How do I bend an Ash branch ?

K

Kevin the grey

Joined
Aug 26, 2005
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They finally pruned the eye gouge height branches on the Ash tree in front of my house. The main poker wasn,t going to see another springtime anyway .
I had my eye on it as a frame to stretch a piece of rawhide on for a picture canvas .

Its cool here . It must get down to about 40 degrees F at night . I don,t know if the branch is dormant or if that will make a difference .

I want to bend it in a horseshoe shape . The closer the two ends are together the better. This branch is about two inches in diameter to one inch over a nine foot length . There are considerable branches branching off which I trimmed down . I have already roped the two ends and slowly started to tigten up/shorten the rope .

It still has a long way to go . The inner circumference bark has started to pinch together in an accordion fashion . I would like to preserve the bark so I don,t want it to rupture .

What else should I do ? Its outside . I can always bring it in the house . Its warm but awful dry .
 
Kevin, it will keep bending at that one spot that is kinking.

You'll have to find a way to brace it, or, set up two other bend points, in between that kink point and the ends. hard to describe, but, you want to give it smaller bends, all along it's length. (Imagine bending a coat hanger) if you just keep pulling the two ends together, you will end up with a Vee, instead of a "U".

If you can find an old tire or 55 gallon drum, you can trying to bend around a round object, in order to lessen the stress at that one point.
if you had some clamps, you could clamp one end, then start slowly (over days or weeks) keep bending it around, moving additional clamps inot place as it started to conform to that shape.

2inches is pretty thick, it may take some time. Dormancy shouldn't matter, this time of year, in February, maybe.

had you known this a year ago, you could have been bending it while "on the hoof".
Short of steam bending you have your work cut out, take it slowly.

Good Luck.
 
Bending her on the hoof would have been a good idea . My neighbors are so stilted in their lives that they could never understood it . The city might have taken a dim view as well .

For the moment it is not kinking at one spot the accordion shape is fairly even on the sharpest part of the radius . Thats a good idea to bend around something . There isn,t too much available aside from the tree itself . If I did that I would have the local punks playing with it .
 
SkunkWerx I will modify what you suggested . When the place where it bows reaches the radius I wish I will put a brace across just before where I wish it to continue to bend . For stability and to give it the semblance of a continuing smooth curve I may put two braces. One just before the continuation of curvature and another further along . I hope it will not hinge too badly at these new spots . When it is almost dry . 2-3 months in house ? I will take off one of the braces and so on . Thanks for pointing out what I needed to do .
 
As long as you go slowly, it should'nt hinge too badly at the brace.
You can even move the brace, inch at a time, when you add more tension.

I'm gald you understood my description...tough thing to put into words.

Sounds like you have a system now. Maybe try something like a tourniquette, so you can give it spin or two each day?


But, uh oh Kevin....
Just found this:
Stock Selection
The U.S. Forest Service has evaluated 25 hardwood species for relative bending quality. In their testing, the best 17 woods were:

Hackberry (Best)
White Oak
Red oak
Chestnut oak
Magnolia
Pecan
Black walnut
Hickory
Beech
Elm
Willow
Birch
Ash
Sweetgum
Soft maple
Yellow-poplar
Hard maple (Worst)

Ash is pretty low on the scale, so be careful.
 
My bow is Ash . Don,t they make snowshoes from Ash? I guess I,m shooting myself in the foot here . I tried bending her some more . The closer I get to the thicker part of the branch the harder it is to bend . Real hard. Maybe I,ll try to rig up something else.............. Like a bonfire. :mad:
 
go google, do search, "bending green wood" there is a lot of info.

They say use heat on the inside of the bend.
Maybe that bonfire will work! :)
 
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