do that or would you run the risk
of damaging the wood fibers, etc?  I'm wondering if there would just be to much stress being put into the limbs at that point,.. (dry heat, steam heat, etc. for the wood to hold up)??

Any ideas?

Thanks guys.

[Pat B]

I like to use dry heat with dry wood and wet heat with wet wood. If you wanted to steam or boil dry hickory seal the area to be bent with shellac. It can take the heat and moisture and prevent moisture from entering the already dry wood.
  Here is another option. This is a hickory recurve that the curves pulled out of. I rebent them and added the black walnut underlay to support the bend.

[1776J]

Thanks for the detailed advice Pat,...

Makes you wonder, with the recurve pulling out from Hickory,... how did the Indians do it all those years ago with their hickory recurves?
Dry bending over a fire?... steaming it in the fire?... both I presume.

With all our questions,... boy,... makes ya wish Ishi were alive today!

[1776J]

@Pat.....

hey what about sinewing the back,.....would that aide in keeping the recurve in??
come to think of it, many if not all those hickory bows i see in the traditional bowyers bibles of native american origin are sinew backed!!

[eflanders]

I've dry heated hickory.  In my experience it is not very effective with green wood.  But it does work well with seasoned wood.  The trick lies in how wet the seasoned wood is already and if you use something (like a steel strip) to help prevent it from pulling a splinter. 

First thing to do is to weigh the piece you are bending.  Second, add your heat.  (Natives used to stick the wood under the firepit.) Third, when the wood wants to give easily, wait a little longer if possible to ensure the heat is all the way to the core.  Fourth, bend the wood using a metal strap, clamp them both to the form.  Fifth, remove clamps after it has cooled completely.  DO NOT STRESS THE BEND!  Sixth, weigh your bent piece again.  If the weight is the same, you can now safely begin to exercise the piece.  If it does not weigh the same, wait until it does before exercising it.

[sailordad]

so if the ancients put their bow wood under the fire pit to heat it for bending
how did they weigh it to know when it was ready for stressing?

[Pat B]

I believe a lot of Native bows were shaped green and cured after that.  The shaping may have been over time with heat and animal fat to slow the drying rate so the wood wouldn't check.

[1776J]

Very interesting guys,...
very interesting indeed. 
Pat's comments as to the wood being shaped while fairly green reminds me of a comment that Ed Scott makes in the one video on youtube where he speaks of a
piece of Juniper he's bending and shaping in his bow form.... he says its still "green" when he heats and shapes it.  Very interesting correlation between the idea and the idea put into practice.

[FunyFarm]

Lol now he tells me..  Just put my first heat bend , just thinking it would work.  Now I read this chain,, I know I did my best.  The recurves, were crude and it left marks,  but it is "Primitive" I just used a dark stain to make the whole thing look rustic,  put serial number 0001 on it and go.

It only took me 5 really good try's to get to the point.  I love this forum y'all teach me something every time😊👏👏👏👏👏

[SLIMBOB]

I will add, that for me with a heat gun I dont go all the way at one time.  I take smaller bites.  I also have started lightly sanding the belly where I am bending as I go.  It seems to help  stop those nasty tears from happening.