toasting or heating belly on board bow

[Razorbak]

Ok I have been working on a board bow the past 2 weeks and its done and I think its a shooter after 15 years of trying..well the specs are 66" nock to nock with 1/2" tips and tapering to 2" at fades with a 8" handle..I did nocks today and shaped handle some and started on limbs which were 1/2" thick and expecting at least 50# at my draw but came out to 40#@26"..I left 6" at tips of non bending and 1" past riser non bending at fades..I lightly scrape limbs to get rid of bandsaw marks and got limbs bending to long string then 2" brace then I put on scale at at 6" it was 35# so I use gizmo 2 times to get good bend with excercising limbs in between scrapes..next thing I know its 40# @26" and it had 1/8" positive tiller so I stop....well when I layed board out it had 1" of reflex but now it has 2" of string follow so my main question is can I toast or heat belly and make it straight or add couple inches of reflex...will I get it to increase poundage and Im sure I will have to re tiller..is it possible and will it be smart to do to increase weight.....I am envious of you guys that can make pretty handles and nocks as I suck..LOL

[John Scifres]

You can do it but don't expect miracles.  Here's one I did a while back:   http://sticknstring.webs.com/fixit.htm

[Razorbak]

thank you John...good read...might just finish it up and move on to the next one and chalk this up as a lesson..now if I can get some osage that will be my next goal  

[LESKEN2011]

Not to hijack the post, but weren't you afraid of the backer coming loose when you applied the heat, John?

[LittleBen]

I've heat treated a few red oak bows, and it seems to work pretty well. It does take forever though. I figured it usually takes me at least an hour of heating. Probably more on a bow of that size. That hour would get you pretty well along into the next bow ...

[John Scifres]

It was a veneer back so I wasn't worried at all. Plus what did I have to lose?

[LESKEN2011]

I see what you mean. I got a couple of backed bows I'd like to heat treat, but been scared to try it for fear of the backer turning loose.

[eflanders]

I assume the OP used a Red Oak board???  He doesn't say the wood species used...  If Red Oak was used, it is a species that doesn't respond the same to heat tempering as does hickory and some other common bow wood species. (However there are other considerations too.)

If you are hoping the bow will lose some of it's string follow from the heat treatment, it's not very likely, especially with Red Oak at least in my experience.

[eflanders]

For those worried about the backer releasing when heat treating:  Usually the glue will not release it's bond unless you stress the joint and/or try to force the bond to break.  (Now I have to admit that I have not tried to use an oven to heat treat a bow yet, so I can't say if something might go awry if you use an oven...)  BUT if you just use a heat gun or torch, I have never had the backer or glue bond fail yet and all I've built so far are all-wood laminated bows.

[LESKEN2011]

Thanks for the info, Eric. That may prove to be useful in the future.

[George Tsoukalas]

Start another. Let me get this straight. This is your first shooter after 15 years of trying. You got a bow. Congratulations! Now you want to make it better and mess with it? If it ain't broke don't fix it! Jawge

[Razorbak]

Yep first shooter. Shooting ok but some hand shock  and I'm starting another but I guess I can't learn unless I break a few. LOL