Does string follow lead to set?

[sharpend60]

I'm working on a little brush bow at the moment.
It made from VineMaple reaction wood. A very stressed design.

So far it has takin about 1/2 set of set, which is AOK.
After leaving it strung for 2 or more hours it has about 1" of string follow. But bounces right back after a few hours.

My question to you is...

This being a young bow, is that string follow eventually gonna turn into set?

[PEARL DRUMS]

Not if you did your job right.

[sharpend60]

Ive drawn it within an inch of full draw easily more than 100 times.
Ive never had a bow that has such pronounced string follow before.

I'll post some pics when I get it all prettied up.
 

[PEARL DRUMS]

Osage is just different from stick to stick. Some will snap right back home after unbracing and some takes an hour to get back there. As long as it gets back your doing good. The problem is when your bow doesnt go back to its original shape, thats when set continues to happen. A few things cause it. Too short, too wet, using wood that isnt respectable bow wood and a poor tiller.

[Cameroo]

I don't think there is a wood bow around that doesn't develop at least some degree of set over it's lifetime (and I mean in addition to what it took during the tillering process).  But one inch of string follow after a few hours is nothing to worry about.  Heck even an inch of set is nothing to worry about. But if that's not up to your standards, just make the next one a little wider.   

[BowEd]

There was a term I heard people say about certain woods used for bows when I started making bows and it was oh that's a quick wood.I always thought it was that it returned quickly back to it's original form after shooting.I mean on it's own self backed.I hav'nt worked too many different types of wood yet besides osage,hickory,coffee tree,and elm[working on cedar now though but with sinew] but of all of mine I did osage is the quickest of them all.I know that's an opinionated comment but there it is.

[dwardo]

I experienced the same with a highly reflexed stave. We were talking about this on here recently but cant find the thread.
I have an elm bow that eventually started to chrystal which did the same thing. The bow would have about 2 inches of reflex and after being strung for a while then unstrung it would should almost an inch of follow.
My guess is that the tension strong wood back is pulling out the string follow after time. Unfortunately the brace tension and subsequent set after stringing made the bow shoot like a dog. I think its simply a crushed belly but the back is making things look better than they are.

Either way if it shoots well it shoots well.

[lostarrow]

That's why you'll see people post  how much set the bow has after unstringing and another figure for after it has " rested " for an hour or so.High moisture will make the bow  sluggish and take longer to "return" after unstringing well. If you take a fresh cut sapling you can bend it all over the place and it will want to keep the bend.Let it dry for a couple of weeks and you'll find it doesn't want to bend as easily but  tries to return to straight a lot quicker.
   

[sharpend60]

I understand the difference between the two terms, I was just wondering if one has a direct relationship to the other.
If string follow is an indicator of set in the future. Ive built many bows, vine maple included, that have shown ~1" of set but have little string follow.

The bow is a short draw recurve.
Ive never shot with such a short draw before. So I cannot speak to the performance...

The stave is 52" total length but only 42" working limb.
It started with 5" of reflex, I deflexed it several inches. It shows deflex unstrung, not set. I then seriously recurved last 6" of each limb. It also has a re claimed rawhide back from a failed project last spring. It gets very cold and dry here and wood get brittle...

This is a purpose built bow. I thumped a cotton tail with a blunt the other day. It did a back flip, then ran off. The brush was too heavy for me to pursue. Due to the heavy brush I could only draw my long bow 20" or so, reducing my power.

The solution is this bow. I already deflexed it a great deal, I would hate for it to take a buncha set too.

[Bryce]

I've seen a VM bow that was 40" long (working handle) pull a 25" draw and take zero set. But did take an hour or so to return to its reflexed state.
As you know sharp, VM is extremely tension strong. But it's a little weaker in Compression. And it sounds like the working parts are under a lot of stress.
VM takes heat tempering very nicely. I'm not sure how you want to go about that down there in the desert but give her some heat and I promise she'll perform.

[sharpend60]

I was gonna heat her this afternoon. It's drawing 24" right now. It does have a working handle. Could work more though.

I know that maple doesnt like to be too dry, thus the rawhide back.
Not really the best wood for this environment but I would hate to cut down my longer hickory staves. For this project at least.

Gimme a shout if anyone wants to unload some hickory. Id like to do gull wing with the same purpose in mind...

[lostarrow]

IMHO , I would think that if it is returning to a reasonable amount of set on it's own ,then the wood isn't permanently "damaged" or set regardless of how long it takes. Every  piece of wood will be different , based on it's ratio of tension to compression.Like Bryce said , heat treating helps if you are in a high humidity area and the wood can take the extra strain. But if you are in the desert,  my guess is that VM is just one of those woods that is slower to respond. The heat treating should make it quicker to return by changing the ratio.
 

[lostarrow]

Be careful not to bugger up your bond with the backing while heat treating. Ive been checking with a digital thermometer while heat treating and found that to get hickory to "toast lightly" I had to get it up to around 280 deg.  On 1/2" -5/8" thick , the heat transfered through to the back at around180 deg. or more. I was very conservative with the heating ,did it quick and just enough to turn colour. Good luck and let us know how it turns out . I'd like to see the pics.

[Bryce]

Oh crap! I forgot it was backed! Lol yeah be careful

[tom sawyer]

"String follow" and "set" are two terms for the same thing.  As far as performance is concerned, its the just-unstrung profile that is important.