general questions

[Deerhunter21]

alright, so im finishing up a bow for a guy on here and i want this bow to be good. I have to heat treat it, finalize the tiller after the heat treat, and then sand it and ship it! my worry is, im going to spend a lot of time sanding and i dont want to change the tiller accidentally before i send it...

also about heat treating, i hear guys say go low and slow but then also say that they get the bow to a dark chocolate color (with the back feeling hot from the heat soaking through) and can heat treat the whole bow in under 2 hrs. Now i heat treated this bow on the 2nd lowest setting which i believe is... 160 degrees(?) and it got the back nice and hot and got to a golden s'more color. but this took 3hrs PER LIMB!! now I dont want to up the heat because i dont just want to change the color and not get a good heat treat. (same reason why i dont want to put the heat gun closer to try to speed it up) am i doing something wrong?

And string making, I cant seem to get it down.. i can make a string but it always seems to be either too short or too long. how do you guys go about making a string... I mean this like whats your guys' "equation" for how long you cut the string and how much string you bend back to make the nocks.


lots of questions... i know.... lol

[stuckinthemud]

I've never taken more than about 45 minutes per limb to heat treat.

I also get nervous about changing tiller when sanding, to be honest, I pretty much don't do it. I tend to leave most tool marks on, but, a light sand won't change tiller. Putting the bow back on the tillering tree when you're done heating and sanding is always a good idea

[Stickhead]

I use this for making a Flemish twist string:
Desired String Length + 17.5" = Braid Length;
Start loop 8" from longest braid;
12 tight twists per loop

As for sanding, I use a scraper rather than a rasp for final tillering.  This leaves the bow quite smooth, so that very little sanding is required.

[Don W]

My heat gun had setting's 1-5. I usually set it about 4. I have a jig that holds it. I set the timer on my phone, usually around 2 minutes, then move it a little over half to 3/4 of the way over the dark.

I scrap as well, so sanding had never changed tiller much. I've actually tried to change tiller by sanding and it seems to take FOREVER!

[Deerhunter21]

Thanks for all the answers! I guess when you heat the bow, your just trying to harden the belly, almost like glueing on a belly lam of a stiffer wood to increase the weight. So I guess it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t go super deep haha.

I ask about the sanding because the bow I made got smudges of blue from being wrapped in a camping mat… I’m sure my recipient won’t mind but I don’t want to send him a white oak, blue highlighted bow hahaha!

[Woody roberts]

On the string making. I cut my threads 22” longer than the bow. Putting a loop in one end and tying a bowyers knot in the other. Just as you would to determine where to put your other loop. I just don’t ever make the bottom loop anymore. My string never falls off the bow and I can adjust brace height easily

[stuckinthemud]

I downloaded a Flemish string jig pattern Changed my life. Well, for a while, now prefer endless loop strings

[Pat B]

Put a loop in the string for the top limb and a bowyer's knot for the bottom limb. That way you can adjust the string to the correct lenght. This is the way I've always done it.

[WhistlingBadger]

Look up Clay Hayes' videos on string making.  He has an older one and a newer one--the newer one is easier to follow IMO.  If I can get the hang of it, I'm pretty sure anybody can!   

[Gimlis Ghost]

Thanks for all the answers! I guess when you heat the bow, your just trying to harden the belly, almost like glueing on a belly lam of a stiffer wood to increase the weight. So I guess it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t go super deep haha.

I ask about the sanding because the bow I made got smudges of blue from being wrapped in a camping mat… I’m sure my recipient won’t mind but I don’t want to send him a white oak, blue highlighted bow hahaha!

Try "Wood Bleach" available from Lowes or Home Depot.

[Hamish]

 Try acetone on the blue first, before trying the bleach. Bleach can have its own cosmetic issues, unless you do the whole bow.

[stuckinthemud]

Lots of things to do before something as drastic as bleach.  DO NOT USE BLEACH. I guess you tried dish soap and a gentle scouring pad (green pad?).  Next step is a scraper, very gently, or super fine sanding pad.  Have you tried an eraser?  My current goto is a floor wipe or a "magic eraser" cleaning pad.  Heck, best cleaner of all is hand sanitizer.

[superdav95]

Deerhunter. I use hot coals from hardwood to bake mine.  I just built a trough of large stones and various bricks to vary the height I need to get a slow bake.  The heat gun works but in my opinion it’s very time consuming and not a deep of a bake in my opinion.  Others here may disagree on this but I’ve tried both ways of doing this and in fact varied up several methods using the long trough of coals too to get it the way I want.  I’ll send some pics of my set up.  If your interested.  As for colour on the belly I go quite dark as I want to end up with a nice dark to almost black finished look on my needles/ levers on my molle bows.  I clamp to a form while still somewhat green in a reflex then let it sit in the sun to get moisture content down to below 10% as best I can then. Bake it belly side down over the bed of hot coals for 2-3 hours depending on outside temp.  I did some back on Jan/feb this year that took closer to 3hours.  The temp gun I used later batches has it around 250 degrees.  Initially I would just test it with my hand to go by feel.  If I could just barely hold my hand for 2-3 secs at the level of the belly of the bow facing the coals it’s was good.  I felt like this was the way to go for me.  Prior to this I used a home made jig for my heat gun and just moved it along the limb of the bow at the consistent height. About 6”.  This took a very long time. 

Hope this helps

Let me know if you want any further info on what I’ve learned on the heat treatment. 

Cheers.

Dave