Set

[Allyn T]

If you had a two bows exactly the same. One had two inches of reflex but after shooting it in it no longer has the reflex, the other had no reflex but after shooting in it also has no string follow. Would they shoot the same?

[Eric Krewson]

In my opinion no, the straight bow has better wood in it than the reflexed one, my experience with no set wood is it is very snappy and really spits an arrow out.

[Allyn T]

Thank you, I had been wondering if the set would weaken the wood in general

[DC]

I don't think that it so much weakens the wood. It increases the hysteresis. I like to think of hysteresis as like a shock absorber on a car. It doesn't change the strength of the spring but it does affect the response time. Set slows down the bows reaction time.

[willie]

good analogy, Don

[Badger]

 It increases the loss of energy substantially .

[Allyn T]

Interesting fellas, thanks for the input. I guess good design is important no matter what

[Allyn T]

By the way the reason I was asking is in tbb 1 Tim Baker said in a straight bow design you can't really take advantage of hickory's high tension strength so adding reflex or recurve would do that with no danger. And I have a butt ton of hickory.

[PatM]

No way of knowing unless you actually compare real bows.   Many straight staves dry into reflex which isn't a real reflection of their starting point.

 

[willie]

in tbb 1 Tim Baker said in a straight bow design you can't really take advantage of hickory's high tension strength so adding reflex or recurve would do that with no danger. And I have a butt ton of hickory.

curious statement. by Tim, I wonder what the context was. 
I suppose you could trap the back to get some improvements.

[HH~]

True Pat

Deer never see set do they?

Shoot em alot, leave em strung hunting for hours , days, years they all take some set if you use it regular. When, she gives it up celebrate and reach for the new yella wood family feeder.

HH~

[Allyn T]

Willie: Tim says hickory outshines most others and hard to break category this is not a big advantage in a straight-stave design. if made correctly that extreme ability will never come into play because hickory must take a large cast-robbing set before breaking.
In another section he says hickory on average shoots fractionally slower than other common bow woods but is harder to break steam bending a low angle recurve or retroflex into the limbs last tipward inches will raise hickory's cast at no cost to safety. In the third section he says high tension woods can be reflexed and recurved with safety and will be more tolerant of tillering errors and hidden internal flaws. this tolerance is less valuable when working perfectly straight wood but is especially valuable when working problems staves. Examples are hickory and elm. I only paid such close attention to those sections because I wanted to work with hickory.

Hedge: true and hunting is my first priority. I just want to make the best bow possible for myself.

Pat: one day if I'm proficient enough I'll do that experiment. I'd love to see what happens

[Badger]

      One of the best methods I have found to identify true set as opposed to wood just returning to its shape is the measure the profile immediately ( Fast as possible) after unbracing and several full draws. The less it returns to shape the better. So if you unbrace your bow and it stays the same an hour later the bow likely has very little true set.

[Allyn T]

That's a very good idea!

[PatM]

I do think your examples are too close to show much difference.