Can set be "removed" from an old, shot in bow? Maybe so..TEST 2

[Jude]

I've messed around with some of my hickory bows in a similar manner and discovered that I could fix string follow in a bow that had never been heat treated before.  I recall one that had about an inch of follow, where I heat treated 4" of reflex into the bow, which brought the draw weight up enough that I could re-tiller the bow back to the original draw weight.  After shooting in, this bow retained about 1/2" reflex and had a much better full draw profile.  However, when I attempted to re-heat treat it back to the 4" reflex, I had to re-adjust the tiller a slightly, and it pulled right back to the 1/2" of reflex, but I did gain a couple pounds of draw weight.  I think the only advantage I got from the second treatment was to deepen the effect on the spots where I had removed more wood adjusting the tiller.  This was a straight limbed Eastern Woodlands style, and I had similar results with a Sudbury I made this past summer.  I messed up a bit figuring out how to tiller that style, and was able to recover it through heat treating and re-tillering, then heat treating again where the wood was removed, then fine tuning the tiller.  It does seem, from the first experiment, that heat treating is a one time thing, unless you remove a sustantial amount of belly wood and lower the draw weight.

[PEARL DRUMS]

Julian how many shots did it take for your hickory to go back where it was? I removed quite a bit of belly wood and some off the back. I had skins glued on so clean up required some dust be made from the back, its still one solid ring. Great post Julian and thanks for the adding on with your experience.

[Jude]

Sorry it took me so long to reply, I've been away from the computer for a couple days.  It was a few years ago, but if I remember correctly, it only took about 20 shots for it to get back to its final unbraced profile.  I posted the bow years ago under a different user name; I'll see if I can find a couple picks way back in the forum.  That particular bow got ruined this past spring.  At first I thought the lower limb crysalled from my kids stringing it improperly, and that may have contributed, but my 75# bow did the same thing whaen I pulled it out of my garage and shot it this spring.  Now I suspect the high humidity of my storage location had more to do with it.

Jude

[Jude]

PD

Found the old pics and downloaded them from the forum, but now they won't pass the security check to upload them again.  If your curious, search for Brokestick, then look at the post for "Hickory Algonquin Replica".  Looking at them today, I can tell the tiller was off and the top limb was stiffer than the bottom, which is the exact opposite of what you want.  I'm surprised it held up as long as it did, but I suspect the hickory liked the Mojave humidity better than the Upstate NY humidity I moved it to. 

Jude

[PEARL DRUMS]

Im well past twenty shots with this bow. The finish has dried over the last three days. Three days ago one limb had about 3/4" of follow right after unbracing. Its gone now, the three day rest brought her right back straight. I plan on shooting it at least another 30-40 times today. I will post another pic this afternoon and we shall see. 

[PEARL DRUMS]

I think it will be interesting watching this unfold, or not. I braced the bow, let it sit for an hour and shot it about 60-70 times tonite. That puits me around 125-150 total. Unstrung, it bounced back dead flat. One hour later is the above pic at about 3/4" reflex, hopefully more to come. I posted the "hot off the press" pic as well, just something to compare it to. I did lose about 3-4#'s of draw re-shooting in this bow. It feels settled to me now.

[blackhawk]

That's still waaaaaaay better than 4" of follow.....looking good so far.

[Gus]

Excellent Thread and a Nice Job documenting your process Pearl Drums.

The TBB IV chapter on Heat Treating (by Marc St. Louis) bears out some of your findings and definitely your results in a fashion.
Heat Treating can breath new life into an Old War Horse allowing the Overhaul to reduce Mass and induce sustainable Reflex while gaining draw weight.
Looking back through this chapter, I recall (but can't find at the moment) that a bow can be RE-Heat Treated with some success as well.

-gus

[bambule]

I often heattreat my old bows with a lot of set into some reflex. Most of theme are after retillering straight or had just a bit of set.
Most with Hickory or Elm.
For me there is a clear "yes" of removing set from an old shot in bow.

Greetz
Cord

[PEARL DRUMS]

Well after a few hundred more shots Im calling this case closed. The bow hasnt budged from what you see in the above pics. It settled in with 1" of reflex after about a one hour rest.  Keep in mind I didnt heat treat this bow at all. I only used dry heat to form and re-form it to my caul.

[Buckeye Guy]

Good save Pearl !!
I think we need more words in our vocabulary of bow terms !
Because as I have said before often times "set" is not "set" at all, just bent wood, so bend it again!
Guy

[Jude]

That's a good point Buckeye.  I think the next time I have this situation, I'll heat it back into reflex and retiller, but not heat treat until the tiller is perfect.  I think the heat treating was most useful in giving me back the draw weight I lost in retillering the bow.  I plan on taking the 75# bow that hinged and crysalled on me last spring and seeing if I can dig past the fractured wood to a 50# bow.  Should be an interesting experiment.  That was my first shooter, and it held up well in the desert, but didn't do as well in the east coast humidity.  That's where my tillering errors became painfully apparent.