natural reflex

[sadiejane]

have another question for you guys. my buddy wayne is working on an osage bow(he is ALWAYS working on an osage bow  )
this one had quite a bit of natural reflex the last 1/3 of one limb. he heated and bent the same reflex into the other limb. now when you string the bow it really wants to twist in your hand. last nite when he strung it with a bit shorter string, it snapped outta his hand and left itself strung backwards(not really much stress,  as its still a long string). sorry i have no pix but can take some later if that would help. if the bow is unbraced it almost has enough reflex to appear about the same bend it would have braced-cept backwards. we never could get it to stay braced without flipping around. think he oughta just straighten that puppy out? sure would appreciate ya'lls input. thanks

[druid]

Reflexed bows must be more carefully tillered than straight or deflexed. They have high early draw weight so there is no place for errors. Must keep your eyes open on the long string tillering.

[PEARL DRUMS]

The biggest thing in my mind that matters with relfexed or recurved bows is limb/string aligment. It has to be right down the middle of the handle, not just bisecting along the way. The thickness of the limbs needs to match perfect as well. What is a slight prop twist on a straight bow will throw a string on a recurve or reflexed bow.

[tattoo dave]

Sadie, I had a bow once that was doing the same thing. I had solid deer antler tips on it, about the last 6" of the limb. Anyway, it was due to the shape and depth of the string grooves, soon as I changed the tips to wood, and made deeper grooves it was fine. I don't know if that'll apply to Wayne's bow, but just thought I would share my experience. hope it works out for him.

Tattoo Dave

[George Tsoukalas]

Is the string down the center? Jawge

[mikekeswick]

Heavily refexed bows need to be braced about 3 inches instead of say 1 inch for a straight stave bow. If you brace it too low the string will look like it's ssssstttretching...! Make certain it's bending evenly with no weak spots and just brace it higher. Assess tiller quickly

[Pappy]

What Mike said, also be careful not to take to much off at the start,they will really fool you on the weight,they will seem much heavier than they are and you will come in under weight very easy on a highly reflex stave. 
   Pappy

[Holten101]

I second that Pappy...I have ditched alot of promessing reflex and ref/deflex bows on that account:-(

Its a question of string alignment at brace. The limbs might twist during brace on a bow that unbraced seems to have perfect alignment. This is often due to uneven, lateral thickness of the limbs....thin side will bend differently than thick side, making the bow warp and sheeding the string.

This thread is worth a read: http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,27206.0.html

Just my 2 cents

Cheers

[sadiejane]

wayne is been making bows some years now and certainly knows way more than i. but he was rather perplexed. wayne doesnt do internet at all and knows i'm on this forum. he asked if i'd find out what ya'll think and i really appreciate it.  i will print this(and the other thread-thanks) out for him and let him read. certainly lots of things to consider and take a look at. thanks!

[crooketarrow]

    I'd say the stwisted limbs is differenty the reason for the problem. With the reflex towards the tips probley compounds the reason it stwisted all the around.