toasting?

[riverrat]

o.k. how do you toast a elm bow? this is somethin ive never done.ive warmed a elm bow or two near a camp fire to keep dampness at night away from it. but i never toasted one intentionaly. could someone please enlighten me? thank you. Tony

[bowandarrow473]

You hit it with a heat gun until the wood is slightly browned but not burned or you can do the same over coals.

[Marc St Louis]

You can check out my videos here http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,23338.0.html

[PEARL DRUMS]

Watch closely wheree Marcs heat gun is, that's rule numeral uno. The color is just a result of proper tempering. You can hold a heat gun 1 or 2" away and get great color. That means zero if the wood didn't get hot enough to change, only char.

[JoJoDapyro]

Is there a temp you are looking for?

[George Tsoukalas]

I go Yia Mas!
Sorry...wrong kind of toast.😃

[riverrat]

thanks. i ended up useing the gas stove this morning. had a jar with some deer fat in it. rubbed it down on the belly and held the limbs about 6 inches over the fire and kept it moveing side to side, up and back to the handle. did the other limb same way. looked a light tanish color.seemed to give a tad more weight to the draw so i was able to tiller the stiffer limb and not loose what i had originally. actually its still a little stronger {whole bow in draw}.Tony

[Drewster]

Tony, FYI, when you heat treat bow limbs, don't brace the bow or stress the limbs for several days.  The wood gets really dry when you deep heat treat the wood and the bow is likely to blow up with you.  I usually give my bows three or four days to rehydrate........perhaps a little longer if the relative humidity is low.

[bushboy]

Elm takes a lot heat,first smell pancake syrup,then when the smoke starts to burn your eyes your done,that's my way anyways.

[riverrat]

really, that much? i got a light tannish color. i mean if you look at it and look at one of my other staves its easy to see. but its not too dramatic.ill have to try a lot of heat next bow.im happy , actually over joyed with this one ,so im going to leave it alone except for shooting it.but i will give the next one a good toasting.Tony

[PEARL DRUMS]

Making wood smoke is not a good idea.

[blackhawk]

Tony, FYI, when you heat treat bow limbs, don't brace the bow or stress the limbs for several days.  The wood gets really dry when you deep heat treat the wood and the bow is likely to blow up with you.  I usually give my bows three or four days to rehydrate........perhaps a little longer if the relative humidity is low.

How do you know? Can you share some insight with hard facts and data on this?

Ive tested this false myth a bazillion times. Ive weighed my staves before and after, and the most weight i lose is a tenth of an ounce. Thats not even a 1/4 of one percentage point moisture content wise. This proves tempering doesnt dry the wood out too much and needs to wait to redyrate. Ive built bows with a lot of folks and i temper deeper n darker than most folks around here btw. I also cant count how many times i and several other guys here have braced n drawn after it has cooled and pulled off the form the same day. None of us have had any ill effects in doing so. But hey,if ya feel the need to wait go right ahead as that aint hurting anything either.  

[PatM]

 I think that  started because the first guy in modern times to heat treat popped the back ring when he tried that. The caution of waiting a couple of days came from that.

[riverrat]

i didnt wait. everythings been absolutely fine. from what i found, i did get a little extra weight to draw.
when i went hunting recently heres a couple of observations i made. it was cold at night and damp. at 5 am i strung up my bow. noticed 2 of the 4 arrows i took {shoot shaft arrows} had warped. 2 did not. the two that did not were also heat treated , bent very straight and left to cool. then deer fat and burnished until very shinny.the bow after being strung up 6 and a half hours had no set to speak of. it was toasted, as well as deer fat rubbed over it then burnished to a high gloss.so hindsight being what it is. from this point forward, if its a bow of white wood, its getting toasted. rubbed with fat and burnished. if its a shoot shaft arrow, same thing.just my observations of actually trying things and going out in not perfect weather and noting what happens. Tony

[Selfbowman]

Tony, FYI, when you heat treat bow limbs, don't brace the bow or stress the limbs for several days.  The wood gets really dry when you deep heat treat the wood and the bow is likely to blow up with you.  I usually give my bows three or four days to rehydrate........perhaps a little longer if the relative humidity is low.

How do you know? Can you share some insight with hard facts and data on this?

Ive tested this false myth a bazillion times. Ive weighed my staves before and after, and the most
weight i lose is a tenth of an ounce. Thats not even a 1/4 of one percentage point moisture content wise. This proves tempering doesnt dry the wood out too much and needs to wait to redyrate. Ive built bows with a lot of folks and i temper deeper n darker than most folks around here btw. I also cant count how many times i and several other guys here have braced n drawn after it has cooled and pulled off the form the same day. None of us have had any ill effects in doing so. But hey,if ya feel the need to wait go right ahead as that aint hurting anything either.

I do this to. Never noticed the difference. I have also learned the bow does not gain weight unless the shape changes. Meaning more reflex .   Arvin