Hack berry design question

[NTProf]

At what point do you temper the belly? Before tillering? Or when?

[Joec123able]

I temper before and during tillering when tillering after I take wood off I re temper it and continue tillering. If you tempered after it wouldn't do much good.

[PEARL DRUMS]

To say tempering after would do no good isnt always true Joe. I rough the bow down and get a VERY even floor tiller. Then reflex and temper all at once. Its noy uncommon to get nearly done tillering and realize the bow is taking a bit more set than you care for. When that happens some bowyers llike to temper the bow again. Ive tempered and re-tempered bows at all stages just to see what happens and because I didnt care for the bow to begin with. The wood shouldnt be burnt, only darkened some. Hold the heat gun high about 3-4" away and dont move until the color turns, slide your gun ahead an 1" and repeat. I made a stand from an old desk lamp to hold my gun. Takes in the 60-120 second range for most white woods to turn a nice dark brown color.

[SLIMBOB]

  On Bodark, if I temper, I temper once at floor tiller.  On Hackberry, I temper early and often.  Once at floor tiller and then again once I have scraped that away.  Once I'm nearly finished I will temper again.  This might be overkill, but like Pearl above I have experimented a bit with it and this seems to keep the most set at bay for me.

[NTProf]

Thanks, everyone. Didn't mean to hi-jack the thred with my question about tempering.