Heat/steam bending sideways: forms, tricks, and tools for fixing tip alignment

[PatM]

There was an article in the mag on modifying a microwave for bending. 

[simson]

You can find a lot of here in the buildalongs:
http://primitive-bows.com/category/howtos/

[Weylin]

Like these guys said, I heat bend the handle. I wish I had snapped some picks of my set up today. I have a recurve with a small handle build up glued on so i couldn't heat the handle. I had to clamp the bow in a way that I could bend the bow laterally in the mid limb. It was finicky but I pulled it off. I've come up with all kinds of ridiculous set ups to do stuff like this. Where there's a will, there's a way... along with a few swear words.

[Weylin]

I did a little more tweaking on my recurve today and snapped a couple pictures of the clamping technique I used. This one is simple and can be done with just a few tools and props. First I clamp two blocks of soft wood (I stole my kid's building blocks) on either side of the bow. This holds it stable. Then clamp the blocks down to the table a squeeze clamp that covered both of them would work better but I didn't have one handy. Then I slide a block under the edge of the bow to create a fulcrum and I add a clamp on the handle area to hold it down on that side. Then  clamp the other side to the table and start heating with the heat gun, slowly tightening the clamp to bend the bow. Hope that makes sense.

[Badger]

  Most of my alignment issues I can take care of on the caul with a heat gun. It doesn't take much sideways movement in a limb to make a pretty big correction.

[Pappy]

I use a caul also, I get it set up and decide what it needs and where the cold bend it first, then add heat and it seems to work well, also use a few clams and blocks to insure I don't get the limb twist as I pull what the limb needs. I have bent them in the handle as shown above but most times the bend it needs in in one limb or the other and I will address the problem that way. 
 Pappy