Bow lost draw weigth

[Pat B]

You can deflex the handle but then reflex the limbs so the tips are forward past the handle.  This is how many glass R/D bows are made.  By deflexing only the handle the tips will be behind the handle, giving it less draw weight.
FYI, incase you didn't know...The back of the bow faces away from the shooter. The belly faces towards the shooter. Limbs bent toward the back are reflexed, limbs bent toward the belly are deflexed. Reflexing increases the draw weight, deflex decreases the draw weight.

[PatM]

Del, most would say that deflex and reflex are also a bend in the handle area.
  Clearly he means that he reflexed the handle or" setback" if that makes everyone happier.
 Likely the steaming softened the fades and the increased overall stress weakened the rest of the bow as well which would explain the drop in weight.

[Jjpso]

You are just confusing yourself and everyone else...
You need to use the same words as the rest of us.
The side of the bow that faces the archer is the belly, the side that faces the target is the back.
If you seam bend the limbs so that they bend more towards the archer that is deflex and will lower draw weight, (but give more draw length)
If the limbs bend away from the archer then that's reflex and will increase draw weight.
You can't deflex or reflex a handle... only the limbs.
Steaming the handle and clamping it down is fine... but we don't know if the bow was clamped belly up or back up...! 
I think we are all a bit confused!
Del

I am sorry for all this confusion, i understand these concepts, perhaps i am not explaining correctly.

Del, you are rigth i should have said that i clamped the bow with BELLY DOWN wich, in my view, would deflex the handle region and reflex the tips

.

Hi Jipso,

I think pictures would really help to overcome the confusion.

Deflex means the relaxed bow looks a bit as if it was already braced
Reflex means the relaxed bow looks as if it was strung the wrong way around.

(In fact you regularly see museums displaying reflex bow strung the wrong way...  )

Most european oaks are not good bowwood.

Jodocus, i dont knowvthe exact specie of oak, but i was surprised with the result, it shot really well and flat with 550 - 600 grains arrows... probably i should have accepted that the bow was 50# and not try to get 55#

Pat m and Pat B, Thanks for your opinion...

I am sorry again for all the confusion...

Best regards

Joćo from Portugal.

[Pat B]

Joao, with the bow handle clamped to the table, belly down, and the tips up on blocks will give you reflexed limbs, not a deflexed handle.

[Blaflair2]

He said he had the handle on blocks and clamped the fades, deflexing the handle

[TimBo]

Pics would definitely help, but you have described it pretty clearly now.  So, if the tips are reflexed , which is what it sounds like...how did it lose weight?  I think everyone assumed it must be because the opposite adjustment (deflex tips/limbs) was made, but if that isn't it, what could cause such a big weight loss?  Moisture content?  Broken scale (wouldn't that be nice!)? 

[bubbles]

I'm Sooo confused!!  Seriously, if you posted some pictures it would clear everything up and these guys would be able to tell exactly what went wrong. A picture is worth 1000 posts explaining how you clamped the handle into deflex.

[PatM]

He said he had the handle on blocks and clamped the fades, deflexing the handle

     Where did he say that?

[bradsmith2010]

bending the handle is pretty extreme way to gain a few pounds
cutting the tips a bit shorter would give you the weight without compromising the whole bow( or recurving them a bit)
we have all ruined bows trying to make them just a bit "better" that is common mistake
your bow may have moisture issues,, fix that first, and then see if you want to proceed to increase your weight
I am not sure what you did to your handle, bottom line,,, it did not work,,,so a different approach is needed
i feel like if you get the moisture the same as before you steamed,, your weight will come back
a heat box may be in order
bending the handle to put the tips further forward may add weight,, but it may just make the bow take more set and off set itself,,, I have had success doing this,, and failure

[bentstick54]

There is also a difference in heating slowly to make corrections and heat tempering the belly to gain weight.

[bentstick54]

There is also a difference between heating to bend the wood and heat tempering the belly to gain draw weight.

[Badger]

  If moisture is not an issue there is a good chance that the bow lost weight simply because it was overstressed. Anything you do to add stress and gain weight back might just exagerate the problem. Cutting it shorter, or reflexing may make it worse. It just depends why it lost weight, I would figure that out first.

[joachimM]

Most european oaks are not good bowwood.

Jodocus: allow me to disagree. European oaks (Quercus robur, Q. petraea) are pretty similar to white oak , which is considered pretty good bow wood. The Q. robur I have makes very good flatbows.
Next, there is hardly such a thing as bad bow woods, there are only bad designs. Not every wood works for every design...


This said, you did reflex the limbs entirely, it seems. I wouldn't do that again to raise weight, as the amount of reflex gained that way is very difficult to control. Better to have stiff tips and reflex or recurve them gently.
But I fear that you encountered what Badger wrote: overstraining the belly. Did the bow take a lot of visible set relative to the setback you induced?

Any way, you're not on this forum to make just one bow, so learn from this experience and make a new one, and then another and so on.

[JW_Halverson]

Any way, you're not on this forum to make just one bow,

Best advice I have seen on here in 8 years! 

[Jjpso]

Thank you all, i will wait a few days and see happens.

Best regards

Joćo from portugal