The steam worked on my red bud handle. Actually, I ended up overcorrecting and the tips were off in the other direction. The steam opened up several drying checks in the handle. I was planning to fill these with CA glue, smooth off the back of the handle, and add another overlay on the handle to get a little more thickness.
The deflex in one limb was enough that I am having a hard time judging the stiffness while floor tillering, so I decided to put it back on a caul to take the deflex out before proceeding with tillering, and decided to use the dry heat on the handle while working on the limbs. Will pull it off this evening to see how well it took.
In the meantime, I am getting back to the dogwood. I have the outer bark roughed off, leaving the cambium, going to be slower getting off this inner bark to get down to the first ring.