Heat treating reflex with weight

[WhistlingBadger]

Hi, guys.  So, one of these days I'm going to get around to heat-treating my hickory bow.  I'd like to put a little reflex in it.  I've heard of people hanging weight from the handle area to induce reflex, but that would seem to require having the back up, which would make heat treating tough.  So I'm wondering...what if I put the handle in the vice, belly-up, and hung weight off the limb tips, then did my heat treatment?  Would that do the same thing?

[Digital Caveman]

I generally reverse brace the bow into several inches of reflex, it works pretty well, I'll post photos tomorrow.

[Eric Krewson]

Been there done that, unless your tiler is perfect your weight induced reflex is going to be uneven, too much bend here and not enough there. Dean Torges pointed out the error in my ways when I posted a how to on using this technique.

Bending on a form will be much more consistent.

[simk]

WhistlingBadger

I'm doing this all the time. Works perfect for me. If the bow already is well tillered it puts the reflex exactly where you want it.

Of course you have to find the right amount of weight amd heat.

Cheers

[bownarra]

Unless you have perfect straight wood and the bow is already tillered (it shouldn't be!) you could get away with it.
The best way by far is to make a simple form 1"wide. Ido many little tweaks when heat treating a form allows you to do this without one things are too chancy.

[Marc St Louis]

Done all of the above and prefer the reverse bracing.  Hanging a weight from the tip can be very tricky since the wood softens as it heats up and you can get more bend in certain areas of the limb, that will throw the tiller off a tillered bow

[bassman211]

2 days ago I cut a birch sapling. Yesterday I stripped the bark,and got the sapling shaped, and floor tillered. Stuck it in a vise ,and clamped both ends to the  table. I got about 3 inches of reflex over night wet. This morning I put it on a form with 4 inches of reflex. Every thing is in line. Birch will  dry relatively fast. I will leave it on the form in my basement to dry, and heat treat the belly, and put it in a hot box before it comes off the form. Then tiller. Answer to your question, not exactly. Best to shape it on a form.

[BowEd]

I use a form or caul.

[SLIMBOB]

Done it as you mentioned, but uneven results. Take a 2x8, lay it on edge and shape it as you want the curves. Just heat and clamp, tightening as you get it hot.

[WhistlingBadger]

OK, please tell me a little more about reverse bracing.  Is it as simple as stringing the bow backward, then heat treating the belly, or is there more to it?  Do I need the bow tillered to regular brace height before I do that, or is long-string tillered good enough?

[HanibalLecter(InnerSmile)]

You can also do this to take twist out of a bow. Saves a lot of effort.

[Digital Caveman]

Typically I get a good tiller going and use a long string backwards.  I wouldn't brace backwards it because stringing it would put to much strain on it IMO and the string would be to close to the heat.

[bradsmith2010]

I use a long string to pull backwards but can see a caul might give more consistant results,,
if you think the string is too close, use a wire,, it wont burn,,

[WhistlingBadger]

Thanks for all the input, guys.  I started a new thread to ask about reverse bending/bracing, since that's the latest thing I'm confused about.  (the list keeps growing!  ha ha    )  Further help would be appreciated!
http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php?topic=70212.0
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