Bending with heat

[Lars Groteballen]

Anyone got any tricks for using the wood stove for bending in the recurve?

Thanks in advance.


Allen

[SLIMBOB]

I've bent tips on a wood stove.  Done it several different ways.  1.  Just heat the belly good and hot until it bends by hand or in a form.  I have used oil and done it without as I temper.   2.  I read on a post some time back, (believe it might have been Toomanyknots) to soak a towel, wrap the limb with it, cover with foil and heat.  Tried it and it worked really well.  No real trick to either.  Thicker wood might require a strap on the belly to keep it from splintering.

[blackhawk]

It depends on what wood your talking about,and how sharp of a recurve your talking about. Give some more details and specifics as to what your wanting to do please.

[SLIMBOB]

Good point!  I assume that everybody has the good sense to be using Osage "The Real Wood".

[gutpile]

If I bend recurves I always boil....30 minute for 1/4 inch of thickness....works like a charm...gut

[PEARL DRUMS]

Fill a pot with water, get it lightly boiling on your stove. Steam the last 8" of limb covered in tin foil for 45-60 minutes. Have all your stuff ready and do a dry run to be sure its ready, then make the bend all at once and with intention behind it.

[Lars Groteballen]

Awesome!  It's elm btw.  It's a bow that has a lot of set in it and I want to try to recurve the tips back in line with the handle. 

Thanks again.

[Hrothgar]

"and with intention behind it."

Well said...

[blackhawk]

Recurving it might actually cancel out the benefits,and might induce more stress and set in the limbs depending on the design. I would heat treat it into an inch or two of reflex first and see what that does for you. Do you have pics or more detailed stats of this bow?

[BowEd]

Lars dry heat treating those recurves after a week or so of drying will really set your recurve in just make sure you clamp it to your original form first.

[Old timber bows]

I seem to have the best luck with boiling the tips in water the put your recurves in your tips boil at lest 30 to 40 min I have done it couple times lol. Just kiding a coulpe hun I mean lol.

[gutpile]

actually with the deflex in the limbs the recurves would make it a sweet shooter and increase its performance..I wouldn't reflex the limbs and recurve them.that would put a lot of stress on the limbs.....jmo..gut

[blackhawk]

actually with the deflex in the limbs the recurves would make it a sweet shooter and increase its performance..I wouldn't reflex the limbs and recurve them.that would put a lot of stress on the limbs.....jmo..gut

Like I said it depends on the design,and how much surface area of wood is being asked to work and bend for its draw weight and length. If its underbuilt it'll just stress the underbuitl limbs even more canceling out any performance advantages. Think of it this way and ask this question...what are the causes of too much string follow and too much unhealthy set? Improper design,wet wood,improper tillering,or a combination of any or all. One or two more of these is a cause of his string follow. We wood need to know the design,stats,and specifics as to why his bow took excessive string follow to give him a proper diagnoses to help fix it,or make it a lil better,but it'll never be able to be what it could've been. I've personally helped guys with too much string followed bows,and heat treating them into a slight reflex usually helps and if not completely resolves the problem.

[blackhawk]

How much string follow does the bow have?...can you please state some more specifics so we can better help you make the best decision if you want to try and fix it to a degree.

[gutpile]

agreed