Ozbow

I had a small diameter, short length of yew which I milled down to yield two 36” billets approximately 1⅝” x 1”.

The billets were spliced, glued and clamped with the centre lines checked with a string line.

Prior to the above I had prepared a bamboo backing shaped to the limb plan but cut slightly oversize.

The bamboo backing was laid over the glued up stave, the pattern transferred and the billet was cut to plan.

Over the following days the stave took a banana bend edge to edge followed by about 1” of reflex. At least I still have the bamboo backing.

I may have to split the larger diameter log into billets and give them time to stabilize.

Daryl.

That sure was a lot of movement. Can you steam it or dry heat it back into line?

Jeff, the stave has moved another ¼” past centre so I will wait until the stave stabilizes before I try to straighten it. I have set up a simple clamping system which should allow me to selectively dry heat specific areas. I can clamp blocks on to the bench top to help control a bending point but the tricky bit will be knowing how far past centre to bend the limb so that it comes back to true after cooling.

Applying water from a spray bottle is probably the easiest way to keep the timber moist.

Daryl.

Amazing how much it is moving about. Sounds like you have the right plan of attack though.