Steam or water bending wood for R/D

[eflanders]

One of the recent posts about a steam box got me to wondering...  Do any of you use steam or a combination of water soaked wood and heat to soften the wood for putting reflex and or deflex into your bows?  I would think this method would be better for the wood itself and maybe make the "set" be more permanent?

Years ago I restored an old wood sailboat and steam bent some 1" x 1" x 8' long mahogany wood strips as this was the only way I knew how to form them at the time. I just used an old rain gutter that was set on top off a burning barrel.  I filled with gutter with water, placed the strips into the water and let 'em cook until they were pliable enough to bend around the form.  This method prevented scorched material as just plain heat wouldn't do anything to those strips.

[ChristopherO]

Assuming you are refering to a one piece all wood bow I imagaine it could be done as many static recurves are bent with steam.  But, dry heat has proven to be a very effective method to not just bend wood but stiffen the belly wood which reduces set and adds performance.  Steam is good, in my opinion, for non working portions of the bow but I prefer dry heat in shaping the working limbs.
If you don't want the scorched look then it can be scrapped and sanded off before finishing.

[eflanders]

Heat setting is very common in the building of bamboo flyrods as it adds speed due to the hardening of the fibers.  When they "cook" a flyrod it darkens the wood considerably.  One of the drawbacks is that the heat treating will also remove or limit the elasticity so the material.