black locust wont heat treat.

[sleek]

The stave is 3 years old so wet aint the problem I wonder if its me. Its 2" wide pyramid and only 40# so its not overstressed. The wood is very thick ringed. Only 2 rings in each limb. What's the significance of the ring count on locust?

[JonW]

I have not had good results with really thick ringed Locust.

[sleek]

I am probably going to reduce it to a kids bow and give it to the first child with big eyes that sees it and says Wow! A bow and arrow dad! Happens all the time at the gunshows.

[PEARL DRUMS]

3 yr old wood can be wet sleek. Wet and green are two different animals. If it was stored in 70-80% humidity it can be 20 years old and wet still.

[RBLusthaus]

I have found pyramid to be not the best profile for BL, as I am guessing that your set is mostly mid limb.  My favorite profile for BL is to keep her abt 1.5 inches wide till mid limb, then taper to tips.   Maybe another bend with heat can rid u of some set.  Good luck. 

[Marc St Louis]

It is rare but occasionally you will run across wood that will not take to heat-treating

[sleek]

Pearl, the stave was about 2x4 size and stored inside my house in Oklahoma for 3 years. Im fairly certain it is dry, though I dont have a moisture meter to verify.

Marc, is there any chance I could send you this thing and get you to tell me what I did wrong?

[huisme]

*sigh*
If you must

In my experience thick ringed locust has the greatest variance tree to tree, some of it having made good bows and some failing to survive heat. If you have a lot of experience with raw black locust you end up being able to feel the lousy wood not just by weight and hardness, but by texture, minute details in the surface of the wood, color, the way it splits, the smell, all that stuff that tells you you've spent too much time with a tree. The sharper, more consistent, darker, clean-splitting, sharp smelling stuff always promises high performance bows with minimal hassle.

That said, take a goooood loooooooooooooooooong time heating black locust to a warm brown color. It's not the end of the world if it chars, but try to stop just before.