Bending finished selfbow

[rbbhunt]

I have a osage selfbow I made last year and am thinking of reflexing or even bending to static tips.  I finished it with tru-oil.  Can it be bent now that it is finished?  Should I remove all the finish at the ends and should I steam it or use dry heat?

Thanks.

[Dano]

Steam will cause the wood to check, I would use dry heat. I would get as much finish off as I could, and then use some crisco to keep the wood from scortching.

[Pat B]

You should remove the finish as it will not take the heat. You can remove the Tru-Oil only where you are going to heat and when done you should be able to blend the new Tru-Oil finish back into the old so it won't be noticeable.
   Static tips will increase your speed a bit and the draw weight also. It will also add more stress to the limbs because they are working harder and being pulled farther so don't force anything. Adding reflex will also stress the limbs more than they are now for the same reasons.  Pat

[Shaun]

My experience is that you can only heat and change the non working areas of the bow, ie tips and handle area. You can heat and shape the working area but it will bend right back to where it started and stay there. I added recurve tips to an already finish tillered osage bow - against the advice of some folks on the net - and it worked fine plus earned the bow a name... "No No Nannette"

[rbbhunt]

Thanks for the advice.  I think I will play around with it some and see what I can do with the tips.  I'll probably try to make static tips.  All I can do is mess it up and have to make another selfbow!!!!!!!

[John Scifres]

I'd definitely encourage playing around.  But, keep in mind that reflexing or adding static tips to a bow will change it.  Tell us more about the design and we can help.  In general, when I tweak a bow I only reflex the tips a bit.  If I am adding static tips or reflexing a lot, I like to totally rethink the design.  If the bow is long, I will often cut it down.  Long bows don't like static tips as much as short ones.  There is a lot of mass in the tips.  Adding sinew is also a great way to make a so-so bow a great, short static recurve.

Have fun,

John

[rbbhunt]

It's 64" NTN if I remember right and 47# at 27".  It is actually the first and only selfbow I have made.  I thought I would play around with it some and tweak it.  If it messes it up, I'll just learn from it and have to start over.  I've got a soft spot for static tipped bows as I have 2 sovereign ballistiks and like the performance.  I think I may try it at the length it is and if there is a problem, I still might be able to shorten it a little and get it to work.

[John Scifres]

That's about as long as I'd make a static.  Preferably shorter from osage.  But. it should work just fine and the cool factor of static tips is worht it.  Try and make them fairly narrow and don't go overboard with the angle or radius.  I'd say about a 40 degree angle 5-6" from the tip would serve you best.