when to heat treat?

[David_Daugherty]

I'm working on an osage bow for a coworker and would love to attempt a recurve.  When do I steam treat the bow and add the bend to the bow?  Do I wait until the bow is just about completed or should this be done prior to completing the tiller?  Any advice would be great…thx.

[wood_bandit 99]

I usually long string tiller until 10" make sure tiller is good, dry heat bend the recurves in(you can use steam but osage does amazing with oil rubbed in and dry heat applied until hot enough you can't touch then bend) then after the recurves are put in and string is aligned, I make sure it's fine with long string then string it and tiller the rest of the way.

[Pat B]

You can bend the curves any time after the limb tips are thin enough. Floor tiller time or after. If you steam your osage seal the area to be steamed with shellac. Shellac can take the heat and moisture and sill seal the wood. Dry heats works well with osage as long as your curves aren't too drastic.

[paulsemp]

X 2 on what Pat said. Steam/boil is safer IMO. I messed up a bunch pushing bends with dry heat. I fix twist and minor bends with dry but now all drastic curves are boiled.

[Pat B]

I used dry heat with the sinew backed recurve in the BOM thread. Both recurves cracked with the dry heat. I used superglue in the cracks and added the underlays to reinforce the cracked curved. I should have steamed these drastic recurves but my head it too hard. 

[dwardo]

I steam after floor tiller. Leave the tips wide and flat. The width helps to keep the bend stable.
Make the belly of the recurve one flat ring, high or low spots are where splinters tend to lift for me.

[Del the cat]

Best done while you have some extra tip width to play with, as if the recurve isn't exactly true it can shift the string line. Easier to rasp/file to adjust the tips rather than trying to get accurate 1/2" heat corrections.
If the bends are tight, a strip of thin steel (cut from that tin of Christmas biscuits ) clamped over the outside of the bend can help prevent splinters lifting and help keep the bend smooth.
Del

[David_Daugherty]

Thx for the tips.  I will start putting it on the tiller stick this weekend so that gives me some good advice to follow.