Steaming VM?

[BigWapiti]

I have a stave that I'm working, I really like the look of it, except - when I finally got it floor tillered to place a string on it, it took a shape where the string was crossing about an inch off center of the handle.  This might have been while it was curing as I don't recall it being off so much when I first laid it out.  I can see a couple of places where if I could get it to bend/reshape, it would work fine.

Can VM be bent using steam, or heat, or?

I'm actually trying my own approach now, not yet having a means of steaming.  I've put the stave in my vice, protecting the back.  wrapped a wet rag around it, with plastic around that, where I want to try to get a bend - then I have hung a bucket of weights off the limb in an appropriate location hoping I'll get it to do some reshaping.  Nothing like trial and error innovation.

Gordon, am I correct in thinking I've heard you mention you've not had much luck trying to reshape VM?  I recall reading something, but can't seem to find the post.  Maybe I'm wrong...

Thanks,

Mike

[tomm]

vine maple steamed well for me the two time I tried  it as for something to steam with I use the wife's roasting pan with water and tin foil over everything gets good and hot in about 20 min. or a little longer when it was hot ti was like bending putty not hard at all.  Tomm

[BigWapiti]

Ok, I might give that a try then -- this "wet rag" trick of mine isn't working, so far I got it to move a whole 1/8" (heheh) after having a lot of weight hanging on it for a week!!  I guess that says something for VM anyway.

After you get it to shape, how long do ya let it dry up before working it again (tillering, etc)?

Thanks Tomm.

Mike

[Gordon]

BW,

You can use either steam or dry heat to correct the string alignment. Check out my hazelnut build-a-long for how I aligned the string. You can use the same technique for VM.

Gordon