Thought about set

[Badger]

  Eddie, I set a world record last year with a shot out bow, still decent but nothing special. What it did have going for it was that it got the arrows out cleanly and I happen to have an arrow pretty well matched to the bow.

[dwardo]

Just to quickly add to teh pot. Life getting in the way of lovely bow building time at the minute.
I have a couple of failed elm bows that were all tension wood that will gain their original reflex after a few hours sitting unstrung.
They shoot like dogs and take about 5 inches of set after a shot or two. My guess was they were all stretch wood and no compression strength.
That and some pretty rubbish early tillering. My thinking is the back just had enough pull to recover the belly, at-least in looks anyway.

[George Tsoukalas]

Badger, I think about it all the time.
I usually get around 2 inches or a little under.

First, I make sure the stave is dry enough to work. The set of my bows decreased once I started using a moisture meter.

Second, I take care to make sure the stave has been reduced enough  in weight  and that the limbs are bending well enough to string. All of this is done with the long string.

Third, I go easy with the tillering. Once the stave is strung I use only a scraper-like tool. All edges have been rounded and nicks removed. Back is pristine.

Fourth, I almost never draw a bow to full target weight until about 25 inches. If I want 50# at 26", I shoot for about 40# at 20" with good tiller, 47# at 24" and 50# at 25". Then I shoot it in and sand it.

Jawge