Heat Treated Hickory

[Kegan]

Just finished this one up. It's 68", 67" ntn. It draws about 65# at 28" and shoots really fast. I kept it simple because this is my first attempt at heat treating the belly of hickory, and from the way it turned out, I'm gonna be doin' all my hickory bows this way . It is a really sweet shooter, and a "short" longbow for me... since all my other longbows are over 72" . I added walnut stain to darken it up for hunting an a simple leather wide grip to double as a strike pad. I like the tiller (what does everyone else think? I'm probably just biased ), but I think this will be my last "straight forward flatbow" for a while, time for some character bows, shorties, recurves and what not .

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[cowboy]

Kegan - dude you got it goin on! haven't tried roasting the belly yet, but will. Nice tiller - looking to see more.

[Pat B]

Nice job Kegan. Tiller looks good. I've only tried heat treating 1 bow but not seriously. I will have to try again.   Pat

[Badger]

That heat treating is something isnt it? good job on that one. I change styles all the time as well, a couple of years ago I came back to mostly staright bows. Steve

[Justin Snyder]

It is a good looking bow. I cant tell is the top limb bending a little to much just outside the fades, or if it is a trick of the light?  Justin

[NOMADIC PIRATE]

Is the lower limb much shorter then the top one ?...looks like a good hunting weapon.

YEAH !!! caracter bows a fun

[DanaM]

Real nice bow Kegan Looks sharp.

[Hillbilly]

Good job. Character bows, shorties and such are fun to make, but it's hard to beat a bow of this style for a good, all around shooter and hunting bow.

[nugget]

Always experiment, but if it works dontmess with it. You did good work there. Would like to hear more about heat treating? Never done it.

[GregB]

Good work on that bow Kegan, I'm sure it will do its part in the woods this fall...you got to do your part as well to ensure success!

[OldBow]

Great Tiller! Bookmarked, too, for June Self Bow of the Month

[1/2primitive]

Very nice bow. Good job.
      Sean

[Kegan]

Always experiment, but if it works dontmess with it. You did good work there. Would like to hear more about heat treating? Never done it.

Thanks everyone ! The limbs are symetrical, but I try to tiller it so the top limb to bend slightly more than the bottom (seems to work well, and all my symetrically tillered bows have a tendacy to have the bottom limbs bend more after a while and such).

As for the heat treating, it's like sinew for the belly - it seems to help remove moisture just from the outside of the belly, helping compression, and giving it more snap or helps deter set- as far as I can tell. i thin this is what's happening, or as far as it was told to me. Used my father's heat gun to do the belly while tillering, as it made the limbs stiffer than the other. Really helps hickory, and would probably help any wood that's only so-so in compression I think (gotta try it).

[jpitts]

Great looking bow. Gotta get me one of those heat guns....

[nugget]

Thanks for the info. I once was told about heating the belly and hanging a weight off the end s to give it some backset. Heat about the last 6 to 8 inches and hang a weight off the tip. Then use a ruler or something to keep track of the bend . then repeat on other limb. I reckon a 5 or 10 pound weight would work. Not sure. ??