Add or remove reflex

[Kidder]

Working on a black locust stave. Very fine ringed with a fairly high percentage of early wood. I’ve got it backed, laid out, and working on the thickness profile. 66 TTT. 1.75 inches wide at the fades, straight to mid-limb then tapers to the tips. This particular stave carries a lot of reflex in the top limb (approximately 3-4 inches). I’m also going to have to do some corrections on the top limb to get it in line. The bottom limb has zero reflex/deflect. My question is this: should I add some reflex to the bottom limb to match, remove some of the reflex in the top limb, or should I just leave it alone? Thanks in advance.

[Pat B]

What did you back the bow with? What glue? You may have trouble if you have to make heat corrections with the glue for the backing.
That said I would make both limbs even on a form with heat and clamps. 3" to 4" would be a good starting point for the reflex.

[Kidder]

Thanks Pat. By “backed” I meant a single ring chased without violations.

[Bob Barnes]

cool start...since it's not backed, but you did chase a ring, if it was me, I would put it on a caul that has just a little reflex, so that both limbs match.  I do that with most of my black locust bows.

[Dances with squirrels]

That depends. Are you able to balance the strengths of unevenly shaped limbs as well as even ones? If you're set up for it and know what to look for, I'd make it the way it is just cuz I think the odd ones are cool.

[M2A]

Like stated by others above, I like to put matching reflex in the limbs with a caul. Looks like all the reflex in that top limb atm comes from a very small area, nothing wrong with that but I find is easier if the whole/most of the limb has even reflex. Easy fix with a caul.

On a side note. I worked on a piece with similar ring properties a few months ago and got frets all along the belly short of F/D . depending on the draw weight you are after on your bow you may consider trapping the back just a bit.
Mike       

[Pat B]

I'd use a form(caul) like Bob showed.

[scp]

Now I'm all for deep heat treatment of the belly. But I prefer to avoid heat correction that cannot be done in the process of heat treatment, not because of any well reasoned heuristics but just for the simple philosophy of less is better. We need to be wary of the fiberglass/manufactured bow aesthetics, and learn to let things as they are and listen to them. I would just proceed to the floor tillering stage without applying any heat and see how it bends. What matters is how well and evenly it bends, not how it looks when it is doing nothing. I like to see how it looks when it is stringed first, better yet how it bends when pulled. I even prefer to scrape the belly while the bow is stringed. But I'm no expert and that might be a terrible practice, but I have no reasoned opinion on that yet.