Hey all,
As we know, it's common knowledge that many of the dense tropical woods don't respond well to steaming (generally). Ipe is the usual wood that jumps to mind in this case.
I've received very conflicting reports on Bulletwood over the years, however. So I thought I'd try bending it into as many different shapes as possible, using different thicknesses, curves, and heating methods. The goal was to hopefully come to a more definitive answer that might be of use to someone else here. Here are my notes:
I've found that despite the tropical name it carries, bulletwood certainly does respond to both dry heat and steaming. In fact, it takes a bend very well.
It seems to respond better to dry heat.
I'd say it holds a bend certainly as well as elm.
Unlike other woods though, it seems to have a huge desire to lift splinters on the outside of the bend. It's definitely one that could make use of a metal strap to keep them down.
Because it is so strong, you can keep your tips small without worrying about the bend pulling out.
It doesn't seem to like repeated heating (compared with other woods). I've found that repeated dry heating in particular makes it become more brittle than you'd expect versus other species.
It takes a remarkably short time to reach a state where you can unclamp it. In some cases I left steam bend curves clamped for under an hour, and they held nicely.
That said, it does tend to require a lot of overbending. Fortunately that's not a problem, because it's strong enough to handle it.
Interestingly, I noticed that it heats up very quickly, and begins to bend faster than many other woods, and then sort of plateaus. Don't force it, though, because it is merciless if not hot enough, and WILL snap.
Finally, long steaming seems to affect the colour pigments in a way I haven't seen with other woods. It almost turns the wood a grey colour that doesn't seem to want to recover as it dries and regains correct moisture.
I don't know if anyone will find this useful, but it's the kind of stuff I like to be aware of - so I thought I'd share.
Here's a little bulletwood bow that I made a while back. It unfortunately snapped, but not in any way due to bending. There was an almost invisible crack in the limb, and obviously the sinew didn't cover it sufficiently. All curves done with dry heat by hand.
Enjoy!
Matt.
