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Author Topic: How soon after steam bending...  (Read 2686 times)

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Offline Christian Soldier

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How soon after steam bending...
« on: April 11, 2013, 10:25:22 am »
...can you work on and finish the bow?

I'm pretty sure the steaming reintroduces some moisture to the wood and you don't want to lock that in so I thought it'd be prudent to wait before final tillering and finishing.

How long do you normally wait to finish a stave after steam bending? I've been putting my staves in the car which gets really warm this time of year (no upholstory on the ceiling, long story short, its a VW) so the drying is sped up some, but obviously not instantly, espicailly because its hickory.

Thanks!


Dan
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Offline dwardo

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Re: How soon after steam bending...
« Reply #1 on: April 11, 2013, 10:39:05 am »
So far as I understand steaming actually removes moisture from the wood.
Done quite a lot of steaming tips recently and I always leave them for at-least 24 hours before i work on them again. Better yet two or three days to stabilise.

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Offline PEARL DRUMS

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Re: How soon after steam bending...
« Reply #2 on: April 11, 2013, 11:09:01 am »
24 hrs is ample.
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Offline Christian Soldier

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Re: How soon after steam bending...
« Reply #3 on: April 11, 2013, 11:23:35 am »
Oh, its been a week. I guess I can start working on it again.  :P

Thanks guys! :)
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Offline danny f

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Re: How soon after steam bending...
« Reply #4 on: April 11, 2013, 11:24:14 am »
sorry to hijack the thread, but does the same apply to heat treating?. i have just heat treated the belly of a bow and didnt know how long to leave it before bending it again.
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Online Pappy

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Re: How soon after steam bending...
« Reply #5 on: April 11, 2013, 12:04:13 pm »
I always leave them for 4 or 5 day to rehydrate,heat treating robs all the moisture and that's as bad as to much,one will take set the other will explode.  :)
  Pappy
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Offline DarkSoul

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Re: How soon after steam bending...
« Reply #6 on: April 11, 2013, 12:05:31 pm »
The idea that steam bending wood introduces moisture to the wood keeps re-appearing. I know this is counter-intuitive, but this needs to get solved.

Steam bending actually dries out the wood and lowers the moisture content due to the high heat!

You DO NOT want to put an already dry piece of steam bent wood into a scorching hot car, lowering the moisture content even more. Instead, place it at a normal room temperature so the wood can gain some moisture again. One day of stabilizing might be enough, but two days will be better. More won't hurt, obviously.
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Offline cdpbrewer

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Re: How soon after steam bending...
« Reply #7 on: April 13, 2013, 02:31:01 pm »
Weight the bow before heat treating by either method.   Afterwards, re-wieght daily or so.  When the weight returns to the original value, you can start working on the bow.  My experience with hickory and is that  that they lose weight after steaming but not as much as after attacking them with a heat gun.

c.d.
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