Watched Bill Nittler bend stocks using hot raw linseed.

Heard of dry heat and or steam. Ran into flaw, to save the blank, need to bend about 1/8" at butt

Any magic out there without a boat load of fixtures?

Hi Duane,
Give Dennis E. Smith, the Stock Doctor, a call. He should be able to help.
Roger

30+yrs ago I took one of those NRA Summer Gunsmithing classes, taught By Jack Rowe. It was double gun I.D., proof marks, and bending stocks. He demonstrated bending using raw, hot linseed oil. Soaked the wrist with oil and then wrapped it with oil soaked rags. He moved it by hand. Looked easy enough, but I have never tried it.

Bill from Oregon called me and went through the process his father taught him.

He thought I might try water since I'm workling with new wood.

Drizzled hot water on grip ara for about six hours. Clamped the blank in milling machilne and used the tower with a stick to push into position...Was amazed how easily I made the bend.

Locked everything down and this morning, wood SEEMS dry and there is no discoloration to deal with. Going to leave it a couple days with a heat lamp

Hat's off to Bill!

A fine effort to save it.

I've bent a fair few stocks. Beware of "spring-back", which can happen quickly, slowly, or not at all. If it happens it's a rinse-and-repeat scenario until the "memory" in the wood is broken. I can only imagine a blank or part-shaped stock will be more difficult, but maybe this is not so.

Spring-back is the main reason I quit bending stocks. It's not just technique (it's vital to get the wood truly hot enough and "plastic" right the way through) - some pieces just want to return home like a faithful hound. Infra-red lamps work well to heat the wood, but all that heat doesn't do the walnut any good especially if heated dry. Maybe the hot water trick has merit for raw blanks, and it would be the most gentle on the wood I'd reckon.

This brings back memories of blanks from New Zealand that Geoff Slee used to get from Patrick Marshall. They'd been cut long ago and stored for eons in bloody great tall stacks that looked impressive to most and saved a lot of floor space. Reality was that all those stacks did for a stockmaker was put immense forces on the blanks down the stacks, bending them for extended periods of time. Making stocks from them was sure to give problems with wood movement, but Geoff used to steam them and re-dry. I spent some time doing this for him in his workshop. What a PITA, it was slow and had to be done just right or the walnut texture really suffered. It was eye-opening seeing what the blanks did. Most warped blanks would return straight (as originally planed/thicknessed) but about 20% would go spastic, proving they'd been full of tension. We never tried bending these rogues straight, Geoff was dead against it.

Pat sold blanks to Don Allen and Jerry Fisher among others, for a while at least. Stockmakers don't like blanks full of tension. After the big sales ended Geoff lapped up the excess and steamed them. Even done as gently as possible, the steam changed the texture of the walnut and not for the better but acceptable. Done aggressively it would knock the guts out of the walnut.

The hot water idea was pretty nifty to me. Thanks for sharing it.

quote:

Originally posted by Duane Wiebe (CG&R):
Bill from Oregon called me and went through the process his father taught him.

He thought I might try water since I'm workling with new wood.

Drizzled hot water on grip ara for about six hours. Clamped the blank in milling machilne and used the tower with a stick to push into position...Was amazed how easily I made the bend.

Locked everything down and this morning, wood SEEMS dry and there is no discoloration to deal with. Going to leave it a couple days with a heat lamp

Hat's off to Bill!

keep us apprised .

Silvers that right about Jacks method but he stressed using cotton t-shirts not poly. Moved stock like butter.

Some wood, or I suppose grain, seems to have more memory than others. Leave it in the device until
completely cooled down plus a few days...if you have that luxury.

Well...the water only technique was a limited success. Spring back about 50% So...Using Bill's advice, went with lemon oil (Yeah..not easy to find, but try E Bay)

Wrapped grip in cotton cloth, soaked with lemon oil under two heat lamps, drizzled lemon oil whenever I thought about it... Most of the day.

Mid afternoon, unwrapped, left on the heat lamps until bed time.

Left it alone for several days,,,,ZERO spring back (1/4").

Im'supposing "double session"couldn't hurt.

This was not a slim grip area in finished stock and wood was VERY hard...Some of Roger Vardy wood described as heavy.

...no discoloration associated with linseed oil and wood is obviusly conpletely dry.