Stick making bending

[dwardo]

Not a stick maker but I do have to bend extreme recurves into wood often.
In my experience if you heat any green wood using steam or dry heat you run the risk of it splitting and checking. This is because heat of any kind steam or dry will remove moisture from the wood. This in turn causes rapid shrinking of of wood and internal/external fractures.

Given all of the above I still mostly speed dry wood indoors but I try to do it gradually, in stages and keep an eye on the RH.

For a guideline I steam for about 45 minutes per inch of thickness to be sure.

 

[Diving Duck]

For a guideline I steam for about 45 minutes per inch of thickness to be sure.

Sticks are measured by diameter.

 

[dwardo]

Sticks are measured by diameter.

Then just give it 45 mins to be sure I suppose most of the stuff I steam is wider than the average stick. Do most of my steaming using a big old pan of boiling water on the hob and tinfoil.
Tend to use dry heat for gradual bends and steam for more extreme stuff.

 

[Diving Duck]

Then just give it 45 mins to be sure I suppose most of the stuff I steam is wider than the average stick. Do most of my steaming using a big old pan of boiling water on the hob and tinfoil.
Tend to use dry heat for gradual bends and steam for more extreme stuff.

All getting a tad too technical for me, next thing we'll be talking about moisture content being in equilibrium with the surrounding atmosphere, the only thing that that proves is that my memory goes back to Technical College when I was an apprentice

 

[Uilleachan]

All getting a tad too technical for me, next thing we'll be talking about moisture content being in equilibrium with the surrounding atmosphere, the only thing that that proves is that my memory goes back to Technical College when I was an apprentice

Just stick it in a shed (for a year), then go out and find some more. Dry heat for a counter bend, big simmering pan of water with sticks ends wrapped in a towel over the top of the pan, lid on top, for the handle bend. Give it an hour then quickly take a stick out and put the bend in, then tie the end of the handle to the shaft of the stick to hold it. Let it sit for an hour or so to set. All thats left is carving the taper on the end of the handle, sorting the length and fitting a ferrel.

 

[Diving Duck]

Give it an hour then quickly take a stick out and put the bend in, then tie the end of the handle to the shaft of the stick to hold it. Let it sit for an hour or so to set. All thats left is carving the taper on the end of the handle, sorting the length and fitting a ferrel.

Re:Handle........Steel threaded rod or original peg method for fixing?

 

[Uilleachan]

Re:Handle........Steel threaded rod or original peg method for fixing?

Niether, rather traditional crook bend, an almost 180º round bend. Once the bend has taken finish the butt end off by carving/ rasping a traditional type taper to it, a slight elongated tapering "S" shape.

 

[Macaroon]

@ Diving Duck; what you need to do is cut a load of sticks of various woods, put the best ones away to season, and try out all the ideas you've got from here and elsewhere. Try ideas you've had yourself and do as much reading as you want to, there's loads available...........If you're not sure of something try it on a scrap piece and see if it'll work, then use it further or discard it........

You can get, and have got, loads of valuable info. here and elsewhere, but you have to just do loads of hands on, there's just no other way to get the "feel" for various woods.

The one golden rule of bending is that the width of the piece to be bent must be at least equal to and preferably greater than it's thickness; you can re-profile a piece afterwards but you can't mend splitting.

For jointing handles, all methods have their pros and cons, but there's a great satisfaction in doing a nice peg and socket. When you use steel studding you introduce a rigid material into a joint that'd be better had everything a little flexibility to respond to ambient conditions in the future.

I think most would agree that for our purposes thickness is the same as diameter?

 

[ozzy1977]

Some more info here http://forum.canadianwoodworking.com/showthread.php?42560-Q-bending-walking-stick

 

[ol smokey]

Don't think anyone has answered your question about length for a thumb stick. I would suggest anywhere between the
Height of your armpit and 6 inches either way, Try standing it upright and hold it where it feels comfortable either
where the thumb hold would be, or where you would wish to hold the neck as it were. Make sure that you cut it longer than shorter than what you think, at first. You can al ways remove more later but you can't add to it, once it is cut. I find that
I prefer them better on the long side and you can use them as a brake coming downhill , or reaching ahead to feel out soft ground, or thin ice. If you choose not to put a Ferrule on the bottom, remember to round off the square edge quite a bit
so that the wood does not feather out and split with regular contact with the ground or road, in fact you can also harden
the end by searing it in a flame. I personally do not make sticks very often, but I cut a Hazel one in the Spring of this year
And while it was the straightest one I have ever found, I did notice a slight bend running it's whole length. It was not too thick so I just braced the bottom on the ground and held the top, putting counter pressure on the centre and bent it past
the straight I little bit and it came back to the straight ,and has staid there for a while now so I think it will be OK.
The stick was still green and pliable when I did this. Hope that you get on well with yours.

 

[Andy T]

To straighten mine ive got part of a scaffold board and drilled lots of one inch holes in it. Then i turned some pegs on my lathe and use this to straighten them.Put the stick in leave it for a few days, take it out, if it hasn't straightened put it back in and wait a bit longer As has been said you do need to overstraighten them because they will spring back a bit.
I'm not the most patient person in the world so there's no chance of me waiting one year per inch diameter. After cutting i put mine in the shed for about a fortnight, take the bark off, leave for around another fortnight and then depending on the weather i hang them up in the garden to dry in the wind. After another couple of weeks i lie them along the radiator in the kitchen, (longest one in the house). Turning them stops them from drying out faster on one side and bending again. If they do start to bend a little the heat from the radiator is enough to make them easy to straighten.
I have never had any problems using this method on ash,hazel,willow, but i wouldn't try on it harder woods like oak or holly.