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PostPosted: October 21st, 2004, 10:39 am 
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A little more info that might be helpful

Dave's recommendations on using pressure to guide a spit are bang on and worth keeping in mind when proceeding. He makes a good point about using a log that's longer than the final dimension as that gives you some flexibility in selecting the section you need out of the piece you're going to work with as well as making the splitting process easier because of the extra leverage.

Trees have "personalities" and are not all the same. You might have two logs that look outwardly identical but one will split so easily that it almost explodes while the other will fight you tooth and nail. Same applies when it comes time to steam and bend. I suspect I've made over 100 stem bands for canoes out of ash and even after doing that many I wouldn't attempt to predict which pieces are going to bend easily when they come out of the box. I've tried a wide variety of approaches to this and have yet to find a method that gives 100 percent predictable results. I suspect that the old time canoe buiders who were steaming wood every day got pretty good at it, but I suspect even they didn't get it right everytime.

Boneli's observations about being quick and using a backing board are spot on too. Since it's snowshoes you want to make, you can also shape the wood a bit at the place where you want to bend to assist. Make those areas a bit thinner than the stuff on either side of the bend and it will be easier.

Frozentripper's comment about grain direction is important too, but not always as much of a factor as one might think - see comments on wood personalities above. Usually, you'll have better luck if the grain on the side of your piece is really tight and the top of the piece has the wide, exposed grain. Since structual pieces like stem bands and snowshoes are basically square, you'll have one side that's more tight grained and one that's more flat on most pieces that come out of the log. Here's a link to some info I have on my web site that discusses optimum areas of a log http://www.blazingpaddles.on.ca/tips/paddle_tips/ The area around Plank C should give you the most useful pieces of wood for what you want to do, but keep in mind that trees all have "personalities".

Tonycc's suggestion about soaking the wood prior to steaming can also help but it isn't always necessary and doesn't always work, depends on the tree and you won't know beforehand, only when you try. If you've steamed a piece and it doesn't bend easily, you should stop trying and do something that's going to soak more water into it. If everything works right, your piece should bend almost as easily as a wet noodle. If you put a fair bit of pressure on it and it seems reluctant to bend, don't force it.

As you've probably guessed, you should have more than just two pieces of wood prepared for your snowshoe frames. You might get lucky and have each piece bend perfectly, but you should not be surprised if you break one or two either.


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PostPosted: October 21st, 2004, 11:26 am 
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Location: Revelstoke, British Columbia canada
Once your first split is made Ash should /will split easier on the quarters.There is quite a difference between the summer and spring wood within a years growth ring.Baskets used to be made by pounding an ash log with a wooden billet,resulted in crushing the spring wood and peeling the summer wood into strips (Tried this once and lots of work)
Steaming wood.: I also have steamed lots of stembands and ribs for w/c canoes.There is a definate learning curve.Do not steam too long as you will cook the lignum in the wood and it will brittle the piece up. Ten to 12 minutes in good steam 15 max per 1/4 inch
An oldtimer told me to ALWAYS bend your piece towards the tree,meaning have a look at the end of the piece to be bent and figure out which way the growth rings go.You want the growth rings to be bent back towards the centre of the tree. Hope that helps


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PostPosted: October 21st, 2004, 11:36 am 
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Lot's of good advice in this thread.

I used Gilpatrick's book also, There are three bend areas on traditional (Maine) snow shoes, the toe, the tail, and then the shoulders.
- The tail bends are a piece of cake since the bend radius is so great.
- The toe is not that difficult, Gil has you removing a considerable amount of material in this region. Use the metal band clamped in place to back it up and I never had a split there. If I bent too quickly it was harder to get an even radius, sometimes I would get a kink.
- The shoulder was the part that killed me. Full thickness and you are bending the wood in two directions in one location.

There is a bit of feel involved in bending. It reminds me of bending lead, but it acts like a newtonian fluid. Anyone has every tried to mix a thick slurry of corn starch and water will know what I mean. Put a lot of shear into it and it becomes very stiff. Same thing for bending the wood. You need to work quickly, but take your time during the actual bending. If you try to force the bend too quickly it will split.

I'll second the statements about needing mulktiple pieces of wood. Don't get too attached to any one piece, especially when you are starting out. I bent ten pieces, with two turning out fairly well. Small splits too large to be sanded out can be fixed with judicous use of epoxy and clamps.

Tony


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PostPosted: October 21st, 2004, 12:00 pm 
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All this talk now of bending and then what?

What is the material that lashes up in between?

Boneli the thread stealer :wink:

ps: I did wait until some good answer came! Ha!

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PostPosted: October 21st, 2004, 12:35 pm 
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Well, Gilpatrick recommends nylon cord. #80 mason twine for the toe and heel, 1/16" (I believe) for the foot area. Finished off with a couple of layers of spar varnish it looks somewhat like babiche. It certainly is lighter and does not stretch when it gets wet. However, it is very tough on the hands during weaving. I really like the shoes I made for travel up north. However, I broke one of the tails stumbling over a log during DF04. The field repairs worked for the duration of the week. However, I will need to make another pair before the trip this year.

Tony


Last edited by Tonycc on October 22nd, 2004, 9:08 am, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: October 22nd, 2004, 7:37 am 
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Crack, straight down the middle!

I own two axes one is high quality and the other is home hardware styles, with these tools I started the crack and then leaving the axe in the split made another strike from within the crack futher down the log and so on.

With a ten foot log when the split is three quarters done it is easy to use elbow grease to pry the pieces apart.

No problem with this log, however I should have been a little more pick with quality. Even the slightest sign of a knot translates into wavy grain. The next piece must be perfect.

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PostPosted: October 22nd, 2004, 8:59 am 
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Even the slightest sign of a knot translates into wavy grain.


This is where I found splitting off and cracking gives the most trouble when steaming and bending. I was using sawn strips, so the grain did run out in these wavy-grained areas - it might be a different story with split strips... good luck.

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PostPosted: October 22nd, 2004, 9:02 am 
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By the way, thanks for all the great advice! It's like having a book written for you on exactly what you want to read about. Sweet.

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PostPosted: October 22nd, 2004, 9:49 am 
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jahgaia wrote:
I own two axes one is high quality and the other is home hardware styles, with these tools I started the crack and then leaving the axe in the split made another strike from within the crack futher down the log and so on.

When you tackle the next log, give the suggestion to use wedges a try as recommended above. It'll make the job easier and you don't have to worry about a sharp object like the ax falling on something. Wedges can be made out of just about any scrap wood, but a nice chunk of hardwood will last the longest.


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