HELP hot box temp. went to high

[Mad Max]

I went out to the shop and my curing box was 208*
for maybe 30 minutes
I had it set at 180*
I guess my heat controller had a hickup

What will that heat do to my limb if anything???

[rmorris]

You should be fine, I would not worry about it.

[rmorris]

Are we taking about smooth on?

[Mad Max]

yes smooth-on

Thanks

[bigbob2]

Only thing I can think of is if you're using glass it might 'prickle' the scrim. Have heard that much over 60c the strands of scrim stand up or move from their manufactured position within the glass.

[BigJim]

What do you have to loose? build it and shoot it. If it fails, throw it away...safety glasses wouldn't hurt though. Everything else will grow back except the bow that is.

Wood suffers damage at 212 deg and you can over cook smooth on. A lot will depend on how accurate your thermometer is and placement of it in the box.

Just because the box hit 208 doesn't mean that the  bow did. No need in getting to 180 either. Anything over 150 is gracious plenty.

bigjim

[Mad Max]

Thanks bigjim

[LittleBen]

IIRC smooth on actually can be cured at up to 200 or 210 depending on ratio of A:B it's just a shorter cure time. Check the technical bulletin on their site.

I think you will be fine,

[Robertfishes]

I am still using the 150* on 180* off snap disk I got from Binghams. It did shut lights off once when I used 150 watt bulbs in place of 100 watt bulbs..my thermometer was just under 180 degrees, I didn't fully trust my thermometer and was worried about hot spots under the bulbs. So..I put the 100s back in and cooked bow at 160-165 degrees.I was relieved to see the snap disk work, I didn't test it when I first got it.

[BigJim]

I currently use an oven and will bake 4 - 6 bows at a time in there. I have the heat strips too, but just use them for heating the overlays now.

I have a little more fancy set up for my box, but in the past when using heat strips, I had cooked more than one bow.

I find that I have plenty of things to do that i'm not in a hurry for bows to come out of the box.

I'm currently using two 220 baseboard heaters inside a large insulated box. The heaters are below a steel plate and have fans to circulate the air around the plate, bows and box...kind of like convection. I hooked it up with a honeywell controller and a good thermometer.
After that, no more problems

bigjim

[LittleBen]

Originally posted by BigJim:

I find that I have plenty of things to do that I'm not in a hurry for bows to come out of the box.

This is probably sage advice ... Always good to hear advice from a guy who does more than most of us all combined.

[JamesV]

My box has 8-100 watt bulbs, my shop is not heated, so in the winter I will run 6-8 to get the temp I want, in the summer 4-6. I do have a fan in my box but rarely use it. My bulbs are in the bottom with shields over them, and my BBQ temp gage is in the top with the probe at the same level as the bow. Just unscrew a few bulbs to get the temp you need,

James

[7 Lakes]

30 minutes at 208 degrees, especially if they were the first 30 minutes does not mean your bow reached 208.

Think about it, put a 40degree roast in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes.  The internal temp of the roast will not have changed at all.

[KenH]

I knew there was a good reason not to use a bow oven!  I'm content to wait overnight, thank you; I'm never in such a hurry that a few hours will make a difference.