bending green staves

[troutbum76]

i have a  partially green stave, elm, that i reduced to floor tiller about a week and half ago. it is 60 in ttt and  i left it 2in in width end to end. i only  removed wood from the belly to attain the floor tiller. it has a little bit of prop twist that was present from the beginning. i want to remove the twist, add couple inches of reflex, and flip the tips. i was reading in tbb2 about how using dry heat to bend is some times easier when wood is partially green. anybody tried this? how much will the dry heat used speed the drying process?  i don't have a moisture meter so i don't know for sure what the moisture content is, but it is definitely lighter in weight than it started out. it actually seemed pretty dry when i reduced it. of course my only point of comparison is hickory that i have used to make walking sticks. all input is appreciated.

[M-P]

Hi,  I haven't dry heated green wood, but I can tell you that green elm steam bends very nicely.  Why don't you make a steam box, or boil the stave in a long pan.   I just stick the stave a long wooden box with the hose from a wall paper steamer running in.  30-45 minutes should create a pliable stave.   Ron

[JackCrafty]

I've used dry heat on green hickory, mulberry, juniper, and elm.  The best results were with the juniper, the worst with the hickory.  By worst I mean the compression side of the bend showed deep wrinkles.....much more drastic than crysals.  The elm and mulberry bent with less compression failure but sometimes lifted splinters on the tension side.  In general, steam works a lot better than dry heat on green wood.  The bends are cleaner, easier to make, and last longer under heavy use, in my experience.

[Pappy]

I try and never use dry heat on green wood because of the check that you will usually get.
I have taken green wood and put it on a form,putting in reflex and taking out the twist and let in dry in a nice dry /warm place for a month or so and that worked out fine.Never tried to flip the tips
while green.I usually don't do that until I get it out to about 20 inches on the tiller tree,it is much
easier to get first brace without the tips flipped and I have seen no difference in doing it first or later.It usually don't change the tiller much if at all to do it later.It is very easy to miss weight if the tips are flipped or a lot of reflex to start with.You will think it is heaver that it is/then when you get it braced you have taken off to much and don't have enough wood to work with to get it tillered correct.
   Pappy   

[Timo]

Sound advice Pappy