boiling a bow in oil

[nsherve]

Have any of you tried boiling a green stave in oil? Not necessarily boiling, but submerging it in hot oil...just to see what happens. If you have, what kind of oil did you use, and what were the results? That question popped into my mind just a minute ago. I may try it when I get home from work. I work overseas, so it'll be a few months before I get home.

I have posted on here before, and am still very new to making a bow. The last time I was home, I made my first bow (which seems fine).

Thanks for any responses.

Nate

        I've also had an idea about heat treating a bow by covering it with clay soil over a fire... any thoughts?

[Joseph]

Um, It sounds a bit strange, like tempering a blade, but, feel free to try

[DC]

If you intention is to heat treat the bow this way you have to remember that heat treating a bow is a one sided operation. You want the belly hot and the back should stay cold. 

[kid bow]

Have any of you tried boiling a green stave in oil? Not necessarily boiling, but submerging it in hot oil...just to see what happens. If you have, what kind of oil did you use, and what were the results? That question popped into my mind just a minute ago. I may try it when I get home from work. I work overseas, so it'll be a few months before I get home.

I have posted on here before, and am still very new to making a bow. The last time I was home, I made my first bow (which seems fine).

Thanks for any responses.

Nate

        I've also had an idea about heat treating a bow by covering it with clay soil over a fire... any thoughts?

the technique is used to temper the extremely well crafted katanas of the samurai. I have a friend in Japan who's taken the apprenticeship of making them. You must remember that wood is living and "breathing". It's not metal. You can not temper it like metal. You can use hot linseed oil to seal a bow in multiple layers. As far as dry heating the bow but keep the back cool as specified.

[mullet]

I thought about doing  it with Ipe to see if it would help bending some curves in but never got around to it.

[nsherve]

Thanks for the replies. It gets boring at work, so my mind wanders from time to time...I may try both when I get home. I have some hickory that's been cut and sitting around for a year or so, and I plan to cut down a large persimmon tree. If I think about it (and if I'm able to get into it at all), I'll post pictures as it comes along, if y'all are interested.
As far as the one about baking it in clay, I was thinking it would help drop the moisture from the wood. The air gets pretty muggy where I live. I wouldn't put it directly in the fire, but would have it raised. Also, it's pretty easy to keep the fire low.

Nate

[Fred Arnold]

I hate to disagree with you guys but a lot of bows have been heated and shaped by applying heat to the belly, back, and sides of the bow. Heating and heat treating are different methods.

[PatM]

I hate to disagree with you guys but a lot of bows have been heated and shaped by applying heat to the belly, back, and sides of the bow. Heating and heat treating are different methods.

  Not really. The amount of heat it takes to manipulate wood with heat is about the same as heat treating.  The wood is being shaped with heat treating whether you straighten a kink or reflex a whole limb.
  The point is likely more that direct heat on the back of a working section is a no no. Still, the idea that the back can and should remain cool during heat treating is highly unlikely. The heat transfer heats it up way past what would be called 'cool".

[DC]

OK, OK, I exaggerated a bit when I said cold 

[PatM]

Even cool would be an exaggeration.

[sleek]

Could deep frying it help cure it faster without checking?

[Hamish]

When oiling wood, for spoons, or cricket bats, it tends to soften the wood. Its not boiling the wood in oil, and only penetrates a shallow amount. I would think boiling a stave in oil, the oil would penetrate more comprehensively.
Hilary Greenland in her book advises against putting linseed oil on bows as a finish. I can't remember the exact words she used, but  I think it caused more stringfollow, less performance. Linseed oil takes along time to cure properly.
It might be worth a try, but I think it would be unlikely to improve performance at all in a finished bow. An interesting experiment, but expensive, dangerous and too much effort for me personally even if it was successful at increasing performance.

[Danzn Bar]

No better smell than fried osage.....hum yum...  
DBar

[mullet]

You could try wrapping the limb in Bacon?

[Dvshunter]

If the oil is to hot it "cooks " the wood making it very brittle and burnt. Oil at just the right heat is like bioling the stave and works well. But to hot ruins it. It's not worth it unless you have a very regulated setup. I know only from experience with Osage and vegetable oil.