Thread: help please woodbending

How long was it in the jig, and what sort of glue did you use? It does sound like internal stresses in the timber, and if the glue hasn't gone off completely there may have been some creep.
I'd try to plane the convex side flat, which may mean clamping the ends to the bench and working out from the middle to the ends. Then flatten the other sides. This will only work if you have enough thickness to work with.

Others may experienced the problem and found better solutions.

It was in the jig for about 24hours some where in for about 2 or more days. The glue was a pva glue. Pretty sure titrebond. Thank you for your suggestion I might try it out based off other suggestions. I'm just hoping have enough timber to work with

PVA can creep, so maybe that was the problem. I've used epoxy or X-linked PVA with no problems.

As Alexs said the glue has some creep in it. Epoxy is best where there is any stress. First check that the faces of the form are square as you may be building in the error. Another cause could be uneven squareness of the laminations. I have come across this making archery bows. Each laminatiom needs to be even across it's width or the stress finds somewhere to move. I overcame this by passing the laminations through a thickness sander to get then square. Mine was a sanding drum and fence on a drillpress.

Regards
John

Dry bending is always going to produce stress in the timber. The type of glue will determin how much resistance can be placed on these stresses. The elasticity of PVA wouldallow the timber to creep after clamp removal. Epoxy would be a better choice.

Might try steam bending like a boat keel.
Make up a jig with about 20% overshot.
Dad used galvanized rain gutter tube, electric kettle at the bottom, rag in the top
to control the steam flow.
Give it 6-8 hr with NO PEEKING.

Here's the deal = air dried wood runs about 12-14% moisture content. When you steam it, the steam transfers heat to that MC in the wood, heating it up. The noncellulosic fraction of the wood is quite plastic when heated. Lignins, hemicelluloses and so on.
In effect, you're going to slowly melt some plastic.

Into the jig, have a beer and go to bed. You should be there (shape) when it's cold.

We put the keels on hot (oven mitts). I was a kid, filled the kettle, never got a beer.

Thankyou everyone for your suggestions, I will try them out if i have to re make the brace. I'm just trying to see if i can plane and thickness it out fingers crossed i have enough room to do so