Disappointment

[Bryce]

If you steam yew, afterwards you need to set it with dry heat.

[DC]

So does that mean u can do it

I'll find a way

If you steam yew, afterwards you need to set it with dry heat.

This bow had more steam and dry heat than I care to remember. I'd never seen anything like it

[bradsmith2010]

Maybe shim the splice,,.underlay and overlay,..so it looks good,, splice on a little extra to the tips...   Its easy to think of this stuff,..especially when im not doing the work...

[leonwood]

I do a lot of lateral bending with all kinds of wood and yew is the only one that is really stubborn and I had a few return to it's original shape after some time.

I don't know what glue you used for the splice but I have successfully steam bent an already spliced handle to align the string.
I steamed the handle for half an hour with a clamp holding the splice together and a pin through the wood (I use this for glue up also). Then bend the correction with some blocks and clamps and let cool and dry for a few days.
Obviously this destroys the glue so you have to re-glue the splice after all is dry

[DC]

I use West Sys epoxy. The splice has three fingers. I tried to steam bend a handle once and the outside finger popped loose but the rest held. This left me in an awkward spot because I knew the glue was at least weakened but I still couldn't get it apart. I've shied away from steaming glued joints since then. I have read that if you get the temp right the epoxy will soften and give a bit and then harden back to it's original strength. Because of my multi finger joint I have extra gluing area so I can afford to loose a bit of strength. I like your idea of clamping the joint to keep it together. Maybe if I grind the handle flat, clamp it and bend it and then glue cheek pieces on it may work. The cheek pieces would have to be curved and that would be a pain. I might try this first because it still leaves me with the option of re splicing.

Has anyone taken apart an epoxied finger joint with heat, successfully? Maybe steam and a lot of wiggling?

[bradsmith2010]

nothing would pop loose,, if it was clamped ,, right???

[DC]

But if the glue weakened enough to pop loose is it compromised whether it is clamped or not? Depends on the temperature I guess. It would be really nice to know what kind of strain these joints are under although I'm not sure how I would put that knowledge to use I really want to try something but I have to decide if the wood has settled down first. It's hard to clamp a bow repeatedly to take measurements. I suppose I could clamp it to a 2x4 in a measurable postion and leave it clamped but since I don't know where it's moving I'm not sure where to clamp it. Crap, I think to much

[bradsmith2010]

yes I think just do something,, so we can see what happens,,

[willie]

This one, being a branch

Hmmm.  I recall reading somewhere about conifirs (living trees), having branches that liked to droop when dry and spread upward when it rained (to collect more moisture presumably). I even started a thread a few years back asking about this, and no one offered any observations in reply as I recall.

If so, perhaps branch wood tends to move more with humidity changes. I do know that there is reactionwood in branches because they grow horizontal, and if one does not take care with stave collection such that a bow ends up not having the reactionwood aligned properly, then the bow will tend to warp sideways if it was taken from the side of the treebranch

[DC]

I suspect that branches are a whole different can of worms. The wood can be so dense compared to trunk wood.

[DC]

OK plan made. I cut the splice apart with a saber saw to keep as much length as I can. I'm cutting wedges to fit in between the fingers and I'll glue it up so I have a solid piece to cut the new splice into. I was a little hesitant to fill it like that but I noticed that John Strunk suggested filling a less that optimal splices with pieces of wood. If it's good enough for John. You can see in one of the pictures how much out of line the fingers would be if I tried to hold the bow straight. I'll put a belly and back piece on after I get it stuck back together. I'll boil it and clamp the ends to get the best joints I can. Then let it dry and make the new splice.

[DC]

More

[bradsmith2010]

Wow that's look in great.,.Nice work...

[Chief RID]

I am captivated. Amazing!

[DC]

I decided to glue on a cheek pieces to give me a little wiggle room. I also noticed that when I was trying to line it all up that I had to bend one of the tips a bit. Hope that doesn't come back to bite me. I might leave it over the holidays to rest. While I was steaming it, it loosened one of the tips. I was expecting that so I tried to take the tip off while it was hot. It wouldn't move. Sometime later it popped off. It's a special piece of Bighorn Sheep horn that Wizardgoat gave me. The two match so I have to find it in this mess. Wish me luck. I sure hope it fell off after I swept up and burned every thing.