toasting hickory

gringol · February 17, 2012, 02:39:00 PM

How does hickory react to heat treating? I'm working on a pyramid shaped hickory board bow and I'm wondering if heat-treating into mild reflex is worth the effort. I'm also considering backing with sinew, just cause sinew is cool. What do you think?

Nim-rod · February 17, 2012, 02:43:00 PM

Hickory does pretty well with a nice toasting clamped into reflex. if you are going to back it with sinew do it after the toasting though.

gringol · February 17, 2012, 02:48:00 PM

QuoteOriginally posted by Nim-rod:
Hickory does pretty well with a nice toasting clamped into reflex. if you are going to back it with sinew do it after the toasting though.

For sure. Should I be at all concerned that the additional back-strain of the sinew shrinking as is dries may damage the bow?

PEARL DRUMS · February 17, 2012, 02:58:00 PM

Hickory is incredibly strong in tension, most often not needing help from sinew. Heat treating while adding relflex will make a screamer.

gringol · February 17, 2012, 03:00:00 PM

Pearl,

My bow is 60" and I'd like to get 28" of draw out of it. I was thinking that I'm on the edge of the max draw length for the bow, which is part of why I was thinking sinew (mostly it's cause I think it's cool). Would you advise against sinew?

PEARL DRUMS · February 17, 2012, 03:04:00 PM

Stiff handle or working?

gringol · February 17, 2012, 03:06:00 PM

stiff handle

PEARL DRUMS · February 17, 2012, 03:08:00 PM

Thats asking allot. I doubt it will break, hickory doesnt break. It just folds over slowly. Sinew may be a good plan to keep reflex.

gringol · February 17, 2012, 03:11:00 PM

I'll settle for whatever the bow will give me. 28" is my pipe dream. Is 26" more reasonable?

PEARL DRUMS · February 17, 2012, 03:13:00 PM

Heat treat the belly, add two layers of sinew and you should be okay at 28" if the wood is sound.

gringol · February 17, 2012, 03:22:00 PM

Right on. We'll see how this goes. Thanks for the help.

Art B · February 17, 2012, 03:29:00 PM

A pyramid design calls for a circular drawn profile. Think about this, what drawn profile are you going to get if you set the limbs back? Better to flip the tips and sinew.

gringol · February 17, 2012, 04:02:00 PM

QuoteOriginally posted by Art B:
A pyramid design calls for a circular drawn profile. Think about this, what drawn profile are you going to get if you set the limbs back? Better to flip the tips and sinew.

I'm new at this, Art. Can you elaborate a little? What drawn profile would I get by reflexing?

okie64 · February 17, 2012, 04:35:00 PM

Do a search for "whitewood buildalong". Thats a little 59" hickory bow I just finished up and it turned out really good.

Art B · February 17, 2012, 05:00:00 PM

If you reflex straight out of the handle your braced profile would look gull wing shaped and that forces the great bend outward. So you would have to at least have a portion of your limbs parallel/retangular shaped to compensate for this.

Last thing you want to do is add reflex for a 28" draw through a 60" bow IMO. A pyramid limb design is certainly the way to go for what you're asking of the wood.

PEARL DRUMS · February 17, 2012, 05:10:00 PM

I agree with the ol man. Reflex the tips and build a pyramid style bow so you can use more limb.

gringol · February 17, 2012, 11:17:00 PM

Is it better to flip hickory with dry heat or steam? Can I toast also, with no reflex?

Art B · February 18, 2012, 07:00:00 AM

I use dry heat myself. No abrupt bends though.

PEARL DRUMS · February 18, 2012, 07:45:00 AM

My vote is for dry heat. Im getting to where I never steam unless its a static tip or a major correction.

John Scifres · February 18, 2012, 11:31:00 PM

how wide is it?