A couple heat treating questions

[WhistlingBadger]

I'm working on a new piece of Rocky Mountain maple, hoping to get a hunting weight out of this one.  I hear maple does well with a good belly heat treat.  I have a couple questions, though.
1.  I've read a couple places that heat treating maple can make it too brittle.  True, or should I go for it?
2.  There's a pretty serious kink on one limb that I'm going to have to straighten before I can start tillering.  If I steam the kink out, then heat treat, will the heat just put the kink back?  I'm a little scared to try straightening it with just dry heat.

[superdav95]

Ya go for it.  Maple is underrated as bow wood.  It’s not as resilient as say hickory imo but still very good.  If you have a kink to steam out then I would do all that before heat treat like you say.  Once get all the wiggles you want out and your alignment looks good I would get to floor tiller then clamp it down to a caul and heat treat over a coal bed for 2-3 hours.  For maple I would do a medium bake and not go quite as dark as I would with hickory.  Also be careful with heat wrap around effect with maple. It’s not as tolerant for this as hickory.  Should make a fine bow though. 

[WhistlingBadger]

Thanks, Dave.  I have to do my heat treating with a gun these days, since we moved into town with a tiny yard.  But I'll keep the heat treating fairly mellow.

Maple seems really lightweight compared to hickory.  So far almost all my successful bows have been hickory; I did one tiny kid's bow with juniper/sinew.  Really want to get a good shooter out of something local.  I'll see about getting that kink out today and maybe heat treat tomorrow.  Wish me luck.

[willie]

Maple seems really lightweight compared to hickory.

some of the soft maples are fairly light. you should plan on an approaite width for your intended draweight and drawlength   

you can do a simple test for density and follow the guidelines in TBB.

[WhistlingBadger]

Steaming that kink as I type this.  Another question:  Any tips for how to avoid heat wrap around?  I'll be using a heat gun, if that makes any difference.

[WhistlingBadger]

Well, dang it.  I steamed it for a little over an hour, put it on a form, let it cool, then went ahead and heat treated it still on the form.  Just took it off and it popped right back, almost as bad as it was before.  Should I steam it again?  Would that undo the benefits of the heat treat?  How many times can you steam a section before it is weakened beyond repair?

[bjrogg]

Well, dang it.  I steamed it for a little over an hour, put it on a form, let it cool, then went ahead and heat treated it still on the form.  Just took it off and it popped right back, almost as bad as it was before.  Should I steam it again?  Would that undo the benefits of the heat treat?  How many times can you steam a section before it is weakened beyond repair?

I don’t have experience with maple, but I don’t think you would have much to lose by trying again. HHB does that occasionally to me to and usually doesn’t hold everything I give it anyway.

I generally leave it on my caul at least overnight. That seems to help.

Kinks can be difficult or maybe even impossible. But if it isn’t going to work with the kink then you probably don’t have much to lose. I don’t think you need to worry about damaging the wood unless it is over bent.

Bjrogg

[bambule]

I`ve build a lot of maplebows. Heattreating works well for hardening but not as good for correction - only when there is a small amount to bend. Better with steaming - as you`ve done it.
Too much heattreating causes sometimes freats.
When you`ve steamed a part and corrected and after that heat treated the same area it goes often like you`ve explained  - I didn`t have a cure for that.
I try to do only one kind of treatment for better results.

Greets
Cord

[superdav95]

Ive noticed this too. its actually a nice wood but has a memory to it.  hickory can be heat treated into a shape and will for the most part hold that shape.  maple is better for a core wood for laminated builds imo then hickory so long as its good and straight piece then steamed and shaped.  more heat treatment should be fine as you likley did a mild treatment. try to go slow and have the transfer of color light brown come to about midpoint of the thickness of the limbs.  it should hold shape better.   to stop wrap around i use a strip of roxall insulation the green looking stuff.  ive even tried the pink stuff too which also works.  you could staple it down tempoariy to your caul and would be able to prevent a lot of the warp around this way.  Best of luck and keep us posted. 

[WhistlingBadger]

Well, I went ahead and steamed it again, and put it in a form that bent it a little further than I really want it.  I won't heat treat it this time, and I'll leave it in the form overnight and see how it goes.

[bassman211]

I built a series of black locust recently, and it doesn't seem to hold it's bent shape very well either. Elm works best for me after Osage.  You bend elm on a caul, and heat treat the heck out of the belly, and it holds it's shape, and no frets. My favorite white wood. You have the right maple to make a bow from. I have tried red soft maple a few times with no success. I gave up on it. Good luck.

[WhistlingBadger]

HEEEEY!  PA is back on the air!

[Bob Barnes]

HEEEEY!  PA is back on the air!

So what's the story on your steamed maple?  I hope that it worked out for you.

[WhistlingBadger]

So what's the story on your steamed maple?  I hope that it worked out for you.

Hey, Bob!  I got it straightened out before getting sidetracked into other projects.  Once I get back to it and get it bending, I'll let you know how it worked.  So far, looks pretty good!