dry heat bending

[**DONOTDELETE**]

OK, I have read on here and other sites that you heat the belly side of the bow/limbs then bend them a nice curve. I have also read from Saxon Pope's book "Hunting with the bow & arrow" That Ishi would use a heated rock and bend the limb to curve it. I take it  he heated the back side of the limbs to bend them. Is this right or did he heat the belly side then bend the limb backwards?

[2treks]

If you are wanting to add reflex or take out a kink you will need to heat the wood THROUGH. I have always heated the belly and clamped it to a cull type form. For tempering, you will heat the belly side until "toasted". you can also at this same time bend it over a cull and induce reflex.
   Good luck, Chuck

[Pat B]

Sal, you don't want to put too much heat on the back of a bow. It will decrease the tension strength. Heat treating the belly(generally on compression weak whitewoods) will increase the compression strength.
   When bending or straightening wood with heat you do want the heat throughout(like Chuck said) the wood but heat it from the belly and sides, being careful not to scorch the back.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

I under stand all that, but it's just now a days that's all you read is to heat the belly side then bend/shape. So is this a updated thing to just heat the belly side. I have a long way to go before trying this. My Bow skills are under par right now & just from reading has me spinning all around. I mean Ishi learned his way many years before the White Eyes started making bows for hunting & fun.

I quess I'm just lost when it comes to somethings & really lost when trying to learn other things. It just hit me weird to read how it is done now from how it was done years before.

[2treks]

Mystic, If you have a form or cull, then just clamp up the handle down,belly up and start heating the belly up with your heat gun. As Pat said,heat will reflect off your form so watch the back for burning. as you heat up the wood, clamp it to your form and watch to make sure you are using enough heat so the wood will bend easy and not lift a splinter or crack. It is not that hard and will make good sense when you get going.
Pat and others have posted pics just recently of the forms and such they use. I will see if I can find it and bring it to this thread.
   Chuck

[ChristopherO]

Think of it this way:  Heating wood makes it more brittle.  The belly being somewhat brittle can handle that much better than the back of the bow.  It stiffens the belly, adding more compression.  The back can break much easier when brittle.
That said, do you remember just what Isi was doing and how he was doing it when he heat bent his bows?  I've, also, read that heating a stone, wrapping very moist moss around the limb and applying the heat to the moss where you want the bend is one way the indians did it.  But it didn't say which side of the limb they applied the heat.  If the wood in the area that is being bent is pretty thick and the recurve will be static then possibly heating from the back could work as the wood at that point won't be bending.  But it could be that they heated the belly side for a while and then bent the limb tip over a log, too.?.

[uhu]

Hi mystic,

I made an english longbow from Hickory in June 2005. After it reached about 4" of stringfollow within 3 years of excessive use and lost a lot of it`s former cast I toasted its belly and strung it reverse for about three inches. After a week of Curing the stringfollow ist completely gone and it gained about 5# from initially 39# to now 44# @28" draw. The only price you have to pay is checks at the Belly due to the shrunk wood from the induced heat. As long as these checks are not too heavy so that the stability to withstand the compression ist not disturbed this is no problem. If you shut the checks with wax or varnish this will not harm, even in wet conditions.

You will have risk something, when you want to win. Good luck

[**DONOTDELETE**]

From the TBB II pg 165

For primitive technician interested in aboriginal methods, there is the hot rock method. A large rock can be heated ( thought not red hot ) in a fire, then removed from the blaze. Hold the limb against the rock and apply pressure. The warmer the wood gets, the easier it will bend. The wood is then held in place until the rock begins to cool.

Now going by that I take it they are bending the limb over the heated rock till it cools then remove limb from the rock. If recurving the limb that is being heated it would be put on the back side of the limb...RIGHT? or am I reading this step wrong. I know at times I do read things wrong or get the meaning wrong, but would like to know if it's me thinking the wrong way.

[Pat B]

Don't hold it against the rock until the rock cools or you will be there all night!  Once you make your bend let the wood cool before releasing it.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

so then I was reading it wrong... OK, thanx Pat.

[Pat B]

All the rocks are doing is holding the heat and transfering it to the wood. You can get the same effect by holding it over the flame but that is more dangerous doing it that way.

[Chuck Hoopes]

Originally posted by mysticguido:
From the TBB II pg 165

For primitive technician interested in aboriginal methods, there is the hot rock method. A large can be heated ( thought not red hot ) in a fire, then removed from the blaze. Hold the limb against the rock and apply pressure. The warmer the wood gets, the easier it will bend. The wood is then held in place until the rock begins to cool.

 If rock is on the ground, and you press down on it with the belly side, you would create reflex.  If you pressed down on the rock w, the back side of the bow- you would get Deflex-- not what you want at the end of the bow.  Bottom line;; it is the Belly press which will get you the reflex you want-- Iam guessing this is what Ishi did.

Now going by that I take it they are bending the limb over the heated rock till it cools then remove limb from the rock. If recurving the limb that is being heated it would be put on the back side of the limb...RIGHT? or am I reading this step wrong. I know at times I do read things wrong or get the meaning wrong, but would like to know if it's me thinking the wrong way.