Heat treat or set back first...

[RatherBinTheWoods]

I have a 41" Sioux style shortie on the go. It's ash and looks okay at the moment but I want to heat treat the belly the try to stop any serious set and introduce some setback in the handle (with steam) to get the classic gull wing shape.

1 won't be sinew backing

I may be overthinking this but which should I do first the dry heat or the steam bending?

What's the conventional wisdom or won't it really matter?

Cheers

[Stick Bender]

I don't have any exsperience with your design  but have some steam bending & heat treating I always do the steam work first & let it acclimate for a couple of weeks & put the bow back on the caul to heat temper it's probably best to use a caul if you reheat the wood after steaming it will try to return to its original shape 

[Pat B]

If you steam the bow first you should wait for it to dry again completely before heat treating it or you might cause checking.
 What I would do is use a form to shape the bow and heat treat it as I clamp it to the form.

[Redhand]

What draw weight and length are you shooting for?

[Pat B]

If you use steam to bend the handle area seal it well with shellac. Shellac can take the heat and resists moisture.

[RatherBinTheWoods]

 I'm going for 40-45# at 2O".

Looks like steam the handle area first is the way forward. I'll will eventually get a few bending and recurving forms made but that will be when I can get on a bandsaw.

I'll leave it after steam to dry out a bit and hope that that belly heat treat also tempers the handle set back at the same time.

Thanks for the advice guys, really helped.

[PatM]

It wouldn't be unreasonable to achieve the set back with dry heat.