Wavy stave question

[John Malone]

Hey guys, this is hop hornbeam I'm gonna work into a Native American style. Got it as straight as it wants to go. Question is how do you guys work those wavy areas? Its in the outer third of the limb. Any advice would be helpful.

[Roy from Pa]

I have never done a stave like that.

But I think they draw a line down the center of the back of the stave and lay the bow out off that line.

Maybe even something about following the grain..?

[John Malone]

I was wondering about tillering those wavy spots.
Got it figured  out.

[Roy from Pa]

Same way ya tiller any other bow once ya got it to bow shape.

[John Malone]

Ya wouldn't lie to me would ya? 
Think ill try and heat them out a lil more. All that wave in there that limb wont bend at all. The straight one will, and they are the same thickness.

[Roy from Pa]

Ya wouldn't lie to me would ya?

Depends on how far south ya live.. 

[John Malone]

That's what I thought.

[Roy from Pa]

Well bowjunkie and Jamie Miller are in this thread.

They will tell ya how.

[Roy from Pa]

Ah I see the waves you are speaking about..

On the back..

That otta be fun..

[Bowjunkie]

Just use the Gizmo and match it to the other limb 

Just kidding.

If you have any specific questions, fire away.

[Roy from Pa]

I'd sand it flat and back it.

[John Malone]

Roy, ya need to lay off that watered down beer. Sand it flat, there wouldn't be anything left.

[Eric Krewson]

I have sanded staves like that flat on the back and backed them with bamboo, all made good bows.

As for a selfbow, I never liked tillering that kind of stave. I have found them very difficult if not impossible to tame with a heat gun so I mostly consign them to the burn pile.

[John Malone]

Thanks Eric, good idea. Pat sent me this one to learn, so that would be cheating on my exam. I'm gonna make a bow out of it, even if I have to do it in the craft class at the loony bin. 

[BMorv]

John, do you know about localized steam bending? Marc St. Louis featured this technique in one of his PA magazine articles.  You basically wet a piece of cloth and wrap it around the wavy spot you want to make flat then wrap foil tightly around the cloth.   Heat the area with a heat gun while the wavy area is under pressure with clamps.  Heat for a couple minutes and the water turns to steam and the area should be pliable enough to take most of the wave out (don't heat longer than 5 minutes).
You would want to do this at floor tiller stage when the wood is thin enough to bend.   
I tried it on an elm stave a year or so ago, and it got most of it out. 
 

[John Malone]

BMorv, got it pretty flat with a heat gun whilt in the clamps. I read a lot Of St. Louis stuff. Gonna try the steam to get the lateral crook out of it.

[Roy from Pa]

Ya believe me now?

And Eric is from Alabama...

[John Malone]

I didn't say I didn't believe ya. I ask was ya lying to me?