I have a yew bow of 60 pounds with 2 inches of set. Despite my best efforts none of my bow has yet come out with reflex or dead straight. However each one shoots better than the last and thus I'm not too concerned about it. This last bow is displaying some interesting behavior.
When I put it on a radiator for under an hour (unfortunately I wasn't paying attention to the precise time, as I had merely intended to keep it dry after a day shooting in 100% humidity) it straightened itself almost completely. Set was almost gone and it held only around a centimeter.
The next day I shot it again for a few hours and the set is back. 2 inches.
I have two interpretations of the phenomenon.
1) The bow reached sufficient temperatures on the surface of the belly to allow deformation to occur (or perhaps de-deformation, however I don't see the damaged structures repairing themselves, just decompressing perhaps). For this to happen there would have to be counteracting forces, I presume on the tension side of the neutral plane (or however it is appropriately called in engineering)
2) The bow lost moisture and the sapwood lost moisture quicker and shrunk, pulling the bow back straight. The process would have much in common with leaving yew staves with bark on to dry only for them to bend in the direction of unprotected wood.
All in all, I don't see this being permanent and believe that 2 inches of set will remain or, more likely, get worse with time.
What do you think about all this?
