Sugar/Rock Maple Tip Flip

[IrishJay]

I posted a few days ago about the mill site I found to harvest slabs from. One of the pieces I got there is Sugar Maple, I want to make a flat bow with flipped tips from it. But tip flipping is something I've had no luck with so far, I always end up splitting the belly. In the past I've always attempted it with dry heat, but now I have a nice setup to either steam or boil this piece.

So my laundry list of questions is,
1) What heating method is best for hard maple?
2) What length from the tip should I be bending?
3) What thickness should I rough the tips out to?
4) What angle should I bend them to?

As always any knowledge shared is greatly appreciated.

Jay.

[Woodely]

You can use dry heat successfully if you thin down the tip section to get more bend and glue on an overlay later.   Never tried steam but probably better than dry heat.

[SLIMBOB]

Dry heat is fine for the tips. Bend them while they are thick enough not to bend when finished but thin enough not to crack. Floor tiller stage or just beyond. Maple is persnickety about heat bending, but doable.

[PatM]

Soak the tips for a couple of days and then boil them before bending.

[IrishJay]

Any thoughts on thickness? I'm thinking 3/8 to 1/2. Target draw is around 40lbs.

[IrishJay]

Roughed out and one tip soaking. I can vouch for the nickname Rock maple, just making the two scalloped cuts for the handle pretty well fouled my jigsaw blade.