String nocks and handle alignment

[red hill]

Been working on another hickory backed osage bow. While finishing up tiller and shooting in, I noticed the handle was twisting on the last few shots. During the process of making the bow the nocks and handle were aligned but now are not. Man, am I bummed!
Has anything like this happened to anyone before? If so, how did you correct it?
Thinking about dry heat to bend everything back into proper alignment.
The hickory and handle are glued on with smooth on. Will heating cause problems for me?   :confused:

[Art B]

Can you tell for sure just where you need to correct the alignment Red? Never used smooth-on myself, so I don't know just how much heat you can apply to make some corrections. But for a finished bow, it's going to take a lot less heat than when you were building it. Warm your bow up pretty good, but not real hot, and do some bending. Might surprise you, one way or the other, what might happen  :D . Good luck.......Art

[red hill]

Art, I've redrawn a center line along the back of the bow. The limbs are actually very straight. The two center lines drawn from tip toward the handle cross at the beginning of a fade as it begins from the handle. This makes me think the offending area is at the top of the 4" handle.
Thanks, Art. I'll place the bow in my heat box for awhile, then place it on a straitht surface and clamp it down on one end and try to persuade the bow to bend at the offending area. Slowly of course.

[Dan Landis]

Red, I'd be careful with the heat, I know smooth on releases with heat, just not sure of the temp.  You might try their web site to see if they give those specs, just a thought....Dan

[red hill]

Well, I placed the bow in the heat box with two bulbs on opposite sides of the handle riser. Left it in for an hour, or so. Moved the limbs into alignment and clamped the bow down. The next day, Monday, the alignment still wasn't corrected when I unclamped the bow.
The smooth on didn't release so I must not have heated the bow too much.  Maybe I didn't heat enough.  Next try will be with a heat gun. Perhaps direct heat will do the trick.  At this point if the glue releases I should be able to reglue the handle riser if needed.
Keep your fingers crossed!  :(

[Pat B]

Did you heat cure the smooth on? If so I believe it will release when it hits that curing temp. If that is the case just don't heat it up that much. Can you re-align the string by removing wood from one side, or from one side of the handle and/or tips?

[red hill]

Pat, I did heat cure the smooth on, but I didn't heat the bow to that temp when I attempted to straighten it the other day.  Monday I used my heat gun to heat the area of the handle between the bulbous portion and the fade. Where I had shaped the handle more narrowly. I then clamped the bow onto a straight 2x4 and allowed it to sit until this p.m.  The bow had straightened about half the misaligned measurement.  This p.m. I heated the other narrow portion of the handle and re-clamped on the 2x4 to cool and, hopefully hold the alignment.

Before I started heating the bow I looked to see if it would be possible to re-align by removing wood. I didn't think I could do it.  The tips had been narrowed to 3/8" and the handle was almost completely finished. I just got ahead of my self.  I think this second treatment with the heat gun may be the ticket.

I was concerned with the smooth on releasing, especially at the handle, but so far it hasn't.  Of course, I haven't strung the bow yet...

This experimenting is helping me re-evaluate my bow making techniques and examine where I may be commiting errors. The bow is still a shooter and is definitely salvagable, but I shouldn't have been in such a hurry to finish it.

[red hill]

Okay, guys, I must have been livin' right lately 'cause it worked. The string now runs right through the handle and there's no torque upon release of an arrow.
I didn't heat the handle much, just enough to make it limber. Leaving the bow clamped down for 3 days after both heating sessions may have been the right fix.
I shot the bow about forty times this afternoon and it felt great.  

[Roy from Pa]

Red I know it's too late now, hopefully it works out for you. But in the future when you lay out a bow, run a weighted  string from the center of limb tip to limb tip. Mark that as your center line and build the bow around that center line. After you cut the bow out, string it again and make any adjustments you need before tillering.

[red hill]

Good advice, Roy. I had laid out a center line and made all measurements from that, but I made the bow too wide and tried to rasp it down without checking well from that center line.  At least that's what I think happened.    
A lesson learned. I will definitely run the weighted string from now on!