Recommendation? Bowed Handle

S

survivor45

Joined
Feb 15, 2018
Messages
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I got this Tennessee Hickory handle half way done when I realized it had a
bow in it. It’s now been clamped to my bench for about a week. And it’s almost straight again. I did not steam it or wet it. Just cold dry clamped.
My question is will the bow come back or should it stay straight?
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It will definitely spring back eventually. Can you make and direct some steam? I've had great success using localized steam and weight. I just suspend the haft on some saw horses and attach a ratchet strap from the bend to something heavy. It's worked well for me! Good luck!
 
I knew it could not be as simple as I hoped. I’ll use steam. That won’t be a problem. This is good practice for me because i have a few old hafts I’d like to straighten.
Thanks for all your input.
 
So what I’ve done so far is moisten the wood with warm water. Then clamped it an heated the haft with a heat gun.
Hot to the touch. How long (average)
Do I heat it and how long until I remove the clamp ?
I do realize some results may vary. And I may need to do it multiple times to get the desired results.
 
I'm curious about this as well. I have an axe that has a kink in the handle, right at the head.

I clicked on that link, and Square_peg's post said that you don't want the water to be absorbed into the wood - just the heat.

if that's the case, then do you have to use steam? Would a heat gun work just as good? I have a heat gun - that seems a LOT easier and less messy than monkeying around with steam.
 
Ok so it did seem to work. I heated it hot to the touch. Then left it clamped until cool. Annnnd I went to far the other way. Haha oh well I’ll clamp it back a little the other direction.
I guess now only time will tell if the original bow will come back.
It was a lot easier that I thought. For some reason I was under the impression this process would take weeks for the wood to set.
Thanks for all your input
 
FLINT77 said:
I'm curious about this as well. I have an axe that has a kink in the handle, right at the head.

I clicked on that link, and Square_peg's post said that you don't want the water to be absorbed into the wood - just the heat.

if that's the case, then do you have to use steam? Would a heat gun work just as good? I have a heat gun - that seems a LOT easier and less messy than monkeying around with steam.
Click to expand...
I've had great success with heat alone. Make sure that the wood is heated through, not just hot on the surface, and it should be to hot to hold for very long. Like a hot tater.

I use a ready heater for applying the heat, but I'm pretty sure a heat gun would work as well.
 
FLINT77 said:
if that's the case, then do you have to use steam? Would a heat gun work just as good? I have a heat gun - that seems a LOT easier and less messy than monkeying around with steam.
Click to expand...

Native Americans straightened arrow shafts with just heat and an 'arrow wrench', an 8-10 piece of antler, bone or wood with an arrow shaft sized hole thru one end. The wood shaft was heated and the bow was wrenched straight with pressure from the tool.

attachment.php


and
https://www.warpaths2peacepipes.com/native-indian-weapons-tools/native-american-tools.htm
 
I hope I can make this happen.

I've got my haft clamped in the opposite direction, on top of a stew pot of water and covered in foil.
I really have nothing to loose since the haft has a crack in it going down about 10-12 inches.
Im not sure the crack is a big deal though as the haft is currently still riveted to a brush axe head, and if I can straighten this back out the tool will just see light use in my backyard.
 
Speaking of bowed handles, I have a 36” HH, hand selected, no finish, octagonal that has a slight bow in it, maybe an inch out of alignment. I don’t have the time, space or equipment (or patience?) to straighten it. If anyone wants it, and is willing to pay shipping, email me.
 
What I described above worked. Using a heat gun. Even though I went a little too far the other direction. I just flipped it and re-clamped it. A day later it looks great.
I’m very happy and now will dig through my pile of removed handles and see about salvaging some of them.
 
I've been spending this evening trying to steam straighten hafts. I fixed the haft on the cracked head plumb, started work on an old Kelly 4lber's haft, and this !@#$%^&* lovely example of an O.P. Link double bit handle that I've already tried straightening while thinning it by the time the photo was taken.
IMG-0604.jpg
 
It took two days but I mostly straightened the haft for a 3.42lb Kelly Perfect single, an original '99 WV double bit's haft, and almost finished the one in the above pic. Some in-progress pics. #1+#3 are Kelly's, #2's is Plumb's
IMG-1627.jpg

IMG-1629.jpg

IMG-1630.jpg
 
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