Burnish or not?

[Flashman]

My 64" Vine Maple bow is almost tillered.  I have not pulled it to full draw but guess the final draw weight will be close to my target of 55 pounds.  I have been doing the final tiller for 2 months being every so careful not to do what I usually do and take off too much wood.  I have about 1" of deflex and have tried very hard not to over-compress the belly wood in order to minimize set and reduce performance.  It started out with about 2 to 2 1/2"s of deflex. 

My question is this.  Should I heat burnish the belly?  I know I will have to adjust the tiller again but is it worth it in terms of performance.   I really want good cast from this bow.  With my last bow, Hazelnut, it made a big difference but I had probably compressed the belly too much before heat treating.

Thanks.

[Pat B]

Heat tempering(not burnishing) will add compression strength and whitewoods seem to benefit most from it. Tempering before too much set occurs would be the most successful method. I have never worked maple so take my advise for what it's worth.

[Gordon]

I've had good success belly tempering vine maple.

[El Destructo]

You meant to say.....Reflex....not Deflex...didn't you?   I have never had a Bow lose Deflex while Tillering....As for Heat Treating the Belly.... Vine Maple does very well when Heated...jmo

[Flashman]

You're right, reflex.