alternative ways to make ox-bows.

[bivol]

hi!

after reading columella’s de re rustica about oxen i’m persuaded for the neck yoke being better of head yoke. the biggest problem for me is making the bows. besides making them of wood i’m really intrested in iron or steel bows. by that i think iron or steel pipes or bars bent. i’ve made plans for a iron bending frame, but for bending pipe, how do you keep the bows round when bending? fill them with sand?(red somwhere)
also all other alternative ideas are warmly welcome!
thanks!

[Carl Russell]

You can fill them with sand, which I have never tried, but I also have read, or been told it works. Or, there are pipe benders that help bend the pipe a section at a time in a controlled way to prevent squishing. I think iron rods bent are common in some parts of the world.
Carl

[Author]

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