Steaming Osage Question/ Advise Acted On

[ChristopherO]

I have successfuly steamed and recurved Hickory and througouly enjoyed the process.  Now I am working on my first Osage stave and plan on doing the same.  Yesterday I steamed one limb for over an hour but it would hardly budge.  
What measurements do you rasp the wood down to before steaming Osage?  It is currently 1 1/2" wide x 1/2" thick.  Should I file this down to 3/8" of an inch?  
If I have to use dry heat I will but steaming worked so well on Hickory that I thought I would continue with it.
Thanks for the help, Christopher.

[talkingcabbage]

I think you need to use dry heat with osage, but let a few others chime in.  I've only worked with it a little, and it was when I first started making bows.

Joe

[Shaun]

Dean Torges recommends using steam on green osage and dry heat on dry osage. I have only used dry heat and have never tried working with it when green. I use a heat gun and warm the area to bend until I feel some give when I try to bend it. It takes several minutes of heat to get the resins to soften. I like to get to the floor tiller bending stage before I apply heat and shape the stave. It will stay bent after a short time of cooling, but I do not flex the limb until it is well cooled - an hour or so.

For extreme bending like a 90 degree bend recurve, you may want to boil (not steam) the tip for some time and then bend.

Hickory is a moisture grabbing wood and steams easily but takes a long time to dry. It also is affected by humidity unlike osage.

[Pat B]

Dry heat for dry wood, wet heat for wet wood. If you have to use steam on dry wood, seal the wood first with shellac so you don't add the moisture to the already dry wood which will cause drying checks.
   I use dry heat(heat gun w/ olive oil)for all osage bending. For recurves I clamp the tip in the form and heat it until gravity begins to pull the bow down then I pull it to the form and clamp it. Sometimes I add a bit more heat if needed.
1/2" thick should bend easily enough. You may want to reduce the width a bit(say 3/4" or so).   Pat

[ChristopherO]

Ever met a feller so lazy he trys to do something the easy way and ends up performing twice the work to get it done correctly?  I'm afraid that is me in this case.  Following the ring on Hickory isn't necessay as it steams and bends, with a metal strap against the belly wood, like a charm.  This piece of Osage didn't work in that manner.  Forcing myself, I then followed the ring on the belly to prepare the stave for dry heat bending this morning as this is a dry osage stave.  One end had very compressed rings in a particular are due to the undulations of the wood.  Using plenty of oil and heat I slowly worked both ends in the course of the day to recurve the tips.  The compressed end was very difficult to heat enough and bend and the single ring did crack out on the belly even though much care was taken.  Yet, it appears very stiff and not likely to loose it's bend.  It can be cleaned it up.  
Hopefully I can finish this up as a usable bow I am proud of.
Thanks for your replies and help.
Christopher

[Pat B]

Christopher, Degrease the area that cracked and add super glue. You might remove most of the cracked area but in case there is some unseen violation the super glue will take care of it. If your recurves are static  makes it less critical.   Pat

[ChristopherO]

Thanks, Pat.  It will be a static recurve but super glue will help nicely.  I filed the cracks out most of the way already.