Heat treat and form musings.

[Marc St Louis]

If you're new to heat-treating then my way of doing it is a good place to start and then you can go on from there.

[Fred Arnold]

The stave I'm working on now I've lightly heated 4 times because I felt it needed some pampering.
Yesterday morning I used high heat but kept my distance so as not to char it too badly. Although it only reached 86 degrees in the afternoon the sun was bright and humidity pretty high. It didn't cool as quickly outdoors in the direct sunlight and I left it remaining on the form until evening.
I'm impressed with the results and there is a lot of wood remaining to be removed.
When I get it closer to bow dimensions I'm thinking one more session should get me where I want to be.

[bushboy]

I. Think a general rule of thumb method is not practical when dealing with different species of wood.osage imho is a much more plastic wood than say elm. So it takes less heat to temper than elm.elm likes it hot and heavy and the same can be acheived. With the king with less effort.as far as leaving it clamped up after heating it sould act like every thing else in nature where it has a temperature window not on like bring solder to a melting point. And letting it solidify. Wich is only a couple of degrees from liquid to a solid.

[SLIMBOB]

Just as a point of interest, I have freezer packs that I put on mine after heating them. At times I need to cool it down quickly for one reason or another. Usually my lack patience. I've seen no adverse effect at all. I agree, no need to wait that I can see.

[Newindian]

1+ on what Blackhawks says about not waiting to rehydrate. I usually start bending shortly after a bow has reached room temp and I've yet to have a problem

[mikekeswick]

I only heat treat to get a mild colour change and I will also remove a bow from a form/string it up etc once it's cooled.
Steaming bends in is a different matter - I like to leave them a couple of days to reduce springback. If I use steam for say a recurve I will give it a blast with my heat gun once it's bent to the form which again helps with springback.