Heat treating

[Lee Lobbestael]

Hey guys, In the past I have "heat treated" the belly of several self bows by going over each limb with a heat gun, held several inches away untill the wood browned and then moved on down the limb untill the whole limb was browned over. Is this all there is to it or am I missing something? I saw one post on it that claimed it should take several hours, however this process I described only takes about a half hour or so.

[johnston]

Lee that is not doing you much good. Marc St. Louis has a video here that will put you straight. When I watched it I had to turn down my volume because of the heat gun noise but
that may have been fixed. Dont have the link but I found it by using the search tool.

Lane

[Elktracker]

This is the video johnston is talking about it gives a good idea of how long it should take  http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,23338.0.html

[Gordon]

Takes me about 1 hour per limb.

[Lee Lobbestael]

thanks guys. Looks like I gotta toast it longer

[Qwill]

Umm, I hate to say this, but I've had good luck with a faster version of heat treating. I've even used my barbecue. It takes about 20 minutes to do the whole bow on the barbecue, and the biggest trouble I've had is keeping my tension string from burning. I string the bow backward to induce some reflex. Perhaps there is a more notable increase in limb strength using a slower method, but with the woods I'm using, I'm not sure I want to go to far. Anyway, I may try using Mr. St. Louis method someday, but then again, I may not be that patient. All I know is that heat treating quickly does help somewhat. I am just finishing a 40 inch west-coast bow of yew and sinew that I heat treated the belly. Huge difference from heat treating the bow.

[DEllis]

I just use the burner on my propane stove. Takes about 20 to 30 min per limb........seems to work well for birch and hickory(which is the only heat treating I have tried) Might be a few ways to skin that cat after all.
Darcy

[eflanders]

I too prefer to use a hotter and quicker way to temper the wood.  Probably because I am usually just working with laminations rather than a solid piece.  I mentioned this in a previous post of mine.

[Marc St Louis]

Umm, I hate to say this, but I've had good luck with a faster version of heat treating. I've even used my barbecue. It takes about 20 minutes to do the whole bow on the barbecue, and the biggest trouble I've had is keeping my tension string from burning. I string the bow backward to induce some reflex. Perhaps there is a more notable increase in limb strength using a slower method, but with the woods I'm using, I'm not sure I want to go to far. Anyway, I may try using Mr. St. Louis method someday, but then again, I may not be that patient. All I know is that heat treating quickly does help somewhat. I am just finishing a 40 inch west-coast bow of yew and sinew that I heat treated the belly. Huge difference from heat treating the bow.

You should only be heat-treating the belly anyway.  You can do a surface temper but it won't work as well