Woods that won't bend

[gfugal]

So i tried steam bending recurve into some red oak board from the hardware store but it wouldn't bend. I'm not sure if this an issue with the form i have, or if its simply the wood. Have any of you had success bending red oak? If not, what other woods have you not been able to bend well?

[Chippintuff]

Never bent any myself, but are you SURE you steamed it hot enough and long enough?

WA

[gfugal]

Yeah i steamed it for 60 minutes in a steam box but my new form I built isn't as good as the furnature i used to use. I have sucessfully recurved and reflexed before but not with this new form. Hasseling with it and trying to get it attached took longer, and maybey it cooled off. I did some practice runs on some scraps but it still took a while (no more than a minute) but they all ended up braking before getting to final position. I didn't want to risk it when i wasn't fast enough with the actual bow and gave up. I will try again with another form if i hear people have had success with red oak, but won't bother recurving if its not a bendable wood.

[upstatenybowyer]

I've seen oak bent successfully. Never done it myself. I think all wood bends, some better than others for sure though.

[bubby]

It will bend, works better if you boil it in my experiance. When desert desciple came over i steamed to big hooks in a board while we were tillering a bow. I don't think it is a good idea to try and bend 3" statics

[wizardgoat]

How thick is the wood your trying to bend?

[Hawkdancer]

Soaking, boiling before steaming should a lot. A couple of days in the hot tub may relax it as well.  I read somewhere that the Viking shipbuilders submerged the logs up to 2 year before working them.  Of course we aren't building ships, so it shouldn't take very long.  But then again, I am not a bowyer yet, but I occasionally do a bit of wood for various things
Hawkdancer

[gfugal]

Its a little over 1/2 an inch thick a little more than 3/4 inch wide. I'll post pictures of it and the form when i can. Will be a day or so.

[bubbles]

I like to get boards a bit thinner than staves. A bit under 1/2 inch.  I put hooks in a bunch of red oak boards, same form I used for my recurve I just posted. Get it to width, boil for 1/2 an hour and use a strap on the back of the curve.  Thing is....all of those recurve red oaks crysalled like crazy.  I've since stopped trying to make recurves from red oak.  Not saying it's not possible, but beyond my skills at the time.

[Bryce]

I'm not sure why you would be using a steam tube for something like that. Just place the end over a boiling pot of water and cover with foil for 30 mins and then make your bends. Or boil it for 20 mins and bend it.
That'll work, I promise.

[gfugal]

What's a reasonable radius you can expect wood to bend. Is three inch radius to much? Or should it be more around four or five.

[bubby]

This was easily achieved with around 30 min boil, 2" of reflex

[bubby]

Do a search for ryano he was making big red oak recurves

[Hamish]

If the wood has been kiln dried rather than air dried you can get problems even if the wood is a species that steam bends well.

[LittleBen]

I have bent red oak using dry heat and steaming. Same with white oak. It should work.

Try a different type of wood of the same dimensions in your steam setup to see if that's the problem.