Heat tape for protecting backs of bows

[bubby]

This has been a question on heat treating I have had for a long time.  Is it the heat alone that transform the wood, or does it take pace with the charring.  What is the catalyst for change?

  Slimbob, the heat treating method I use seldom involves any charring. Currently I use a heat gun and go from one end of the limb to the other in about a 3 second stroke. hen I am finished the back of the bow is too hot too touch and the belly is just darkening a bit kind of like how it does just sitting out in the sun for a few days. There is a very distinct smell that I am looking for. It is a little different with different woods but unmistakable. I am hoping to find the temp setting where I can get this smell and then hold it there for a while.

Badger maybe get an infared thermometer, do your standard HT and then you can get the desired heat range with the thermometer

[DC]

I use an infrared thermometer when I'm heat treating and the "turning brown" temp seems to be right about 425f.

[Nasr]

 Ok I might be missing the whole point of this experiment but why not just bake the whole thing then add a backing. Unless you are also trying to also heat the backing but to a lesser degree. If it were me ( once again I could be missing the point of this) I would rip the back off the stave bake the whole thing then add the backing back to the bow. That way its the same wood. But then again your probably wouldnt be able to know if the performance increase( if there is one) would be from the backing you just added or the baking you did. 

[bjrogg]

Need some heat shield tiles from a he space shuttle.

I agree with Marc. Seems to be a big difference between Osage and HHB in the way they respond to heat treatment.

Bjrogg

[DC]

Ok I might be missing the whole point of this experiment but why not just bake the whole thing then add a backing. Unless you are also trying to also heat the backing but to a lesser degree. If it were me ( once again I could be missing the point of this) I would rip the back off the stave bake the whole thing then add the backing back to the bow. That way its the same wood. But then again your probably wouldnt be able to know if the performance increase( if there is one) would be from the backing you just added or the baking you did.

This is on my to do list. I think a good idea.

[willie]

I agree, Nasr probably has a good idea there. I can't remember where or what exactly I read once about a heat treating method that modified the wood so that the wood did not want to re-absorb as much moisture as before. Maybe something to do with a longer treating time?

[DC]

I'm working on Nasr's idea. I sawed the back off a piece of Ocean Spray. Then I wanted to heat treat the belly part. I have a radiant heater I built a few years ago by stretching out an old 1500 watt heater element. Earlier in this thread Badger had said he wanted to heat the wood in an oven and force it to shape while it was in the oven. I could get close to that. I heated one side until it was 450°f. At that point the other side was 250° or so. Then I flipped it over and started heating that side. The side that was 450° dropped to 200°. I heated this side until it was 450° and the other side had gone back up to 230° or so. This meant that the whole thing was at least 230°. Then I quickly clamped it to the form. It was really tough to get it to bend. I let it cool for a couple or three hours and unclamped it. It straightened right out. OS bends quite well with steam and this was hotter than steam but it wouldn't bend. If I take a piece of OS and steam bend it and then lock it in with dry heat it holds its position very well. I don't know why this wouldn't work. I'm steaming the piece now and I will dry heat it tomorrow. We'll see what happens.

[Deerhunter21]

hey! I was just about to say we should try it!

[DC]

Go for it, the more people do this stuff the more valuable the results.