Paul,
When I was doing these, I was learning along the way. I would agree that trying to bend prior to heating thru is risky. I think that's why I simply pushed some deflection in the stock and then let it heat until it wouldn't springback when the pressure was released. That little test indicated that it had sufficiently heated thru. Of course that took another 10-15 mins beyond my initial 10-15 mins., which matches up with your experience of waiting 30 mins or so.
JC,
That's a nice clean, simple fixture. It's approximately the thickness of a friend's base for his fixture. Mine is overkill on the thickness. But I wanted to ensure I wasn't flexing the base, just the wrist of the stock.
Joe,
Thanks for the insight about how Jack Rowe did it. Comforting to get a hint that I have some instincts, even if Mike doesn't think I have shooting and hunting instincts.
Rp,
I think fine control is not needed. If it were, I'd use a finer thread pitch on the jackscrews. The "feel" of how much pressure is being applied is more important, IMO.
