Help with heat corrections on osage. /. Updated

[bentstick54]

Well here’s a progress report. I’ve got it to 46#@26”. Limb on the right is the one that was deflexed/reflexed so badly, and twisted. 1st picture at full brace, 2nd at26”, and 1/3 after being strung 4 o 5 hours and shooting about 10 arrows off it. About 1/2” set in the outer 1/3 off the limbs immediately after unstringing.
Am shooting for 42#to 43#@28” final if I’m lucky.

[superdav95]

Its looking good!  It could be the angle of the pics but the right limb seems stiffer then the left in the middle of limb mainly. 

[bentstick54]

Dave, it is pretty much that way, but that’s the limb that still has the snake bend there, and where I tried to take all the deflex/reflex out of. That area is as thin as the rest and is actually moving more than it shows. Using a copy of Eric Krewsons tillering gizmo, it shows that area bending with the rest.

[wooddamon1]

Looks great, nice work so far!

[bentstick54]

Here’s a few pictures of the back profile. About 1/2 way into the tiller this far some of the twist in the right limb started coming back. I started to try to control it with edge limb thickness but wasn’t getting very far so I went back with the heat gun, it took very little at this point to take out the twist, but then I lost some of the flatness I put in. So I went back and heated again and got it back to where I had it at the start of tillering.
 The snake in the upper (right) limb is where it doesn’t look like it’s bending as much, but when pulling on the tree it is bending some through there. There’s several small knots in that area, one of which I filled that had a hole in it with sawdust and super glue. I’ve about decided that I coaxed what I wanted this bow to be about as far as I could, and now it’s best to let it be what it wants to be. I’ve still got 2” to go and want to drop 3#-5# in that 2” so we’ll see.

[superdav95]

So glad it worked out for ya.  Looks good.  Are you gonna back with snake skins?

[Selfbowman]

Not fond of snake bows but that’s a beauty! Well done!

[bentstick54]

Since I had 5# or 6# to lose and wanting another 2” to gain in draw length I decided to listen to Dave and try to get some more bend in mid limb of the snakey right limb. I concentrated the major of my time there, occasionally adjusting the left limb as the tiller changed some. The right limb looks better to me, but still looks a little stiff mid limb. I got it down to 44#@28”, about where I wanted. I shot 50 arrows through it today with no noticeable difference in tiller or draw weight. Immediately after unstringing still holding about 1/2” to 5/8” set in both limbs. I like the way it’s feeling at the shot so far. I want to shoot another 100-150 arrows through it before finishing to make sure it nothing changes, and it still wants to be a bow.

Dave, if it holds up, I might put some snake skins on it if I can find some reasonably priced ones. But not until I’ve shot it a bunch.

[superdav95]

Well done sir!  I’d call that a success with that little set.  If it shoots good mission accomplished.  It looks great to me.  Sometimes we can mess with things too much and end up with less of a positive result.  This is something I catch myself doing.  I’d be very happy and proud with a bow like that.  Well done. 

[bentstick54]

Thanks Dave. I figured for what I started with, if it holds up long term, I won 90% of the battle on this one. I’ll let the tree win the other 10% lol. Hopefully today I’ll shoot it in some more and see how it does.
One weird thing about this stave is that about where the snakey spot in the right limb is the growth rings get thinner and ends up with about twice as many out to the tip. I don’t remember ever noticing this before, and not sure what would have caused such a big difference in the growth ring difference.

[Selfbowman]

Guessing I wold say what ever caused the snake at that point caused the growth ring difference. But I’ve not noticed it before either. Also on snake bows Ive noticed that when the snake comes toward the bowyer when on the tillering board it makes the limb look stiff in that area . Optical illusion so to speak.

[bentstick54]

Thanks for giving me the confidence to reheat the same areas multiple times. Really seemed to work with no noticeable side effects at this point. Here are some photos of the swirling twisted grain just below center of stave, and the growth rings at both tips. Not the best photos but hopefully they show decent.

[bentstick54]

Finally purchased a couple of prai rattlers skins to finish this one out. I need to put a couple more coats of Truoil on it and a leather handle wrap, and she’ll be ready to shoot some 3d. Thanks for all the advice/help.

[Pappy]

That looks really good to me, very nice job.
 Pappy

[Muskyman]

Looks great, love the snake skins. Congrats