To temper or Not to temper, that is the ?

[Chuck Hoopes]

Did a stupid thing.  Ive got 3 bows going in various stages of completion, and several other irons in the fire-- Anyway, a hickory/silk bow that I had planned to temper in hope of gaining a few pounds, wound up getting stained by yours truley. Duh.     No other poly, or finish has been put on the bow-- So- do I go ahead and try heat tempering the belly, inspite of the stain?  What might I expect to have happen if I do?

[Pat B]

I would be concerned about the fumes from the stain. When you temper you are scorching the belly wood. How the stain reacts to that i don't know.
Also, if your bow heats up enough, you may weaken the glue holding the backing.

[Chuck Hoopes]

Pat, these were the same things I was concerned about.  I do not imagine I will get a definitive ans. to my quest. as it is unlikely anyone else has been so stupid as to get themselves in this situation.  As far as the backing goes, Tb111 will hold up to 150 deg.  I was thinking that if I could just keep the back slightly cooled while heating the belly, I could likely get away w/ it.   The bow is 72" so I may just cut it down some 1 1/2".

[Art B]

You're probably not going to enjoy the smell of scorching stain! I would suggest you scrape/sand of the stain before any heat treating. I've not had any problems (that I couldn't fix) from doing a quick heat job on rawhide (heat treating) and sinew backed bows (straightening purposes). Trick is to keep the nozzle of the gun VERY close to your work and try to prevent any blow-back (if using a heat caul make it narrow) of heat to the back of the bow. Just keep a close check on the back of your bow as you proceed. Nothing ventured nothing gained. Give it a shot! ART B

[Roy Steele]

Leave your bow the wat it is.chalk that one up to exsperence.If you must use heat do it first.

[sulphur]

i have done this one before!!!  heres the thing, stain no worries, glue you used for your backing worry.  heres how you fix it.  flash temper (so to speak)  all your worried about in tempering is heating the belly side.  use you gas grille, if you have one, heat on high for 3 mins and then clamp a little reflex in while it cools.  You can even just hang a weight from the end while it cools.  your backing should be ok because the high heat wont soak all the way through the wood.  its worked for me a few times actually.

[Chuck Hoopes]

Sulphur- I took your approach.  No Probs.  Will check tiller tomorrow, and take a few shots to see if I achieved the desired effect.  Then I heat treated another bow-this one was Ipe/hick. Again no probs. and I did shoot this one later in the day-- and the improvement was very noticeable- Haven't checked but it feels like it gained at least 5lbs, and perhaps as much as 8.  It is a shooter now- it was pretty lame previous to the heat temper.  Thanks for the Heads up!

[Chuck Hoopes]

Actually it was Art B's approach I took--thanks to both of you for your suggestions, - I see no reason why sulpfurs approach would not work, if closely monitored.

[Chuck Hoopes]

Actually it was Art B's approach I took--thanks to both of you for your suggestions, - I see no reason why sulpfurs approach would not work, if closely monitored.  Iam really impressed w/ the results of tempering- It just may be the "silver Bullet" for easy bow improvement.- Iam quickly becoming a convert.