Steaming and heat reating

[Don Case]

If I steam a bend out of a bow and then later want to dry heat treat it, will the bend come back? Heat is heat, right?
Don

[bushboy]

I read somewhere that if you steam in a recurve and dry heat it without it being clamped in place the recuvre will want to straighting out .I guess it would also act the same in reverse.this was the writing of a highly respected bowyer!

[artcher1]

No, steam and dry heat aren't the same Don. Steam swells the wood's cells and dry heat shrinks the cells. For curves, if you steam, best to also dry heat later (in the same form) to permanently set the curve. This shrinks the cells as I mentioned, makes the curve stronger, but also reduces mass weight. The latter is important for this design. ......Art