68" 51@ 28" fire hardened hickory. Can not believe how pleased I am with the way this bow turned out.Made two almost identical to this they both are some of the best shooting bows I ever made. To think I been shunning my hickory stash for osage. My hickory staves are well seasoned. Cooked another one tonight. Sorry if you saw this on another sight, but I'm really excited about the way this simple procedure changes the outcome of my hickory bows.

Yeah I know I need a brush or haircut one but been working alot and my barber aint.

Looking good. You say fire hardened, did you use a blow torch?

Thanks Buemaker, no it was cooked over coals.

A bow- becue! 😁
That's cool.
Dave.

That's interesting stuff.  How do you control the heat and keep it consistent under the different sections of the bow?  Does this explain the pattern I think I see?

Sweet looking bow Darin! Did you work the back-set in, or did it happen while cooking?
Is that your really excited face?

Thanks Dave, and I habe destroyed a couple of osage staves and one caul since I started experimenting with this. Monterey I was heating it over coals on a reflex caul so the tips are farther from the heat less color on the wood. This picture is of one I done yesterday I'm working on getting the heat out towards the tips, notice the color. Guess I'll have to build the ground up to match my caul if I want it all the way out to the tips. Flem this picture shows the one I did yesterdayright after I took the clamps off, almost no springback. Not too bad for hickory.

Oops I seem to be unable to start my paragraphs  where I'd like. But at least I've figured out how to post pictures fron this phone. Sorry

Do you tiller or re- tiller after the cook?

I don't tiller any untill after I heat it. I get floor tillered, but last one I got closer to finish dimensions than previous and the one I heated last night I teally took it down close. I think I will have plenty of wood left to get a good tiller at poundage I want but will see. Can always make it a little lighter. This form of heating really stiffens hickory up, dries it out so my moisture meter picks up zero moisture.

Interesting.  How long do you fire harden before taking it out and do you let it cool by itself?  Thanks

You really have to watch it, hickory I leave anywhere from 11/2 to21/2 hours depending on how its looking.. I've tried osage and so far have managed to burn up 2 bow blanks and 1 caul. I will try osage again once I get a little better at judging. I have let it cool after removing blank from caul before loosening the clamps and I have took the blank off the caul right after removing from heat with no ill effects. I really don't think it makes a difference once cooked. I'm getting literally no springback. But I do push it as far as heating more than I should.

Here a picture of the back of a blank just to show you how hot it gets without scorching the back of the blank. Notice the shellac bubbled up and missing in places. My skills with a heatgun are not yet good enough to do this without scorching the back. This wood was cut about 7 years ago and probably had 3 coats of shellac on it.

Just finished one myself. I wouldd add that Thad Beckum, Billy Burger and Keith Shannon have put in a lot of time developing this and have a DVD out that is worth the money. Sure free info is nice but ....

Quote from: Onehair on June 29, 2020, 03:22:17 PM
Just finished one myself. I wouldd add that Thad Beckum, Billy Burger and Keith Shannon have put in a lot of time developing this and have a DVD out that is worth the money. Sure free info is nice but ....

Huh?
Developing what?

Developing the technique for fire hardening inferior wood to make a quality bow.
Eric...

Pretty cool Putnam...  I thought about heat treating maple lams in a tight radius so that they hold a bend before I glue them up in a glass bow...  I don't think it will help so much at the tip area because they are so thin there but it could help at the base and mid-limb area possibly improving performance...

Thanks shredd seems to help a lot on hickory.

I posted some caustic comments directed towards Flem that were totally uncalled for, I have since deleted my post. On another board the guys jumped on Darren unmercifully so my fuse was lit for any hint of the same here, I jumped to a conclusion and vastly overreacted.

Flem is a good guy and was just asking a simple question, he meant no harm.