Made a 40 lb. osage bow, unfortunatly

[Don Armstrong]

I was shooting for a 47 to 50 lb bow   :( . It is a 62" osage with flipped tips. I could pike it but would have to re-flip the tips. I am looking for another route. If I heat treat the belly, could I pick up 7 to 10 lbs. If so, do I heat treat to a dark red with oil like bending, or go to black. I was also thinking of gluing  a .100 hickory  slat on the belly and re-tillering simlar to what Pat did to his two tips bow to remove frets. If I can't get the weight up, I guess I will hunt for someone who needs a 40 lb. bow   :D   . Don

[John Scifres]

Try the heat treating first.  It wouldn't surprise me if you picked up what you want.  You really have to get it nice and toasty.  But, why did you miss weight.  Design issue? Tillering too fast?

[Pat B]

I wouldn't add hickory to the belly. An osage slat will bring up the weight to what you want and it doesn't have to be very thick at all. 1/8" thick will add a lot of weight.
  If you heat treat(dry and to chocolate brown) and add reflex you might gain 5# +/-.

[Don Armstrong]

John, after getting it bending even on a long string I strung it up at about 5". One limb was fairly stiff so I decided to tiller it strung as I read about on here. I took a little off and worked the limbs and then had to take a little more off and the limbs looked good. I decided to put it on my draw board, with my scale, which is in another building and it pulled 40 lbs. at 28". I usually use a different set up till I get the limbs looking good before going to the scale. I thought I still had enough to work with. But to give you a quick answer, I must have had my head up my b%%$. Thanks for the help. I will heat it up in the morning. How long should I wait till I draw it.  Don

[Don Armstrong]

Pat, I have a 2"X2"X72" block of osage I was going to rip edge grain. Would you think a .050 piece of this would work. Don