This was a pretty clean and straight stave which for that very reason stayed in my pile for a few years. A few months ago I decided to try a few bows from my better staves and since I only tried "normal' recurves with black locust I felt it was time for a reflex/deflex model.
After roughing the bow out I clamped it on a 2x4 with a block underneath the handle and started heating the handle area with a heatgun. Took me about 15 minutes to deflex it enough and left it overnight to cool down. Reflexed tips where boiled and set with dry heat the next day.Chased a ring on it and tillered it to brace.
Added some extra reflex in the outers during heat treating and tillered it to
45@28.This black locust keeps the heated reflex pretty good!
I don't really like the pale color of fresh black locust so I stained the bow with my "osage scrap stain" and finished it with cheap acrylic spray.
Specs:
Wood: Black LocustLength: 64" ntn
Draw weight: 45@28
String: 8 strand fastflight
Stain: Osage scraps soaked in ammonia
// pics:
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