Heat gun/Hot Air gun?

Moro,

Can't help out on the heat gun. I am interested to see what responses you get.

I have tried straightening sticks with steam and been mostly unsuccessful.

First I wrapped the area that had the hook with wet towels and heated with a propane torch. That pretty much just scorched the towels, and my butt when the wife saw them!

Next I got out my propane fish fryer pot, filled it with water and got it boiling. I then put the stick over the steaming pot. It seemed to work till I got too rammy and over bent the sticks to the breaking point. I then gave up on trying to straighten sticks.

After a bit more research I've come to the conclusion that I need to build a steam box for the sticks, add a lid on the pot to trap the steam and some kinda pipe or duct to get the steam from the pot to the box. That is way too much messing around for me at this point.

The way I see it now, if mother nature put a kink in the staff it's meant to be there and besides that au naturel look gives the piece character!

MJC4, many thanks. I've tried the stream method like you described, but mine was much more messy... Lol. I used hadite blocks to build a small fire pit. Small enough to support a fish cooker pot....and built a "tent" out of sheet aluminum. I could lay my stick over the top of the boiling pot... Placed the tent over that and used an old blanket to seal in the steam from the boiling pot. It worked Ok after about 30 - 45 minutes. I don't really want to straighten large crooks or kinks.... But maybe some arc out of some sticks. I like the tip of the cane to be under the hand holding the handle of the cane. I really like the twists and crooks in between... Like you said.... Mother nature saw fit!
But I ran across a YouTube video a while back with a guy straightening some bends out of his shafts, using a hot air gun , and I thought I'd like to give it a try. Like most of my sticks and canes and carving.... I'm still in the trial and error stage! Lol And I like playing around with different ideas. Thanks again, I appreciate your ideas and help.

Staightening shanks is a simple easy job,and steaming them is the best way, i use a hot air gun to tweek my shanks

JUst lay the shanks over a boiling pan cover with a cloth and leave them for a 10 mins or so that way you never scotch them

Basically any hot air gun will do you dont need a fancy one .mine has to setting,the heat gun is also useful for shaping horn and works well.

The thing is fan the shank with the hot air gun dont leave it in one spot kepp turning the shank whilst you do it and dont scorch the wood,remember that the heat will have to penatrate into the shank and not just the surface before you try to bend it.

I hate bent shanks and will always straighten them if need be. They are stronger and flex better when under pressure

if you come across a shank with a dogs leg on it dont try to straighten it hardly ever works.(by dogs leg i mean where there has been a branch shooting of the shank and causes a knot,

A lot of people think that a crooked shank gives characture its just taste ,just do it the way you want

If you look in the section maked "home made sticks" in the forum and look for the article "my first stick hawthorn " there are some jigs there i use to straighten shanks with in the meantime this may help article from the book "stickmaking a complete course"

View attachment 2666 View attachment 2666 I did some minor tweaking here with some steam and included a couple of pics for reference. This method gets
used all the time and I got the idea from the internet. Just fill a pot 1/4 full water max, put the lid on and wait for it to boil.
Take lid off and place sticks on top of pot to where they need to be tweaked and cover with foil making sure it's wrapped as well as you can leaving a space or two for the steam to escape.

I gave these two sticks about 15 min steaming time per area that needed bending and had no problem.
Notice the oven mitts, don't forget those. You can bend over your knee but make sure you also put a towel there as well so you don't get burned. I also used the floor as a brace and using body weight pushed them back reasonably straight. I held them in position for about a minute before letting up and checking to see. The results were just as I'd hoped.

Sean

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