Main Discussion Area > English Warbow
130lb elm bow
WillS:
I don't pull it into reflex, no. You can of course, but exactly as you say it causes problems later if you want to go over the bow again at some point.
Let's say the stave is dead straight, and you've done all the tapering and finishing and nocking etc. You get it up to the full brace height and you notice straight away that one area is weak, or will end up weak or whatever. That's the bit you tag with the heat gun - but after just bracing the bow there won't be any set there, so you don't need to induce reflex as well. All you want to do is add strength to that one small area.
As to other point, yeah I tend to heat treat and leave it until the belly feels completely cold, then just carry on tillering. There's really no need to add oil, or wait days for the RH to return etc, you can get it bending again almost straight away. You just have to wait for all the heat to leave, otherwise you risk "heat bending" the area into permanent string follow!
WillS:
Oh! I forgot to mention, your point about the 1" of set is interesting, because this bow has hardly been shot, it's just been braced, pulled to 30" and drawn a few times. The set will probably start to creep up as it's shot in, and that's the stage where I decide which limb is upper and lower, and quite possible heat treat the entire bow (sometimes with gentle reflex) to get it nice and punchy again once the bow has settled.
JNystrom:
Nice, thanks! I like that you have (obviously) experimented heat treating and the wait time on your own, rather than just taking what other people say.
Marc St Louis:
--- Quote from: WillS on August 03, 2017, 06:06:23 am ---Oh! I forgot to mention, your point about the 1" of set is interesting, because this bow has hardly been shot, it's just been braced, pulled to 30" and drawn a few times. The set will probably start to creep up as it's shot in, and that's the stage where I decide which limb is upper and lower, and quite possible heat treat the entire bow (sometimes with gentle reflex) to get it nice and punchy again once the bow has settled.
--- End quote ---
Very nice indeed. I've made Elm warbows bows up to 150# before.
I have used this method of heat-treating to touch up the tiller before but find it too unreliable. It looks good at first but the tiller changes over time
RBLusthaus:
Very interesting tillering method. Makes good sense. I intend to give it a try.
I have not tillered any horn bows yet, but, is this heat tillering exactly the opposite of how the horn bows are tillered? What I mean is, when tillering a horn bow with heat, I thought you applied the heat to the stiff spots to lossen them up a little till the tiller evened out. I realize different materials react differently to heat. Wood in one case and hide glue in the other. Just interesting that the same method of tillering (applying heat) is used for opposite purposes on different kinds of bow.
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