Hickory - Heat Treat?

[Et_tu_brute]

Hi All,

Well I've got a great stave of Hickory for a selfbow, 73" ttt, no pins or knots, pipe straight and 1 3/4" at the fades. I've cut it out on the bandsaw and its ready for the belly to be reduced then to start tillering. I'm after about 70#@30" from this. Would it be a good idea to heat treat the belly on this bow? I was a little worried about it chrysaling and wondered if heat treating would be worth it to try and prevent this.

All and any advice is appreciated!

Dave

[Pat B]

  The bow will only chrysal if you put a hinge in it.     Hickory is a good candidate for heat treating. At 73" your bow shouldn't get over stressed even at a 30" draw.

[Et_tu_brute]

Thanks Pat  I suppose I was just getting a bit paranoid about the back, being so strong in tension, overpowering the belly a little.

[Pat B]

The only way a hickory selfbow back will overpower the belly is if you overpower the belly. 

[Kegan]

Like Pat said, you don't need to heat treat it to prevent failure, but it sure does help performance

[George Tsoukalas]

Chrysals are caused when a part of the limb bends  too much. Bad tillering caused hinges. Jawge

[Et_tu_brute]

Thanks guys, one last thing, this stave is all sapwood, will this make any difference?

[bambule]

Sapwood is good for Hickory. My Hickory with a heartwood belly was a torture to tiller because that stuff wouldn't bent. Also heat treating the core was a pain because not movement at all - just straight. So sapwood from Hickory is the best you can have.

[Et_tu_brute]

Excellent, thanks for all the help gents

[sailordad]

i agree that hick sap wood makes great bows,however there is nothing wrong with
hick heartwood either.
i have made bows that were both ways,and even two that had both
no problems for me,and i am by far from a great bowyer

[Pat B]

Hickory sapwood is all I have ever used for bows.

[nclonghunter]

I recently split a hickory log and one of the splits ran thinner than I wanted, but I removed the bark and reduced it to a flat "D" bow design. I then let it dry for a month in my garage and began tillering it. I did not check the poundage, but it was near 35-40#. I recently burned some brush and when the wood burnt down to coals I slowly moved the bow across the coals. The bows belly darkend and took on a nice color. When I went to string the bow it was quickly obvious the bows draw weight had increased and shoots harder. I  suspect it increased to 50#, but has softened some after shooting. Not much scientific stuff here but I do now believe that heating the belly changes the performance, at least in hickory.