Does string follow lead to set?

[sharpend60]

I if i have to reapply the back, no biggie.

I think it's gonna be okay though, it is 40 deg and sunny out right now.
I work outside btw.
I just did one limb, I could put my finger on the back but in no way could touch the belly...

I'm not too concerned about performance but I do like to build the best bow I can.

Tom,
The way I understood string follow vs. set was set is permanent damage while follow was only temporary.
Thats why I was wondering if follow is a precursor to set.
The consensus seems to be it is not.

Thanks guys.
I'll post up some pics when it's done, hopefully with Mr.Hoppy in hand. Its getting into the 20s at night, plenty cold for safe bunny eating.

[Bryce]

Can't wait to see it!!!

[BowEd]

sharpened60...Toms' right.Sounds like you have a nice bow there.If you need hickory I've got it.I've been tellin JW for some time too since he says it's so dry in the Black Hills there.I've got the same red cedar he's got too Bryce.Might need to rough the hickory out and leave it in the house a month though.What desert you live in or by?
That hickory can take the heat.It was made for it I think.I run it up to 400 F. at times.Wood plastcizes at 350 F.they say.Gotta keep it 4 inches away though all the time.

[sharpend60]

I'm in north central New Mexico. 7000 ft high.
Moved here last year from a rainforest!

Ive broke a ton of bows trying to adapt to the extreme conditions.
I'll be in touch regarding hickory...

[PEARL DRUMS]

String follow and set are two totally different birds and do not mean the same thing, not even close. 

[George Tsoukalas]

PD is right but the poor guy thinks like I do. LOL. Not so good. String follow and set are 2 different concepts which is not to say that a bow can't have both(See TBB#4 Glossary P 233). String follow refers to the situation when the bow looks like it is strung when it is not. It literally follows the string. It bends towards the archer when unstrung. A bow takes set when after tillering is done the limbs  do not return to their original condition. The may or may not follow the string. Let's say you start with a stave that has  3 inches of reflex. When you are done tillering and breaking in the bow you have lost 2 inches of reflex. The bow retains 1 inch of reflex. How can it follow the string? It doesn't but it has 2 inches of set. If you start with a straight stave and the bow follows the string by 2 inches then we can also say it has 2 inches of set. 2 or so inches of set is quite acceptable...at least for me. For both, the culprit is belly wood compression.
Jawge

[sharpend60]

So how does deflex fit in?
Could you also say, my bow follows the string (deflexed) in the middle then is reflexed in the tips?

And does the phenomena of the bow appearing to have taken set, then bouncing back have a name?
I always thought this was string follow.
Related to set but a much happier experience, thus prompting my question.
 

[PatM]

String follow and set are two religious terms that nobody agrees on the definition for. They really are just opinions of arbitrary positions a bow may hold when unstrung.
People love to say set happens and that every bow simply has to have even a minute amount of set in its belly cells. That is true if the bow is even remotely pushed to any sort of reasonable bend.
 Based on that the two terms are merely degrees of the same thing with the plane of the handle forming the line where one becomes the other. Of course people to  argue where that line is too.
 All set is string follow because it's the string that is causing it.

[SLIMBOB]

My opinion, Pat nailed it!  I tend to think of set as any amount of tip deflection that wasn't there before you started bending the wood.  String follow is when the tips, due to set, lie behind the bows back.  But it does seem that the terms are used interchangeably. 
  Wiki.answers.com says "
What does 'string follow' mean in archery?
Archery Questions
Answers.com > Wiki Answers > Categories > Sports > Archery
Best Answer
String follow, also known as 'set' is a term used by bowyers to describe the amount a bow stays curved after it's unbraced (unstrung). For example you have a straight limbed bow. You brace (string) the bow with a brace height (distance between the arrow rest and where you nock the arrow) of 7". When you unbrace the bow, it maintains some of the curve that it had while braced. The amount it stays curved is the amount of string follow. The term is used for wood or backed self bows. Some string follow is not bad when creating a bow as it dampens hand shock and quiets a bow, but excessive string follow will rob a bow of cast.

[Weylin]

In terms of the performance of the bow the only measurement that matters is what the bow looks like right after you unstring it. because that is the shape it's in when you are shooting it. But even then, what matters is how the bow shoots.

[George Tsoukalas]

Deflex is when the bowyer causes the limbs to bend towards him or her usually to make a sweeter shooting bow. This can be done with heat and does not involve the collapse of belly wood as does set. Jawge

[PatM]

 I wouldn't call modest set "collapse" of the belly cells, they are merely squeezed past their elastic limit. True collapse is when you can see the crushing as visible signs.
 George,  Why would you say heating and bending doesn't also put the perma-squeeze on the wood cells?
Of course deflex should be put in the handle rather than the actual limbs but even  if you deflex a handle you certainly have to squash those cells down. The heat just makes them easier to squeeze and sets them in that new position. Key word being "set".

[Bryce]

Set: permanent deflection on the limbs, resulting from compression of belly wood beyond its elastic limit. Set and string follow are not the same.

String follow: where by set, design, or natural deflex in the stave, an unbraced bows tips rest some distance bellyward of the back. Usually the result of set.

   -TBB4

Kind of restates what some have already stated. But this seems more basic to understand.

[George Tsoukalas]

PatM, I don't know. I can't prove it without a microscope but I don't think the heating and bending would cause cell damage if done correctly. If it did  we would be breaking more bows. Also, heating and bending towards the tips really doesn't cause chrysals. Chrysalled bellies take more set. Jawge

[PEARL DRUMS]

Well then get a microscope Jawgey poo! We need to get this riddle solved. I dont care what the TBB's say!