Twist and shout

[Muskyman]

Starting a new one. Wanted to try something different and had this hickory stave with a bunch of propeller twist in it.  I figured I’d give it a shot and see what happens.
I’ll post more pictures as I move forward.  Going to try and straighten one limb at a time and see how it goes.

[WhistlingBadger]

Cool.  With hickory being so resistant to breaking, even with grain run-outs and back violations, I've long wondered if you could make a bow out of twisted hickory and just leave it twisted.  I bet you could get away with it if you kept the weight fairly low.  It would be interesting to try, and you might end up with a bow that looked like a narwhal horn!

[Pat B]

You could tiller the twist out of it so it's straight at full draw.

[Muskyman]

You might could do that Pat, I doubt I could.  I was thinking about steaming it out then using dry heat to set the limbs. I don’t know if that will work but that was my thinking.  I tried very hard to follow the grain in the stave. It’s 70 inches long and 1&1/2 wide at the fades. Planning on a pyramid style bow. Probably has 1/4 turn of twist to it.
Anyone ever done that? Can it be done?  I really don’t know.

[Selfbowman]

I’ve done it with Osage. But it’s easier to cut the center of the bow on the belly side of handle until It’s about 3/4”  then heat and twist the handle section. That gets  a lot of the propeller out. I did a bow build on here with that method. I shined the sawed section and did a glue on to the belly of handle. You can also put reflex or deflex in the handle at that point.

[Mo_coon-catcher]

That twist should pull out no problem while heat treating. Get it floor tillered for minimal wood thickness then make a couple wedges from pine so it’s softer than the hickory. Use the wedges to twist the limbs about 20% further than thy currently are while heating, once locked in where you want scorch the snot out of the belly.

You could also leave that amount of twist, it’s not a problem at all. This spring I did an Osage where one limb had about 80* of twist and I left it. It shoots fine. Just use a single side nock in the high side of the limb and the string will stay put

Kyle

[Muskyman]

Thanks for all the replies. I’m not sure how I’m going to attack this thing yet but did get some interesting feedback. I did work on it some today and have it shaped, mostly.
1-1/2 at the fades and about 3/8 at the tip. 70 inches long. It’s at floor tiller and bending somewhat.

[Pappy]

I have done a lot of Hickory , you can take that out pretty easy with dry heat, I usually on one with a lot of propeller take it out in 2 or 3 sessions , or what every it takes, be patent, it will sometimes rupture the back if you try and take it all at once. 
 Pappy

[Muskyman]

Thanks Pappy, I think I’ll try it your way. Do one limb at a time and see what I can do with it. Once I get the twist out I’ll probably clamp it and try to add a little reflex.  I’ve actually got about 6-8 staves from the same tree and all of them have the prop twist. If I don’t make a bow from this one I can try again on another one. Never a waste of time trying to make a bow.

[superdav95]

Ya much like mocoon catcher said.  Many that I’ve done like that I clamp it down to my caul at this stage and get it straight and tips aligned like has been said and heat treat it.  I don’t go past the correction with hickory as it holds pretty well once heat treated fairly deeply on belly.  Only word of caution,  protect the back.  Put down some sort of fibreglass batt or something to prevent some of the heat getting around to the back of bow.  The heat will wrap around a bit you will want to avoid as much of that as poss.  I usually get my profile done and the bow bending good at floor tiller usually limbs around 1/2” or under in thickness then clamp down and heat treat. When you pull it off the caul it will be pretty straight and hold.  With Osage of yew I will go past the correction a little as some of it will creep back and undo the correction.  Best of luck with it. 

[Muskyman]

Thanks Dave. I might have some wall insulation laying around. I’ll test it and make sure it doesn’t melt before I use it. I think it’s fiberglass. If I even kept it. It was a left over from a past home project.

[Muskyman]

Clamped it down and did some heating on it. Didn’t overdo it but still worked on it for about 35-40 minutes. Never stayed in one place for to long. Worked longer on the limb with the most twist.
Waited about 2 hours then went out and unclamped it on one limb. Twist was gone but wasn’t keeping its reflex. Clamped it back down and checked the other end with the same result but, the prop twist seems to be gone. I’ll probably try and heat some reflex into it tomorrow.

[superdav95]

thats good sign mike.  really put the heat to it when you get it clamped down.  you want the color to go little over half way through the thickness of the limb.  doing this transforms the belly wood and hardens it up and dives out moisture.  you may even hear it hissing.  People tend to under cook the first baked white wood bows.  It will scorch the belly a bit but thats fine. you will scrape most of this off when you finish tillering.

[Muskyman]

Never could get the bow to keep the reflex I was looking for with my heat gun. I’m sure I wasn’t getting it hot enough. Checked the mc and it was 13 percent plus. So I fired up my charcoal pit and clamped it down and put it on there. Not sure if I overdid it. It was on there for close to a hour. Pictures show end result
Still is about 5/8 thick in the limbs so I’m probably okay. Going to let it rehydrate for a day or two then start thinning the limbs down and adding some thickness on the handle and finish shaping the fades and the handle