Cooked my bow!!!

[woodenwonder]

I was steam bending my hickory bow and left it to go to the store. When I came back, I notice I had the flame up to high and the flame tempered the limb where it overhanged the pot. It's created a "hard spot" and it is difficult to bend there.
What can I do to remove the temper? I have though about tempering a corresponding spot on the other side.

[Justin Snyder]

Tempering the entire bow would probably be the best thing to do at this point. Be carefull, you cannot leave things like this unattended. You could easily start a fire.  Justin

[Eric Garza]

I'm not aware of a way to remove temper from wood.  

I'm also not sure it would be wise to leave the limb partially tempered, as the untempered wood will be quite a bit weaker and I'd be afraid the limb would fail even if it were well tillered.  But this might be my overly cautious side showing through.

You might want to just start over with a new stave.

-Eric

[woodenwonder]

I don't want to start over, I've got a lot of time invested in this bow.
Justin, if I decide to temper the whole thing, how do you know how long to cook it? I know I shouldn't have let it.

[radius]

as long as you know!  Hate to hear you burned your house down...

[woodenwonder]

Also, I have tillered way too much off this bow and I plan to "belly" it with Ipe. I've always heard that you temper the belly wood, not the back. I don't what the back to be too brittle.

[Ryano]

If its burned on the back its probally junk. Heat tempering makes the wood harder but it also makes it brittle, not a good thing for the back side of the bow.  I'd just cut my losses and start over with a new piece of wood since your already under weight anyways.

[Justin Snyder]

Yes, if it is on the back I would not spend much more time trying to make a bow from it.  You can use it to practice steaming and bending though.  Practice re-curving the limbs. 

If you are tempering the entire limb you usually use a heat gun and heat it slowly, just until it starts to turn to a darker shade.  Justin

[woodenwonder]

Thanks to all for your advice.