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Post by Black Hand on Jan 15, 2021 19:17:41 GMT -7
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Toboggan
Jan 16, 2021 6:19:39 GMT -7
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Post by paranger on Jan 16, 2021 6:19:39 GMT -7
That is awesome: I love it!
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Post by hawkeyes on Jan 16, 2021 17:17:32 GMT -7
Just one amazing piece, beautifully done.
I've never steam bent anything but ash... I have plenty of tight grained white oak and I'm curious to see if I plane the boards down whether or not the bend could be applied successfully...
I'm thinking 6' would be perfectly suitable for everything from trapping, hunting to cross country treks.
How long did you allow the boards to set over the form and how the heck did you set them up for a boil?
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Toboggan
Jan 16, 2021 22:54:58 GMT -7
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Post by brokennock on Jan 16, 2021 22:54:58 GMT -7
That is truly excellent and I appreciate you posting it again with construction pictures. How did you boil such large pieces?
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Toboggan
Jan 17, 2021 4:30:04 GMT -7
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Post by hawkeyes on Jan 17, 2021 4:30:04 GMT -7
That is truly excellent and I appreciate you posting it again with construction pictures. How did you boil such large pieces? Definitely, have some ideas in my whirlwind of a mind but I certainly haven't a vessel deep enough to boil the ends. Large stock pot?
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Post by Black Hand on Jan 17, 2021 5:56:12 GMT -7
Large pot and a turkey burner (set-up to deep-fry turkey). I'd guess I left the curve to cool overnight, but knowing my impatience, probably less... I honestly think steaming would be better and could be accomplished with an electric griddle, water and tinfoil (with some success). I also had good success "massaging" the curve with a spray bottle of water and a heat gun (the 1/4" planks cooled too quickly for the curve to be fully bent - forcing cool wood will result in splitting/lifting of splinters), so that might work too. In the woods, (in)direct heat on green/wet wood would accomplish the bend. I did some reading and others (Karl Koster, Isaac Walters?) soaked the pieces use for the bottom in their entirety. This may make some difference in expansion - I needed to plane the edges of the length I had boiled, as the wood plank was wider that the original width. Others also mentioned tapering the back end, as the toboggan tracked better when pulled. If I'd had more wood, I would have used more cross-pieces, though there aren't any discernable problems only having 4. In some cases, brass wire has been used instead of rawhide for the lacing. The jury is out on whether finishing/waxing confers an advantage or is even necessary (My toboggan is not finished in any way, including the rawhide lashing). My thought is that starting with planks 5-5.5ft in length would yield a 4-4.5ft toboggan - this would be large enough for 1 person and their gear (if they didn't pack like me who carries enough for a trip around the world). Attachments:snow-toboggan.pdf (360.1 KB)
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Toboggan
Jan 17, 2021 6:33:59 GMT -7
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Post by brokennock on Jan 17, 2021 6:33:59 GMT -7
While learning to build wooden bows I was always told to heat bend dry wood with dry heat and wet/green wood with wet heat. But, I successfully steam bent hickory limbs of well seasoned hickory several times. One could still use the large stock pot and some large metal ventilation pipe, and some heavy aluminum foil to steam the wood. This would allow you to start with more water to make steam. With the electric griddle one would have to keep opening the system to add water or risk boiling dry. I do have the turkey fryer burner, or is what I use to heat my big pot of lead to clean bulk lead. Don't the pipe or skill set to create a T shaped steam chimney attached to the top of the pot.
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Post by Black Hand on Jan 17, 2021 6:44:44 GMT -7
We used wet heat to bend Osage Orange bow limbs...
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Post by hawkeyes on Jan 17, 2021 8:58:42 GMT -7
I figured a turkey setup was used. I'm sporty enough to try a large stock pot over an open fire and boil till my hearts content.
5.5' is exactly what I honestly have settled on as I'm at this moment heading out to set the planer up...
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Toboggan
Feb 7, 2021 13:23:13 GMT -7
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Post by hawkeyes on Feb 7, 2021 13:23:13 GMT -7
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Post by spence on Feb 7, 2021 17:58:37 GMT -7
Somebody smarten me up. Wouldn't the toboggan work the same if the front was only bent up about half that? So long a the leading edge was up off the ground several inches it would seem to me it would ride over the snow in the same way. That would seem to simplify the job of steaming/boiling/heating and bending the wood.
Maybe of some interest:
Boston Gazette 18 Apr 1757 New-York, April 14. "Every man in the French army that came against Fort William Henry, was equipped in the following manner, viz. With two pair of Indian shoes, 2 pair of stockings, 1 pair of spatterdashes, 1 pair of breechees, 2 jackets, 1 large over-coat, 2 shirts, 2 caps, 1 hat, 1 pair of mittins, 1 tomakawk, 2 pocket-knives, 1 scalping knife, 1 steel and flint, every two men an ax, and every four a kettle and oyl cloth for a tent, with one blanket and a bearskin, and 12 days provision of pork and bread; all which they drew on little hand-sleighs."
Spence
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Post by Black Hand on Feb 7, 2021 18:32:21 GMT -7
Spence - you are correct. As long as there is enough clearance in the front, the toboggan should go over obstacles without "nose-diving". I wonder if the amount of curve is a stylistic feature that helps differentiate between cultures or whether it is a design feature much like the differences in snowshoe shapes/sizes/configurations which adapt them to different terrains and snow types?
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Toboggan
Feb 9, 2021 13:51:57 GMT -7
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Post by paranger on Feb 9, 2021 13:51:57 GMT -7
FYI, Matt Wulff has an article in the latest Muzzleloader Magazine on building a pc toboggan (Jan/Feb 2021 - mine just arrived today).
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Post by Black Hand on Feb 9, 2021 17:29:38 GMT -7
FYI, Matt Wulff has an article in the latest Muzzleloader Magazine on building a pc toboggan (Jan/Feb 2021 - mine just arrived today). Is Mike Nesbitt still a fixture of MM? He is why I stopped subscribing...lots of words to say very little of consequence (if anything at all).
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Toboggan
Feb 9, 2021 19:02:34 GMT -7
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Post by paranger on Feb 9, 2021 19:02:34 GMT -7
FYI, Matt Wulff has an article in the latest Muzzleloader Magazine on building a pc toboggan (Jan/Feb 2021 - mine just arrived today). Is Mike Nesbitt still a fixture of MM? He is why I stopped subscribing...lots of words to say very little of consequence (if anything at all). He is still a staff writer. I seldom read his column, frankly. I do find Vince Spiotti, Matt Wolff, and T C. Albert normally worth reading, though.
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