Straightening

[apg]

Hi all,
My hickory bow, (on which the tiller is off, I know!), is showing pretty bad DeFlex. Does anyone know if I can steam and treat it after the bow has taken beeswax as a finish? I'd like to try to make it straight, and then perhaps finish with tungoil.
The bow is about a year old, and I've been using it quite a bit. Is it too late?
Also, if I cut an arrow rest into the riser, would that change the tiller?
ash

[stuckinthemud]

The wax will steam off very quickly, but, it's very easy to repair, and after a year of use, you'd be going to re-wax soon anyway, so there's no loss. If your going to use tung oil you will need to completely strip off the wax; white spirit is good for that.

[apg]

So, not to late to fix the deflex?

[osage outlaw]

Your bow has probably taken set.  If you take it out with heat it will more than likely return.  You might try reflexing it on a form and heat tempering the belly.  I've done that successfully on an osage kids bow.  You should study the bow closely and figure out why it took set.  Was it bad tiller, to short for the draw length, poor design for the type of wood, was it seasoned enough?  Learn from it and use the knowledge on your next bow build.

[Parnell]

When the cells compress from set it’s pretty much a done deal.  “White woods” like hickory do best when the bow is reflexed and treated with heat before and through ground tiller. You are essentially compressing those cells while you heat treat it on a form ahead of time.  Some comes out but when designed well, it’s minimal.

Also, your bow looks good.  I like the tips.  You twist up your own string?

[George Tsoukalas]

How much set?

You can't fix set in places where it happened.  You cannot avoid it either but you can fix it in places where it hasn't happened like the last 8 inches or so or the handle area.

But:

I suggest you enjoy your bow as is.

Perhaps work to decrease it on the next by improving tiller.

Besides "Set happens".

I would not cut in an arrow rest in the riser (fade?) or in the handle on this bow. Why would you want to?

Jawge

[burchett.donald]

   +1 on what Clint said...I have tried and gained a few pounds, but the damage returned...I have made several Hickory bows and if not long enough they were susceptible to string follow...A few inches of set makes a great shooter  ...
                                                     Don

[Del the cat]

Yeah, If the set etc isn't too bad, heat treating can gain some pounds, remove the set and you can apply any sideways correction at the same time.
BUT! If you don't improve any tiller issues the improvements will be short lived.
Here's an example:-
https://bowyersdiary.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/big-bow-detail-and-hickory-challenge.html
https://bowyersdiary.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/hickory-challenge-result.html
Del

[apg]

Okay! I’m going to work on a new one. Thanks for all your advice!