Twisted Reflex Osage Bow

[RunningWolf]

Hey guys, I'm working on my second Osage bow, and I'm trying to put a little reflex into the tips.  The issue I'm having is that when I bent the tips back, I got twist on the two tips.  One is tilted to the left, the other to the right.  Other than that, the bow is pretty straight for Osage as far as I can tell.  Does anyone have any tips for how to get the tips straight enough to minimize twist on the finished bow?  So far I've been trying to use some torque with a heat gun, but after trying different ways from different positions for about an hour, I didn't really change anything.

[superdav95]

Runningwolf.   I’ve had some success with oil and heat gun.  The oil allows the heat to penetrate better into the wood and works well for corrections.  I find with this technique I go just a hair past the correction as it will not keep all of it.  So to put it simply over correct a little and heat using oil and take your time and I use an adjustable wrench or something that can loop a string with some weight on the handle end to allow it to move the twist out as you heat it up.  I’ll try a see if I can did up a picture to show if needed.  Oil and heat will sort out most corrections I find.   Hope this helps

Cheers

[BowEd]

Correct.I use a padded vise grip grabbing the tip/C clamp for lateral movement if needed while heating with bow clamped in place and usually can always bring those things around to align good.
I even mark on my form where I want to stop the movement.
If it is'nt that bad a good educated try usually gets it right.If not you'll have to try it again.
The bows' got to be able to hold a string to full draw.With recurves it's got to aling down the recurve on both tips good and through the handle too.

[bassman211]

Osage is very malleable, and can be straightened , and the twist taken out of it with a form ,a heat gun,and clamps in one shot. If the twist is really severe you have to make some small adjustments after you take it off the form as mentioned above.

[RunningWolf]

Ok, thanks.  I'll try to see if I can't work this out.