11 Days Strung

[CCopland]

Twelve days ago I was showing off some of my selfbow builds to a nephew. I was pleased to string up and show him a yew paddle bow design that I made just last Fall, among some others.

Well you guessed it.....I went into my shop yesterday, and found, to my horror, that I had put it away and had left it strung!!!!!Eleven day left strung.

I unstrung it yesterday and checked it today. It now has 2 1/2" inches of set, where before the set was just under 1". Well live and learn I guess. Is there anything I can do to reduce the damage done? I am guessing no.

[sleek]

What wood is it? Is it heat treated yet?

[CCopland]

It's a yew paddle bow design.  Not heat treated.

[Pat B]

You have probably damaged the belly cells. You could try clamping it to a reflex caul using heat to do this then heat treat the belly. I've never heat treated yew so someone with more experience would know more about it.
 

[Badger]

  I don't think something taking set slowly does as much damage as a bow that was overstressed. I made my brother in law a hickory bow and it stayed strung for at least 6 or 7 years. The string had zero tension on it. I strung it backwards and when I saw him again 3 or 4 years later we unbraced it and shot it. It actually maintained a little reflex. I would heat treat your bow on a cawl and it might be fine. as much as it bent in just a few days I would suspect high moisture.

[Eric Krewson]

I picked up a hickory Jimmy Taylor bow off of the Facebook market place for $30. When I went to pick it up I found that it had been left strung with a piece of cotton cord and had never been unstrung. I wouldn't have bought it but the guy looked like he hadn't eaten in a while so I felt sorry for him and gave him the $30.

When I unstrung the bow I found that it had 7" of string follow.



I toasted the belly on a caul and gave it 2" of reflex;



This is far as I went, I never shot the bow but pulled it on my tillering tree and the limbs kept the reflex.

I am a big fan of using heat to restore a bow with problems and have worked on a bunch of them.

[simk]

yew + heat = good
 

[Del the cat]

Check it again tomorrow, it may creep back... slowly
Del

[CCopland]

Thank you all for your comments and advice.  I'll try heat treating on a caul and get back to y'all with the results.

[CCopland]

By the way, the bow was finished with Tru-Oil. Is there an easy way to remove this or will I have to sand it off? Thanks again for the comments.

[Pat B]

If you have a good sharp scraper you can lightly scrape it off and Tru-Oil is easy to repair when all's done.

[CCopland]

Thanks Pat. The Tru-Oil finish came off quite easily by first lightly using a scraper and then finishing of with 150 grit sanding.

I used a caul and clamped the bow down. I then used a heat gun and progressively clamped the limb down to the caul. I used a wet rag to protect the glued on ebony tip. The limb came out straight after removing the bow from the caul the next day after letting it cool. Repeat the bottom limb.

After stringing it up the tiller had changed only slightly. I then proceeded to shoot the bow a couple of dozen times. I measured the limbs immediately and the set was 2". After letting the bow rest for an hour the bow settled at 1" set.

So it appears that maybe a little extra set has happened but not too bad to really damage the bow.

I guess it remains to be seen if the bow remains at 1" set after time. I would be satisfied with that.