1st heat treat questions

[lesken2011]

OK...I have a white oak molle style bow that I have tillered to about 50# at 22". I have read that this might be a good time to heat treat so I just finished a light toasting of the belly (just enough to barely tell a color change). I know the bow is supposed to lose some moisture from the heat treat. I'm not in a hurry to complete the tillering and I want to apply a rawhide back prior to adding snakeskin. My question is this...how will adding moist rawhide to the back of a bow that the belly has just been heat treated resulting in a loss of moisture effect the bow? Are there any precautions I should take? If I put the rawhide on overnight will the bow be ready to tiller tomorrow or should I wait a few days?

[JonW]

Kenny I would give the bow at least two days after the rawhide. The rawhide and bow both need time to cure.

[Marc St Louis]

The overall moisture loss from heat-treating is actually very low.  The problem is that the heat-treating process dries out the surface wood too much and that is not good for the back, the reason for letting the wood hydrate a bit after the heat-treating process.

You realize that you won't be able to do any more heat-treating after you put on the rawhide.

[lesken2011]

Yeah, I guess I should wait on the rawhide till I'm farther along. I guess that is another good reason to have more than one going at at time. 

[Pat B]

When you are ready to add the rawhide put a thin layer of TBIII down first and let it cure completely. This will act as a moisture barrier for when you add the rawhide and will help prevent any of the moisture from the rawhide or glue enter the bow.

[lesken2011]

I read that before, Pat, but completely forgot about it. I guess I'm kinda thick sometimes. Thanks for reminding me.