Steam vs. Dry heat

[bow101]

On a bow that's been dried out , typically how do you know when to use dry heat or steam...?  I think I got 'er down to 14%.. or lower.    At any rate if its down to say 9-11% can you use dry heat to bend it into shape.  This is Black locust.  Having said that the wood is no longer green, so why use steam..?

 

[huisme]

I'd go at it with the heat gun just to dry it from there, let alone fix any bends If I want the wood to bend around an inch in roughly eight inches of material I switch to steam.