Heat treating black locust

[Pawtrap]

Hey yall, will someone tell me how to heat treat black locust, I have several good staves and I make fairly heavy bows, 65 to 80#'s, would like to know the best profile bow to make out of BL. I cut all the sap wood off the staves, thanks

[huisme]

Slowly and carefully. It takes heat well, but it'll go from brown to charred pretty quick. I always use oil and spend quite a bit of time making sure the heat penetrates deep into the wood. I've used an open fire, stove, and my heat gun effectively.

If you can, heat a little reflex with dry heat. The wood loves it.

I made an 80#@26" flatbow that was 2" wide at the fade, tapered at twenty inches to 1/4" stiff tips, was about seventy inches long and completely flat after taking an inch of set to lose its inch of reflex.

[DarkSoul]

Regarding the "best profile" for black locust: it needs a flat belly to compensate for the low elasticity of the wood and thus prevent chrysals. But it is best to crown the back a bit. Natural crown of the stave is often enough, but if the stave came from a big tree, you could trap the back a bit, making it narrower by angling the sides of the bow. 2" wide for about 70 pounds should be right.

[TRACY]

This is all I've been working lately and have been using the heat gun and caul to induce reflex/corrections on staves that are closer to finished dimensions. Helps in saving time and drying out the wood. I have flipped tips lately and twice have broken curves probably due to operator error Going to steam the tips from now on.

Tracy

[Pat B]

I treat BL like whitewoods. It needs a flat belly and good tillering. It does accept heat treating well. I don't use oil then heat treating. I start at the fades, work about a 6" area with the heat gun  few inches above the belly until it turns the color I want. I then move on to the next 6", returning back to the previous area and work out the limb. Once both limbs are done I let the bow rest for 3 or 4 days before stressing it.

[Pawtrap]

Thanks yall, gonna go slow, will post the turn out

[JW_Halverson]

Oh no, that's not enough. You gotta post pics along the way!  Most of us can't read (me especially) and appreciate lookin' at pretty pretty pictures.

Photos of flinchrock rifles are appreciated, too.  Trust me on that one. I got two and a smoothbore to boot.

[Badger]

   I love black locust but will no longer spend money on the staves because I too often screw them up. Black locust likes a lot of working limb. I use heat to induce reflex but on the one recurve I did I used steam and I steamed it about twice as long as I would osage, a full hour on the tips. All you guys who are good with black locust are my idols! I have a couple right now with minor chrysaling in them that still shoot great but once they chrysal I loose confidence in the bow. I think the heat treating locust aggravates the chrysal problem but could easily be wrong on this.

[Pat B]

I've had fewer chrysal since I've heat treated locust and I made lots of locust bows years ago. Only recently have I tempered the belly and only then did I make BL bows that didn't chrysal. 

[Marc St Louis]

I've made quite a few BL bows, both backed and self, and can't say I've ever had one chrysal on me.

I made this recurve many years ago, it was the first BL bow I ever heat-treated.









I speed tested the bow and it shot in the low 180's with 10 GPP and a dacron string

It is one of the top bow woods for heat-treating.

[zenart]

I've made quite a few BL bows, both backed and self, and can't say I've ever had one chrysal on me.
I made this recurve many years ago, it was the first BL bow I ever heat-treated.
I speed tested the bow and it shot in the low 180's with 10 GPP and a dacron string
It is one of the top bow woods for heat-treating.

Nice Marc. How wide the limbs? You use dry heat w/ oil right?

[Badger]

    Thats good to hear, I may give it another shot.

[blackhawk]

When doing it just be careful to do it right,and not let the heat wrap around the sides and scorch the back....I'm in the opinion of tempering helps locust,and think it helps keep its "fretting issues" at bay...I've never had a locust fret on me,and I've used it quite a bit..and have used wood from several different states and areas...I love locust,n its in my top five fav woods...

[Marc St Louis]

The limbs on that bow were 1 3/4" wide, back then I had a tendency to make them a bit too wide.  No oil while heat-treating but I did use tung oil on the hot limbs after.  The recurves were steam bent.

That particular bit of BL had very thick rings, almost 3/8" on some of them.  Wish I had bought more of it

P.S.  I went and measured the limbs and they are actually 2" wide

[huisme]

The limbs on that bow were 1 3/4" wide, back then I had a tendency to make them a bit too wide.  No oil while heat-treating but I did use tung oil on the hot limbs after.  The recurves were steam bent.

That particular bit of BL had very thick rings, almost 3/8" on some of them.  Wish I had bought more of it

P.S.  I went and measured the limbs and they are actually 2" wide

I've always thought the thick ringed stuff of roughly equal density handled compression better, taking less set and being harder to chrysal in tests. What do you think?