Heat treating staves?

[fish n chicks]

While this question is geared towards osage staves, i'm lost in general as to how you guys use heat to work a wood stave. From removing twist, to flipping tips. Do you use torches? Hot water? Nana's breath after a smoke? Ovens? I'm lost, and my search has come up less than informative.

Any info would be really appreciated. Thanks TG.

[TroutGuide]

Heat gun for paint removal, from Lowes...  $24.00 Enough C-clamps to hold it in place... Priceless!

[Art B]

You can get a higher temp gun for around 45 bucks. I have the cheaper one like Troutguide mentioned also but prefer the Wagner HT model 3500 for heat treating. I don't use clamps for removing twist or straightening, just a padded vise. Heat your limb good, twist/straighten past straight and bring back to what you want. Corrections stay put...........Art

[okie64]

Dont get the cheap heat guns at harber freight. They wont hold up for heat treating. Get you a good wagner at lowes or home depot.

[Don Drake]

I was really surprised with my first bow.  There was a huge knot dead center of the limb, which I knocked out with my draw knife and a small sledge hammer.  I got lucky and the knot popped right out.  However, I was left with about a 45 degree bend in the end of the bow.  

I filled my wife's tamale pot with water (she wasn't home and I didn't tell her until months later     ).  I brought the water to a boil and then put the stave in the pot for 45 minutes.

I took it out of the pot, ran down stairs and wedged it between two risers in the garage staircase and leaned on it until it was just past straight.  I held it there for about six minutes.  That was last September and she has held her shape.  It was kinda cool to feel the wood just bend the way I wanted it.

The water did turn the stave to a deep, dark orange.  It was kinda cool looking.  The color sanded off during finishing with no problems.

 

[John Scifres]

It is very helpful to build a form or caul that is in the overall shape of the stave you wish to have.  Especially one which allows you to bend both up and down and left and right.

The first thing you can do is to build a steam tube and steam a whole stave at ta time.  Then clamp it into your caul quickly after puling it from your steam tube.

You can also use dry heat in the form of a stove or a torch or better yet a heat gun as discussed above.  Clamp the stave in the form at the handle and work a 3-6" section until it is too hot to touch for more than a second (about 5 minutes) and then tighten your clamp at the end of the section.  It's easier to show than to tell.  

  Recurve OSage

[fish n chicks]

Thanks for the great info everyone! John, your videos certainly helped immensely.

Do you guys heat the belly or the back? Both?

[ranger 3]

Always the belly, never put heat on the back

[J.F. Miller]

I heat stuff from every direction possible. it's important to heat the piece completely through it's thickness evenly or it won't bend and stay. when you put an entire stave in a steam tube, it is surrounded by hot water vapor. applying heat to back, belly and sides has never caused me any problem. I've accidentally "browned" a few projects because I got impatient whenI was only applying heat from one direction, but have never had any lasting damage. I just got finished dry heating a tip on a static recurve that that won't behave. is cooling as I type. when I'm doing precision corrections like this, I alway clamp it up very carefully so I don't affect anything but the exact spot I want to move. for rough staves and bow blanks I ususally manipulate the hot wood manually, then immediately clamp the way I want it until it is completely cool. you can do amazing things to a heated piece of osage.

for serious bending, like a 60 degree angular bend for a static tip, boiling is best, steaming second best, dry heating out of the question. for minor bending, dry heating with a heat gun is very convenient and works great.

[fish n chicks]

Very thorough information here gang. I appreciate it all and the more the merrier.

Anybody have some pics or a how to on steam tubes? Sounds a little entailed.

[PEARL DRUMS]

I second the Wagner Artsy uses, she is a ripper and gets very hot. I use an old office lamp as a heat gun holder so I dont have to stand there for a half hour. I do other things while keeping an eye on the stave. Steam and a caul is good for the initial whole stave straightening, then I switch to dry heat for tweeks and bends here an there. Not much different that the rest of the guys said. Steam tubes are super easy. Go buy 3 section of 6" furnace duct and a register duct. I pop riveted mine toegther and use high temp tape to seal the seams from dripping. Set the register end over a larg pot and seal the openingings the best you can with tin foil. Cap the open end with tin foil or a towel and steam away! I steam an hour per 1/2 inch of thickness, sometimes more if the bending is severe.

[fish n chicks]

After steaming, do I place on a caul and clamp? Or do I do everything manually and hold it there until it cools down to room temp, or holding temp?

Thanks for the steam tube instructions PD. I think i'm gonna have to try that on these staves I got.

[mwosborn]

Just curious how long you guys typically leave the bow in the clamps after steaming and clamping - the longer the better or just until it cools - does it really make that much difference?

Thanks.

[PEARL DRUMS]

Clamp it down to a caul and leave it there over night, or longer if you can.

[John Scifres]

fish, yes, you can clamp it to a caul after steaming.  If it is a small correction, you can do it by hand using a fork in a tree, your deck upright or handrail, a couple knees, a big yet dense friend...

I leave bows in the caul until cool.  If I have done  alot of work with dry heat, I give it a week to rehydrate.