Heat treating trade offs

[joachimM]

Heat treatment makes the wood more brittle. For a belly thats rarely problematic unless you have an accidental dry fire at full draw like i had when the string of a just tillered bow slipped off.
Belly snapped to pieces...

Compression-weak, tension-strong woods benefit most, like elm, hickory, EHH, american hornbeam, sweet cherry, ...

[huisme]

On the other hand, a molle I tillered to 30#@28" was overdrawn to ~30" and dry fired when my dummy of a cousin got his giant hands on it and the toasted belly didn't even take set. I don't let the bow sit for more than two hour past cool (on the form for best bend retention) before getting back to work-- but then I left one of my locusts in the Nevada sun for the week I was building it and it still shoots great and hasn't taken set up in Canada.

[Sidewinder]

I think that the heat treat is very beneficial. Early on I tried it over coals but it was too hard to be consistent, so I bought a heat gun, built a form and now were talking consistent. Its the only way I will do it now. I know osage does'nt need it as much as elm and others but I think it does help some. Its just more noticeable on some of the other woods the amazing transformation it produces.