reworking an osage bow advise (recurved pic added)

[LeightonM]

I have this 63" NTN bow that pulls about 40# @ 26". I'm reworking the handle as you can see.( it was too wide) I'd like to bump my draw weight  up to 47-50#. I am thinking about cutting the tips off to accomplish this but then I thought about flipping the tips. The bow took about 2-2 1/2" of set. I thought flipping the tips would give it a nice looking profile and give it some more zip. Any advise is most appreciated. Would dry heat be better than steam?
   
 ***  I used dry heat to recurve the tips. Any advice on how long I should let it set before I try to retiller? I'm storing it in a room with a humidifier.

[Pat B]

Most of the set is near the handle area. Flipping the tips will add more stress so unless you get the rest of the limb contributing you may only add more set.   
 You could shorten the limbs by 1" each, flip the tips and add a little heated in reflex then retiller back down to the weight you desire. It may take more set but it might not take too much.

[mwosborn]

If you just want to bend the tips a bit, dry heat will work fine.  More drastic bends (curves) I use steam.  I don't think you will gain as much weight as you are after just by flipping the tips - probably won't gain much at all.  Shortening will gain you some weight, of course you will need to re-tiller.  Might heat treat the belly too.  However, once set has happened, it pretty much has happened.  Play around with it and see what you can do.

[bradsmith2010]

if you even out the tiller I dont think you gonna get 10#,, flipping the tips or cutting it ,, you will  come out about the same draw weight after fine tuning the tiller,,,, lowering the brace a bit will reduce the strain on the bow,, and give you a bit more cast,,

[bubby]

I think patb nailed it on all counts, as far as flipping the tips with osage you can bend all you want up to a tight static with a heat gun

[Dakota Kid]

It might make a nice sinew backed recurve short draw if you really feel like a complete rework. It will put you at a higher draw weight than the other options. Cut it, flip it, heat treat, and back it, wait a few months then tiller.

[mikekeswick]

It might make a nice sinew backed recurve short draw if you really feel like a complete rework. It will put you at a higher draw weight than the other options. Cut it, flip it, heat treat, and back it, wait a few months then tiller.

This would be my route too. There is no way you can fix the tiller and get 10# increase without adding something. I personally would recurve the tips as much as I dared. even if some splinters turned up on the belly side I would grind them off and underlay a new piece of wood or run a saw cut down the center  (thinkness) and then bend them. then fill the cut with a thin piece of wood.

[Selfbowman]

I would probably just build another bow. As mentioned the brace is to high. Also just asking has the bow been left strung for a long period of time. That will ruin one faster than anything. Arvin

[bradsmith2010]

I think you guys are right about the sinew,, you could heat it into some reflex,, and probably come out with a pretty nice bow, the sinew would help hold a new profile,, and give you enough extra weight to refine any tiller issues,, giving you the option to flip or even recurve the tips,,, you could compensate for the reflex in the bow now by gently reflexing the whole limb,,,yes it would be a bit of work, but probably not as much as make a whole new bow,, without the added expense of getting a new stave,,

[LeightonM]

Thanks for the advice guys. The bow isnt super special to me and I dont feel like putting a ton more into it so I think I'll maybe try flipping the tips shortening the bow a bit and retillering and see what I come up with. It already shoots much better since I narrowed the handle where the arrow passes.

[DuBois]

OK, heres a radical idea hehehe! Reverse it and sinew it up!
leave it in it's current profile as it is nice and even like that except make the back the belly instead and flip tips into a very slight reflex and then Pike off 1.5" from each end, flatten and narrow the handle just a tiny a bit but leave it a little proud and wide for the heck of it.
Barely scrape off the new back to get to more uncrushed fibers, and sinew the new back. Tie it into a little reflex and wait. I think it could be a sweet sinew redeemed reversed reflexeded reworked rejuvenated repeat reaper.

[DuBois]

Really
Might not even need a lot of tiller work if you are meticulous about keeping initial wood removal equal and consistent and sinew app also even per limb and consistent. Man that sounds like a fun time but I just love this kinda thing!!

[bradsmith2010]

ok I went back and looked in my notes from 2004
I had a bow with some string follow that shot very average,,
I recurved the tips and did gain some speed and weight,, but I did not have to re tiller

the bow was about 62 inches long   45 -47 @ 28 inches
shooting 500 grain arrow with  b 50 at -------  153fps
after recuring the tips,, it was 50# at 28   shooting 160 fps
with fast flight I feel like it would have shot 165 fps,,
the bow had about 2 string follow,,,

based on that,, I feel like you might gain some weight and speed,, if you dont have to tiller much,,
the bow may not be shooting that much more effeciently, but your overall cast of the bow may be improved,,

I was really happy to find that info as it applied to what you are doing,,,

[Selfbowman]

Brad you keep a lot better  records than I do . But that info was good. Brad the fast flight was probably half or more of the speed change. Arvin

[LeightonM]

Wow DuBois, that is a lot to chew on! I never woulda thought of that.
Brad thanks for that info that is perfect. So if I would do what you did plus pike it I would gain a bit more??