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Fire hardening vs heat gun tempering

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Kidder:
Is there any difference in effectiveness between the two methods - fire hardening vs heat gun heat treating? Pros and cons of each method?

bassman211:
You are opening up a can of worms. Some will say heat is heat. Others who have used it may say that it is more effective  in some ways. What I will say in all of this is that since using it to make  bows I see a marked improvement especially with hickory. Next question would be in what ways?  You can go green to finished in a much shorter period of time. Holds reflex, and makes a very snappy bow on par with most of my Osage self bows. Some say it will make hickory more impervious to moisture. That I can't speak to yet ;D. If you have never tried it you owe it to yourself to give it a shot. More complex to set up than taking a heat gun ,and heat treating on a form. JMO. You will get different opinions, so the best thing to do is to try it yourself.

superdav95:
Kidder.  I personally prefer the hot coal fire pit method as I can do up to 4 bows at a time in a few hours.  I’ve done several also with a heat gun set up if just doing one bow or the wether is horrible.  I’ve found good results with both methods however it’s a little trickier to get a deep cook using a heat gun safely vs a fire pit.  With both make sure mc is below 10% before heat treatment.   A heat gun and get away from you if you don’t pay attention.  For that matter so can the pit.  The major advantage with the radiant heat using the fire pit hot coals method is less checking.  I find that the heat gun with the little blower dries out the wood too quickly and more prone to cracking or checking.  Just my experience with heat gun.  I found that about 3 hours over a hot coal pit with constant monitoring gives better results.  I use my hand to gauge the heat of the pit and raise and lower the bow to get a good cook.  Out side temps have a bearing on how long it may take for the bow to fully cook.  2-3 seconds over the coals before you have to pull hand away is a good temp to get a good slow cook.  Too hot too fast leads to problems.  You want your cook to penetrate almost all the way to the back getting lighter towards the back.  The only real advantage to the heat gun method is that it’s set up is easier and you don’t need a fire pit. It can get a decent cook in less time too.    Like I said good results can be had with both methods.  If your using a caul or form of some kind to put your bow onto make sure to prevent the heat gun blower heat dose t get directed to the back of the bow as it can give bad results.  Make a holder for your heat gun that incorporates a shield of some sort to prevent too much heat getting around the belly onto the back.  This brings up another advantage of the fire pit method.  With the radiant heat cook it less susceptible to this issue.  Hope this helps and let me know if any other details you need. 

Cheers.

superdav95:
This is just my observations using both methods many times.  I don’t mean to tread on anyones preferred methods or open any cans lol.   

Muskyman:
Great topic for me and guys like me. I could ask many questions as follow ups about this. Going to start with one and try not to hijack Kidders thread. Seen lots of people using this on white wood bows. How about Osage and yew wood bows over coals?

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