5 Inch bell stirrups

[ct701996]

Hey I am new to this place i am 16 years old. I have done a bunch of tooling (not very good yet)but i would like to learn how to make stirrups. Ive studied them and the only thing i cannot figure out is how to bend the wood. If any of you know how to do this please say so

[greg gomersall]

to bend it you need to steam the wood. Greg

[ct701996]

What kind of wood do you think is best

[Denise]

ct

Here is a very active woodworking forum. Hopefully you can find something on steam bending wood there too.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/

[Art]

Hi Greg,

Do you saddlemakers make them from scratch or do you buy them and cover them?

Art

to bend it you need to steam the wood. Greg

[greg gomersall]

Hi Greg,

Do you saddlemakers make them from scratch or do you buy them and cover them?

Art

Most saddlemaker's buy the stirrups made up but there are a few who cover thier own and then there are a couple who actually even bend thier own wood. For the most part we just buy them from people who specalize in stirrups. Greg

[jman]

I have made my own stirrups. I usually will take quarter sawn red oak and cut it into 1/8 " by 3" on my bandsaw. Soak those pieces overnight in water with fabric softner added. I have made up a jig and will bend those pieces around it and clamp them down to dry. Once dry i glue them togeter with gorilla glue and clamp it back on to the jig.

[Bob]

I agree, the time and effort to make stirrups is too high to make it profitable to bother with making stirrups. Besides having a saparate shop is another for saws and more equipment is another issue. Especially when they can be purchased so cheap. thats my two bits worth.

[ct701996]

Thanks for all the great info. Also does anyone here cover them with monel or brass

[Go2Tex]

I tried it once. Took me all weekend and it wasn't as good as I could buy. Soooo......

[grumpyguy]

ct701996,

I build custom bits and spurs, along with some saddlery. I have not tried to cover stirups, but after reading your question I got to thinkin' why not. Here's how I'd go about it. I'd do just like jman said. The only thing I might do different is I'd use white oak because it's more resistant to rot than red oak. It's a little harder to find but boat builders will use nothing else. I'd find the best weather proof finish that will stand up to water and finish them after bending and gluing them together. I'd probably go with brass as it would be easier to work with, nickel would work too, but cost a little more and is somewhat harder to get. Something like 20 or 22 ga. sheet slightly longer than the outside length of your stirups. Your also going to need a bunch of small brass nails and the appropriate sized drill. (Make sure they are brass and not brass plated or you'll get rust as your plating wears off.) Next I'd make a cardstock pattern and allow about an eighth inch or three sixtenths extra all the way around the edges. I'd then cut out the brass and wrap it around the stirup and clamp them in place with some C clamps, using scrap leather to keep from scratching the metal. Drill all the pilot holes every so often and then nail the metal down. Try to place them evenly as possible so it looks good and try not to dimple them too much, flush with the surface of the metal would be good. Pull off the clamps and with smooth jawed set of pliers bend the extra edges slightly over all the way around all the sides. (I make smooth jawed pliers from cheap pliers often found in the sale bin at hardware stores, I carefully grind the teeth out of the end of the pliers and smooth them out. (This takes care and a steady hand.) Smooth jawed blacksmith pliers will work great but you don't see those around much.) Go back and gently tap around the edges until the edges are down against the wood, my choice for this would be a light brass hammer. Try tapping them down a little at a time all the way around to minimizing streching the metal out too much. Keep going around until all is flat with the wood all the way around. Some fine sand paper might be needed to sand out any dings left on the edges. Start with 320 or 400 grit and finsh with 800 grit. A little silver polish with a soft cloth will blend the edges into the smooth shiney finish of the metal.

Brass and nickel silver can be obtained through a jewelers supply outfit. I get mine through Santa Fe Jeweler's Supply, they have a web site and have been good to order from. Sterling silver and fine silver is expensive and I'd avoid that on stirups made for everyday use as it does not do well with getting damp and is softer, scratching very easily. As we all know stirups tend to take a beating on and off the horse.

Thing is I want to encourage you to give it a try. All of us older folks are always telling kids what they should or should not try. I wish someone had taken enough intrest to help me learn about the things I was interested in at sixteen. If making cowboy and buckaroo gear is what you want to do you could certainly do alot worse. Good luck and post your results. Who knows you might find you're good at it and you can make and sell custom stirups to all your buckaroo friends. If you come up with questions give a yell. I will probably give this a try too, I'm planning a saddle for my daughter and this might give it that extra kick, and I'd be able to say I did it myself! I'm thinking of making them with contrasting initials and engraved trim, I've already started on her horn cap and cantel plate. Her tree is also in the works, bars and cantel are glued up, it'll be a 15 1/2" wade.

Edited February 20, 2009 by grumpyguy

[gtwister09]

I have done a little research on bending wood and I have been helping someone make stirrups over the past month.

We have been looking for a stirrup machine. Does anyone know where you may pick up one of these?

We were not soaking wood. We were using steam. Ours were cut 1/8" thick as well and glued together.

One of the reasons for the small thickness is that it cuts down on the time to plasticize the wood (a good rule of thumb would be 1 hour per inch). As you already know one of the issues is the amount of time required as well as the wood waste of cutting into small strips even with a thin kerf on a band saw. When bending you want the grain to run parallel to the length. You do not want grain to have run-out along its length. It goes without saying that green wood would be the easiest to work, then air-dried and then kiln-dried. White oak is actually a little better than red oak for steaming but both work fairly well.

Titebond and Gorilla both make some good poly glues that are waterproof. When you look at forums you will see that using Titebond III is not the best choice. Many people feel that it doesn't perform as well as others. Like Gorilla glue it leaves a dark line which isn't a problem with darker woods.

Here are some wood bending books that I shared before we started.

• The Complete Manual of Wood Bending: Milled, Laminated, and Steambent Work by Lon Schleining
  
• Woodworker's Guide to Bending Wood: Techniques, Projects and Expert Advice for Fine Woodworking by Jonathan Benson
  
• Bending Solid Wood to Form by Edward Peck
  
• Bending Wood by Fine Woodworking Authors
  

You might also want to check out books on Bending Plywood and Substrates since you are cutting the material thin like we are. Cutting it into thin strips is similar to plywood layers so you may find some information there as well but the books above have lots of information that should get you started.

As Denise mentioned there are a lot of forums and information on the web. sawmillcreek is one of them that has some bending information. Here's are some of the forums and links that I have. I have included the first few in my list. Hopefully this will help you get started. Google is your friend if you want to look up more after checking out the books.

There is a Steambending FAQ which appears in rec.woodworking each month that has some good information. It's the first link.

FAQs in Steam Bending

Steam Bending

Sailing Forum

Wood Properties - Steaming Included

Aussie Woodworking Forum - Steam Bending

Enjoy and good luck.

Regards,

Ben

[greg gomersall]

Please keep in mind you can also use a solid piece instead of laminating. Traditionaly white oak is used. Keith Wilson steams his and I believe Arron Fandek is now using a solid piece he is steaming. Greg

[gtwister09]

Greg is quite right that you can use a single piece of wood and it has been used for quite some time. He is likewise correct about white oak being the standard used for stirrups because it performs better bending than red oak does. One of the links that I included gave those details. Most of those books give you wood properties as they relate to bending with and without steam.

However as you will find with studying engineering properties that there is a lot of benefits with strength, elasticity, stresses and so forth that are derived from a lamination versus a sold piece of material.

Regards,

Ben

[grumpyguy]

Wow, you guys have done your homework. Thanks for offering the help here with the info. I started out just wanting to help ct here and decided to try it myself. As a youngster I made some laminated wooden skis and bent some ash for various progects. I found in making jigs that supporting the laminates all the way around the curves is crictical in preventing the splitting. Attention to the grain is also very important as you've already said.

Thankyou Greg and Ben.

I hope this helps you ct.

[ct701996]

Thanks for all the great info. I tried bending some wood this week. If i soak it in dot water then it seems to bend better. I still have yet to buy the wood

[justtryit]

Hi Jman, how long did you have to wait for the wood to dry before you glued up? I soaked some very dry hickory and it seemed to take days to dry. maybe i waited too long. How do you know if it is dry? any tricks? thanks justtryit

I have made my own stirrups. I usually will take quarter sawn red oak and cut it into 1/8 " by 3" on my bandsaw. Soak those pieces overnight in water with fabric softner added. I have made up a jig and will bend those pieces around it and clamp them down to dry. Once dry i glue them togeter with gorilla glue and clamp it back on to the jig.