toasting?

[bradsmith2010]

well if you had a moisture meter and you checked the bow before and after,, it would probably be  a lower moisture content,, maybe not enough to break the bow,,,, but there is probably some moisture loss,,, and that could enhance performance as well ,,, and may be part of what the toasting does that is desirable in some instances,,,, when you put a hickory bow in the heat box and get the moisture way down,, it doesnt break,, just resist set and shoots better,,, ,,,, some woods may explode    I dont toast enough to have experience with the exploding woods,,,

[Drewster]

Tony, FYI, when you heat treat bow limbs, don't brace the bow or stress the limbs for several days.  The wood gets really dry when you deep heat treat the wood and the bow is likely to blow up with you.  I usually give my bows three or four days to rehydrate........perhaps a little longer if the relative humidity is low.

How do you know? Can you share some insight with hard facts and data on this?

Ive tested this false myth a bazillion times. Ive weighed my staves before and after, and the most weight i lose is a tenth of an ounce. Thats not even a 1/4 of one percentage point moisture content wise. This proves tempering doesnt dry the wood out too much and needs to wait to redyrate. Ive built bows with a lot of folks and i temper deeper n darker than most folks around here btw. I also cant count how many times i and several other guys here have braced n drawn after it has cooled and pulled off the form the same day. None of us have had any ill effects in doing so. But hey,if ya feel the need to wait go right ahead as that aint hurting anything either.

Well, I don't have any hard data but was just passing along what I've learned from other bowyers.  It makes sense that wood would dry out enough to make it more brittle when that much heat is applied BUT, obviously your experience has proven differently.  Thank you for taking me to school.

[Marc St Louis]

Tony, FYI, when you heat treat bow limbs, don't brace the bow or stress the limbs for several days.  The wood gets really dry when you deep heat treat the wood and the bow is likely to blow up with you.  I usually give my bows three or four days to rehydrate........perhaps a little longer if the relative humidity is low.

How do you know? Can you share some insight with hard facts and data on this?

Ive tested this false myth a bazillion times. Ive weighed my staves before and after, and the most weight i lose is a tenth of an ounce. Thats not even a 1/4 of one percentage point moisture content wise. This proves tempering doesnt dry the wood out too much and needs to wait to redyrate. Ive built bows with a lot of folks and i temper deeper n darker than most folks around here btw. I also cant count how many times i and several other guys here have braced n drawn after it has cooled and pulled off the form the same day. None of us have had any ill effects in doing so. But hey,if ya feel the need to wait go right ahead as that aint hurting anything either.  

It only takes once to make you gun shy.  It happened to me twice, once was just a splinter but the second was violent and it was that second one that made me gun shy

[Selfbowman]

I do my toasting before tiller so I can remove the brown color caused by the heating. I will say this on occasion I get a spot on the limb that was thicker and it has to be warmed up a bit. This takes some experience to tell the difference between tiller and toasting. Or I could be mistaken. I am sure a guru can correct me on this.   Arvin