Didn't know you were quoting Baker, I'd have been more reverent. I haven't been to play on the other site lately, not enough time or interest. It'll be an interesting new volume I'm sure.
Steve, your idea that wood is best prior to being over-stressed goes right along with hysteresis. One way to get hysteresis is to overstress something. On the pull, you change the material so that it isn't the same on the loose. If its not terribly overstressed it can fully recover, just not in the space of time of the loose. I'd agree that wood that hasn't been damaged by training, certainly performs best. I understand you flight shoot people don't bother breaking your bows in prior to competition for this reason. I do think there's competing factors though. If you make a bow that shows no set after shooting in, it is likely overbuilt and underperforms even though it has undisturbed wood. and if a bow takes an inordinate amount of set (>2") then you probably lose what you gained in efficiency, by reducing the performance of the wood (per unit mass). A little mashing of the spring wood to the point it has a similar density to summer wood, is all you probably want.
It'd be interesting to be able to look at the effects on a piece of wood in training to be a bow, at a cellular level. I just don't know how you'd prep the sample without altering it.
