Straightening Stringers

Chan Hughes

Chan Hughes

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 25, 2023
Messages
47
Location
Fresno CA
Purchased new wood from Ron @ Rainbow.

Tips on dealing with bowed stringers would be appreciated. Need to straighten and start over with the install of 2 of them.

Have clamped in place and safety wired (not satisfactory). Have also held in place with ratchet strap for about 2 weeks to let them "settle" to that shape.... just to see it snap back to its bowed state when relieving the ratchet strap.

Remove varnish and rehydrate wood to reinstall? Let me know what you think.

Thanks!


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During disassembly found either wire or nails at every junction. So far I’ve used .025 stainless at locations only where needed
 
back in the day we would make our own round bow tips for cubs, and the boss would take them home and soak them in his wife's hot tub, she eventually found out, and we had to start buying them already made. worked great for a year or two tho!

You could try rehydrating them with heat or steam.

But I would think you just need to secure them with wire or whatever, and when the fabric is shrunk, it would pull the stingers and hold them in place. But I've never recovered a citabria fuse.
 
that's basically how it's supposed to work. brass safety wire to cinch everything tight then the fabric goes on making the wires unnecessary but who's going back in there to remove them??
 
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