Help Steaming a Bow

[Mad Max]

I have a osage stave (snakey) down to floor tiller it has some propeller in both limbs and a good bit of string alignment.


I want to steam bend it.
I have a roll of visqueen  to make a sock over the whole bow so it will be steaming as I bend it.
I'am going to use a 2 x 6 to C clamp, and block of wood to keep the bow in place.

Do I need to seal the back or the whole bow or Not at all.
I will be gone after lunch today until tomorrow night.
Thanks

[bushboy]

Howdy!what are you trying to accomplish?reflex,deflex,limb straighting,tip alignment ect?

[Mad Max]

No reflex or flipped tips
more snakey for string alignment  and limb twist

bassically the whole bow need to be heated

[wizardgoat]

Your best bet is to make a caul, and use a heat gun and fix one limb at a time.
I've never steamed a whole bow, it always seemed like it would be hard to get all the clamps on as fast as I'd like too.  With a caul, you can fix twist, alignment, and reflex all in one go

[Mad Max]

Your best bet is to make a caul, and use a heat gun and fix one limb at a time.
I've never steamed a whole bow, it always seemed like it would be hard to get all the clamps on as fast as I'd like too.  With a caul, you can fix twist, alignment, and reflex all in one go

It would be steaming while I am bending it
read it again
Thanks

[DavidV]

I think steaming would be overkill for just taking out prop twist. What I do is clamp it in a vice by the handle then oil the wood and heat it with a heat gun. Then I take the twist out with a big padded crescent wrench or pipe clamp.

[DC]

It is still nice to have a caul. Once the stave is in the bag and the bag is all steamed up it's kind of tough to see to line things up. You can go by feel a bit but the bag is really hot . If you have tapered it already it makes it tougher to get the twist out evenly trying to do it all at once. The thinner parts twist more. If you are making the bow straight(no reflex) the edge of a 2x4 will make a good caul. I screw cheek pieces of wood to the sides of the caul to guide the stave into alignment. Cut a bunch of small wedges to put between the bow and the cheeks. Do one limb at a time. Don't go for perfection on the first run, just go for improvement. Final string alignment should be done as Goat says with a heat gun. Always keep in mind that once a piece has been bent the next time you heat that area it will try to go back so be prepared. I haven't steamed any Osage so you'll have to get protection advise for someone else. A coat of shellac probably couldn't hurt.

[bubby]

I read it in it's entirety and have a few questions; one have you reduced the stave to bow size yet? Why steam? Osage seems to work great with dry heat all the way just short of static tips with a heat gun while steam does have a tendency to have more bounce back imho. It also is easier to see what you are doing without all that plastic in the way. Either way you do it good luck

[Mad Max]

It's still full width
I think I will go with dry heat and see how it goes

[bubby]

You need to reduce the stave to near bow size or it won't work

[Pat B]

I like to get a bow to at least floor tiller stage before bending and straightening. The less wood you have, the move even the thickness is the better the heat penetrates evenly.
 I would use a wood form(easy to make from scrap wood) for the reflexing with wood wedges to get the twist out, done all at the same time as you heat each limb and clamp it to the form. The reflexed tips I like to do separately. It  is easier to line  the tips up with the limb.
 Like bubby said...osage reacts well to dry heat.