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Straightening osage and adding recurves

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Will B:
I’m currently working on a 3-year old, thin-ringed, Osage takedown bow. I used my heat gun to straighten one of the limbs which was out of alignment by over 1-1/2”. I plan to use steam to bend some recurves in the limb tips now that I have everything lined up.

My question:  Will the limb I straightened return to its original alignment during the steaming process, or will I be okay now that I’ve straightened the limb?

Would I be better off using dry heat?  I’ve personally had much better luck steaming my recurves instead of using dry heat.

Thanks for any thoughts you all might have.
Will

Pat B:
Steam for the recurves. You will probably have to realign the limbs anyway once the recurves are in to get the string to align. 

Will B:
Okay sounds good. Thanks Pat

Pat B:
Heat gun is usually fine for realignment in most cases with osage.

Kidder:
I usually use dry heat for recurves. It allows you to really feel the wood become elastic and allows you to go slower in your bend and not having to worry about the wood cooling. I’d probably use steam though for anything severe. You might lose some of your corrections but it probably won’t matter as you’ll likely find you’ll need more corrections after adding recurves anyways. Good luck!

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