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Is it set?

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willie:
not sure what you call it, but consider that green wood is  flexibile,  and then when it dries the cells get stiffer,  so comparing green wood to dried wood is sorta like apples and oranges.

btw, the shape or reflex of the dried stave was caused by the the outside drying and shrinking faster or sooner than the middle

superdav95:
I think that changing the reflex from natural shape with heat on the belly will make the belly less susceptible to taking compression set.  There still is some set that occurs but it’s minimized with the hardened cells of the belly wood.  It also makes those cells less likley to absorb moisture too compared to just air dried seasoned wood.  Like has been said here already.  I count set from the pretillered state and backset or deflex at the start of tiller.  I do find that natural reflex holds better and takes less set also.  I also find that with heat treating a ton of reflex or backset there is a limit to what the bow will retain.  Too much reflex or extreme designs on self bows is risky and have greater chance of failing.  Keeping it to 3-4” is the limit for me with self bows with heat treating on white woods.  This can be increased with backings like sinew or bamboo or others backings. 


Cheers

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