Author Topic: steaming sequence  (Read 1827 times)

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Offline stuckinthemud

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steaming sequence
« on: February 06, 2015, 01:26:50 pm »
Evening All,

I have a hazel stave that I cut and split a month ago and which has sat in a cold garage ever since. I have roughed it out today but not gone anywhere near finished dimensions, and brought it inside to speed up the seasoning process.  The bow is 66 inches long and has an 80 degree spiral twist which I will need to straighten, and I will also want to flip the tips and heat treat it. So my questions are, at what stage do I straighten it and do I flip the tips at that time, or treat them as separate stages, and how will heat treating affect the other two processes?

Offline Prarie Bowyer

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Re: steaming sequence
« Reply #1 on: February 06, 2015, 01:35:02 pm »
I'd try to do as much at one time if it were me.  I had a elm stave that needed surgery.  I headted it so much it started to check from the different steaming sessions. So I'd be inclined to flip the tip and then straighten the twist as much as possible in one session then finish the twist in a 2nd.

Offline Pat B

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Re: steaming sequence
« Reply #2 on: February 06, 2015, 03:03:19 pm »
You could probably have eliminated some of the twist by clamping the stave to a form while it was drying.  I would remove the twist before flipping the tips.
Make the most of all that comes and the least of all that goes!    Pat Brennan  Brevard, NC

Offline Springbuck

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Re: steaming sequence
« Reply #3 on: February 06, 2015, 03:46:15 pm »
  Yer in for a wrestling match.  Unfortunately the more fancier) equipment you have the better for doing this, but......YOU CAN DO IT!  yay.

  The first thing I fond mandatory, is to get the stave as thin as possible before you correct it.  Prevents accidents and improves results.  You already have a flat belly surface, so either mark a thickness you want to remove on both sides, or use faceted removal techniques.  If you can get to an even, say 3/4 or even 5/8" it'll work better.   If it's thin enough, you can do the whole thing with dry heat.

For straight, even twist, I often lash some cross pieces on each end and then use it to crank the twist out as I dry heat, clamping to a form as I go.  I mean, clamp one end, use the cross pieces to pull twist out, clamp a foot down the line and heat that section.

  If you have a big steaming set up, you can wrestle the bow onto a form with wrenches and clamps and steam the whole thing.

It's hard as heck to get recurves aligned as you go.  This makes steaming best, then cranking in recurves with dry heat work best for me.  Either way, I do it last.

Offline stuckinthemud

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Re: steaming sequence
« Reply #4 on: February 07, 2015, 01:03:50 pm »
OK, so since the bow is still pretty green, I floor tillered it to a point where it will twist then I clamped it down with a weight hanging off a spanner to twist it - think I may have seen Del do this on his blog????? Gonna leave it there for a few weeks and see what happens.  If Del wants to chime in, any comment as to how long would be nice :)

Offline DC

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Re: steaming sequence
« Reply #5 on: February 07, 2015, 01:54:51 pm »
Make sure you've got something under the weight to limit how far it can go.

Offline stuckinthemud

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Re: steaming sequence
« Reply #6 on: February 07, 2015, 02:45:07 pm »
Tee hee, the floor! The weight is 5mm off the ground

Offline DC

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Re: steaming sequence
« Reply #7 on: February 07, 2015, 03:43:17 pm »
That should stop it ;D