Twist and shout

[superdav95]

It looks a bit scorched but once you get some belly wood off you’ll be fine.  You may have had it too close to the coal bed if that’s after one hour.  Next time try to aim for 2-3 hours and start with bow about 18-20” above the bed belly down.  Then check it for Color change after an hour if none then lower it down a few inches.  A good coal bed should last at least 2-3 hours depending on outside temps.  Just fyi for next one.  If you are still getting a reading on your meter after that cook then hit it again with the heat gun or another coal bed treatment.  Don’t flex too much at this point let it rehydrate a bit.  After a day or so it should just barely register a mc reading and not get near 10% no matter what humidity is.  Keith Shannon uses the term hydrophobic to describe this ability to repel moisture absorption. 

[Muskyman]

Thanks Dave. I scraped it some and it’s a rich brown now. It’s still thick in the limbs yet.
Also I have watched Keith’s video with Clay Hayes and watched them cooking bows. I also have glued a handle on it, after cooking it. Used ea-40 for that. I’ll probably shape that in a few days. Just gotta let it sit for now because I’m busy with other stuff .

[Muskyman]

Been working on this bow some. Picture is pulled about 23 inches and it’s around 36-38 lbs. also had lost a lot of its reflex when I unstrung it. I put it back on my form and heated it again and got a lot of the reflex back. Don’t know if it will keep it or not but figured it was worth a shot.

[Muskyman]

Decided to flip the tips on this bow and during the heating process, I was heating it about the first 3 inches and after about 10-15 minutes of slowly trying to heat the tip of the first limb it suddenly started bending about 5 inches up the limb and just folded over at that point. So I cut it off and cut 5 inches off the other end and now I have a 60 inch bow left.. probably over cooked it on the coals in my original cook. Gonna put it into the naughty pile. I’ll start another bow from a new piece of hickory or some other wood. If I cook the next one on coals I’ll keep it farther away from the heat like superdave suggested earlier in this thread.. lesson learned, maybe 🤔