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TOC How were wood handlebars made?

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AluminumStork

'Lil Knee Scuffer
Hello,

These wood handlebars are peeking my interest... I was wondering how they made them... I know they where bent by steam but how did they get the shape? What sort of jig/jigs were used and did they do the bends in one sitting or do a few steam bends and move them from one jig to another between steaming? From searching looks like they where made from hickory... any other woods used?
anyone have pictures of these jigs?

Thanks in advance!
 
I’ve seen adds from the times offerring hickory, oak and elm... don’t see any reason both bends wouldn’t be done at the same time(assuming rams horn style bars), re-steaming doesn’t make sense from a manufacturing standpoint. Haven’t seen pictures of the process, did a bunch of research thinking I was going to have to do some myself, finally found an original pair.
 
In the case of the 1897 Victor wood bars, several styles were offered and since specified dimensions were advertised, it would have required male and female clamps along with stationary jigs to hold the bars in place as they dried out. The bars were usually tapered towards the grips which required lathe work before bending. Overman Wheel Co. used hickory. I would imagine that the actual bending was all done by hand and to ease in the handling, the bar would have been somewhat longer and then cut to length in the finishing process. While the manufacture of wood bars may have varied in minor details from company to company, the general application would have been universal.
 
Just A Good Point:
Some were Made From Solid Wood, While Others were Made From Thin Sheets of Wood Glued Together!!!!!:D
 
Here is a site where they are making some wood bars...


https://cycling-lessons.wonderhowto...ycle-with-wooden-diy-riser-handlebar-0138883/

Some TOC handlebar info... mostly rims.

https://thecabe.com/forum/threads/toc-wood-rim-makers-info.61555/

The Italians make modern wood bars as do many small makers around the USA - many of them also make wood fenders.

CB Italia - Italy http://www.cbita.it/?page_id=113&lang=en

Cerchi Ghisallo - Italy http://www.cerchiinlegnoghisallo.com/homeeng.php

Here are the Ghisallo bars - they use a steel rod in these.

https://www.cerchioghisallo.com/en/prodotti/manubri-ultrasteel/

Noah Stutzman - from Ohio ..... Stutzman Wheel Shop 330-897-1391 Address: 33656 Cr 12 Baltic, OH 43804. He likes letters even better!

Kindly note the lamination method should be a little stronger than one pc. Also with lamination, you may not need steam to form your bars. Depends on the thickness of the lamination and methodology used etc....
 
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