Advice about steaming yew straight

[SimonUK]

Hi people, I'm Simon from the UK.

Does anyone have experience of steaming yew to straighten it? I've been struggling with yew for some time and always get cracks appearing in it, probably because it wasn't dry enough.  I finally have a piece of yew that seem well seasoned but I want straighten a twist at one end. Will steaming disturb the stable moisture content and cause cracks to appear?

Thanks, Simon.

[Pat B]

Simon, I have only worked yew a bit and never had to straighten any but from what Glenn St Charles says, it is one of the easiest to straighten with heat. I would seal the back with shellac first before steaming. By doing this, the moisture will have to go out through the belly when drying and not the back. When you steam wood, you are adding moisture to dry wood and when dried it will check like green wood does if dried improperly. After you are done with the straightening let the stave rest for a few days(even in a hot box) so the moisture added while steaming  can escape. Pat

[SimonUK]

Thanks Pat, I'll have a go.

[YewArcher]

I have never steamed yew staright but have done plenty of straightening of yew with dry heat....meaning heat gun. I have recently finished a Mary rose replica 100#er. The original stave had 2" of deflex and was very snakey. I wanted a perfectly straight bow with no deflex. Did it all by heat gun and am left with a perfectly straight 1/2" of string follow bow. I cite this as the most extreme case. I recurve yew with heat guns as well with no craking or checking.

SJM

[Kviljo]

I steamed a pretty heavily deflexed/reflexed/snaky yew 5 x 3,5cm bow blank straight. It bent easily and has stayed straight since. But it got a few cracks on the belly while drying again. I didn't seal it with anything before steaming - so there's my problem. I have been having problems with roughed out nearly green yew bows that warp like mad, so tieing it to something straight while it is drying, is usually a good precaution.

I like the idea of dry heat, but steambending seems to generally be capable of straightening more severe bends. How thick pieces of yew have you straightened YewArcher? - I bet it would be a good thing to rough out the bow first, to get it as thin as possible?  I'll have to give it a try.

[SimonUK]

Thanks guys. I'm wondering whether I should seal all the way round the bow (back sides and belly) before steaming. The idea being that it will heat up but not let moisure in?

I don't have a heat gun at the moment, so that's not an option. Beside, my yew seems to crack even when I bring it into a centrally heated house for 2 hours ....whats a heat gun going to do to it?

[Pat B]

Shellac should seal your stave while steaming. I believe  Dean Torges seals the back of staves before steaming wet and dry wood. Pat

[SimonUK]

OK thanks Pat, I'll go with what the experts do.

[snedeker]

I had the darnedest experience with some yew lumber.  Got some 40" long 2x4 pacific yew, very clean, and it dried for a year before I touched it.  Was already pretty dry.  I had a buddy band saw out a couple of blanks to splice for an ELB and as soon as he cut them, they warped into S shapes.  I steamed them and set them back straight, but it wouldn't hold - went back to the s-shape after a few days.  So i used a wide backing strip, spliced them, and backed as-is for what will be a kind of wacky character backed bow.  Tips and handle line up.  That glue up has been sitting around since last summer and I haven't gotten to it.

Dave

[mullet]

   Simon,I had the same problem steaming a limb straight on the yew bow I'm making.It cracked bad and almost ruined the limb.I believe this happened because I brought it into a room with central heat and air and it dried too fast.The next time I did it I left it in the shop with high humidity outside and I had know problem.I think it allowed it to dry slower.