Repairing a Plains bow

[elijahjmhutchinson]

The trouble:

Hey y'all, I have recently built a short plains bow from a scrap piece of elderberry and I'm so happy with how the paint job turned out. The trouble is that the bow took significant string follow. The wood has been seasoning for well over a year and this piece required a ton of steam bending to make it straight. I would like to remedy the string follow by heat bending the handle section of the bow and creating a reflexed handle, thereby making a gull-wing style bow. It has 7 coats of shellac and I would like to preserve the finish if at all possible.

My question:

Is it possible to heat bend the handle section of this bow without damaging the finish?
Thank you so much for your help and for being such an awesome community!

[Hamish]

 You are always going to risk damaging the finish if you do a heat treat. You might get away with it, you might not.

Shellac is a really good sealer. I don't like doing any heating with it on a stave because it traps heat inside the wood's cells, until the pressure gets too much and you can get little cracks in the wood on the back.

Personally I would leave this bow alone. The string follow is not ideal, but its not horrible either. Next bow you make of the same design, you can do a heat treat before putting a finish/decoration on.

[bradsmith2010]

I agree with above, if the string follow is really an issue for you, then scrape off the art and finish, and sinew back it, then re do the art,, its a nice bow, maybe do as suggested and make another one designed to be reflexed,,

[PaSteve]

Shellac is heat sensitive. It begins to soften up around 150°F. Probably not a good idea.

[elijahjmhutchinson]

Thank you all for your awesome feedback! I'll do as suggested and just leave this one alone. It's certainly fun to shoot.

[bradsmith2010]

great plan,, call it done and shoot it,,

[bownarra]

Yes once a bow has taken set and been extensively heated.....you can't really do a huge amount to it.
Increasing strain by reflexing the handle would simply increase set and make the bow worse.
Handle reflex is n't the best way to increase energy storage anyway. Much better to add progressive reflex , none at the handle , increasing as you move along the limb towards the tips.
Elder really, really likes heat treating. Look up the process if you don't know what it involves.