heat treating

[bowmaker07]

Has anyone done much heat treating as outlined in TBB4 on finished bows? I'm wondering if I need to remove the spar-urethane finish on the belly to be effective.I don't want to mess up a good shooter; it's a 60" maple pyramid pulling 45# @26". I'm curious how much I can boost the performance and induce a few inches of reflex. It started as a straight-stave and has 1 1/4" of string follow. One last question;can this be done with a torch instead of heat gun?

[John Scifres]

I'd scrape it off since you are gonna toast it anyway.  It'll stink like hell if you don't and may catch on fire  

I have done elm and it responded well.

I'd not recommend the torch.