I was in the process of building an R/D yew bow. Ma nature added plenty of deflex and I added reflex. I tillered the bow out and shot it a few times, very few. In the end I had no use for the draw feel or performance of the bow. So, in typical me fashion I decided to change it. If I wont use a bow as is, it doesn't stay as is no matter what. I decided to add statics to it and see what happens, just trying to get the "sponge" out of the draw. The bow had osage tip overlays glued on with Loctite Professional. Here is what I did.
1. a 25 minute gentle steam on the last 10" of tip.
2. 25 minutes clamped in my form
3. Both tips kept great shape after a 25 min steam and a 25 min clamp
4. The tip overlays never budged and still look new
In the end it worked like a charm. My take on it? Yes, you can add statics to a finished bow, yes the overlays will stay put and yes 25 minutes of clamp time is plenty, even for yew.
