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Taking a twist out of Elm stave with a heat gun??

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SpringyWoodPassion:
Hi everyone!
I have had issues using a heat gun when trying to recurve limbs in Elm. Elm did not take it too well as it developed cracks on the belly.
Now I have an ugly twist at upper 1/3rd of the limb.  I really like this stave and I don't want to screw it up with a heat gun again.
The twist is not extreme, but it will affect proper alignment of the bow.
Any ideas what I should use to take the twist out, apart from the dry heat.
Perhaps I should pour boiling water where the twist is before applying the heat gun to it. I don't know.   ???
I've tried steam bending my Elm staves before, but the limbs always returned to their original shape, so I was not super happy with steam bending elm.
Any ideas what I should do would be much appreciated!
Thank you in advance

Pat B:
I learned the hard way that when adding recurves, steam or boiling is the way to go. I built 2 elm recurves and added recurves with dry heat and both cracked. I repaired them by adding underlays but any other recurves I do will be with wet heat.
 Is the twist in the limb natural(was it always there) or is it only when the bow is braced? If the twist is natural you can put the stave on a caul and with dry heat(I use oil here too), clamps and wedges you can get the twists out. At the same time you can add reflex and temper the belly.
 If the bow twists only when braced check the limb thickness from side to side. Uneven thickness causes twists.
 When you steam or boil for recurves leave them in the bending caul, let it dry well and use the heat gun to temper and set the recurves. This will help prevent them from pulling out.

SpringyWoodPassion:
Thanks a lot.
And yeah, the twist is natural.
So you're suggesting that I can go ahead with the heat gun on the clamped stave, but putting some oil beforehand, am I right?
Thanks again

Pat B:
If you are putting it on a form that will introduce reflex then you don't have to use oil but you will need to counteract the twist by strategically placing wedges to "untwist" the twist. You can also temper(heat treat) the belly which will also set the corrections. This can also be done over if the twists don't come all the way out.  If you are only removing the twist you can also do this by clamping the twisted limb and use a wrench and weights to correct the twist as you heat. Eric Krewson has pics someone here that shows how he does it. Anytime I'm not tempering the belly I use oil with dry heat.

SpringyWoodPassion:
Ok.
How about pouring boiling water on the twist and then clamping it?

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