Does heat treating raise draw weight?

[Joec123able]

Squirrelslinger- raising the brace height is not gonna raise the draw weight

[okie64]

I agree with a lot of what has already been said. If you clamp it to a flat board and heat treat it will likely only gain 5 pounds or so and that will be what you want if you dont have to do any extra tillering. More reflex heated in will equal more draw, 2 inches will probably raise the weight around 10 pounds or so. When I build a hickory bow I almost always heat treat them just because I live in a pretty humid area and I think it helps with moisture resistance, hickory is like a wet noodle when it gets moisture in it.

[twisted hickory]

I have treated 8 of the bows i have made and usually at least 10 lbs of weight gain and in one case I got 15 on a peice of hickory. If done correctly you will like the results. Hickory in my experience really likes a good brown toasting.

[UserNameTaken]

Also, 4 hours of heat treating isn't the most exciting way to spend a day. I just did one of mine, and I highly recommend finding yourself a couple of decent 2 hour movies to watch while doing your heat treating. It's a lot like watching paint dry.

[Christian Soldier]

I kind of compromised between doing nothing and really heat treating it. So I just heat treated it lightly (its kind of a beige color) and induced a little reflex in the lower limb which was a little lighter than it should be.
I just set my Ipod to country and started. Definitely not the most interesting element of bow making. 


Looks pretty good as far as uniformity goes but I'll see how it really worked in a day or two when I can start drawing it again. Pictures will be up in a week or so.

Thanks!

[autologus]

I need to build a contraption to hold the heat gun for me, my arms get tired holding it steady for a long time.

Grady

[mikekeswick]

Brace it higher? Take 1/2 inch off of each tip?
Maybe heat treating will help, maybe not. I do know that when I heat treated an super-shortie elm bow it acted weak in tension... but I kinda literally burnt the wood. Black char spots, and actually caught one tip on fire.

Why do you think that raising the brace height will raise the draw weight? Self bows should always be shot with the lowest brace height that gives good arrow flight anyway. Raising brace height will actually slow the arrow down due to a shorter 'power stroke'??
Cutting a half inch off each tip is going to make so little difference that it is pointless.
Elm is never weak in tension however if you treat it like firewood maybe it won't make the best bow!!

[dwardo]

Elm is never weak in tension however if you treat it like firewood maybe it won't make the best bow!!
[/quote]

pretty amazing in tension 

[mikekeswick]

Dwardo - that tiller is amazing! High brace height tho.......

[dwardo]

Dwardo - that tiller is amazing! High brace height tho.......

Is this not how you string a bow??? 
Amazing stuff this elm, even after all this abuse it still comes back to only a few inches of follow.
Ofcourse there is no tension at all when you brace it and the arrow barely leaves the bow but its just amazing how much abuse this takes without breaking.

[Pappy]

That would be called the STEP ON method.
   Pappy

[dwardo]

That would be called the STEP ON method.
   Pappy

  very good.
 Would be a great wind up for a bow maker. I received your bow thankyou, however i am struggling to get it strung and now it has fractures all over the limb??? (picture of me trying to string it attached)
Can I have a new one please this one must be faulty.