If it's so bad I cant make shorter bow from it.I don't use it. You say that a couple of things come into play here.I don't use heat and hav'nt for over 10 years.If your stave is so bad you have to heat it to strighten it.You starting out disadvaned.By heating you change cell strucker and your bow comes out looking good but not to durable.Like I said It looks good but couple hundard shots later it go's out of tiller or something.I like to keep it natual.I like to use the KISS method,keep it simple stuipit.This work on just about everything.