Hackberry bow

[grinner]

Hi I am currently on my second attempt at making a hackberry bow and I have it tillered to about 21" and it has taken 1.5 inches of set so far.  My question is should I stop now and heat treat the belly of the bow or just keep it as is? THanks for the advice

[okie64]

If youve got the tiller good I would go ahead and heat treat it. I usually get mine tillered to about 20" or so and then heat treat.

[grinner]

OK how long do i need to wait to work on it again then?
Thanks

[k-hat]

I'm with okie.  the one i just finished i tempered about where you are.  The elm bow i'm working on now i tillered to brace good and even, then tempered it.  I'd wait at least 4 days, but it depends on your humidity level too.  I think i'd wait 4 days in even high humidity, longer in lower humidity just to be sure.

[SLIMBOB]

I've been heat treating hackberry at the floor tiller stage before I put a string on it.  Then once again as I near completion.  Might be over kill but it's kept mine from taking much appreciable set.  I have been waiting about 24 hours after heat treating to work on them.  Not recommending that short of time, as heat treating is a fairly new thing for me, but 1 day has worked fine thus far.