I've done a bit more of a heat bend at the grip to try and get the string line right before I try it on the tiller. After giving it about 12 minutes with the heat gun on high and a good slather of Sunflower oil I wrapped some paper and old carpet round the grip to hold the heat in. I'll leave it a few hours before unclamping it. It looks like I've made ahuge bend, but there will be a fair degree of spring back, and if I have bent it too much, a little gentle heat will let it relax back a bit.The other pic shows how I've used two wedges which are off-cuts from when splicing billets. By using 2 wedges point to point as a spacer you can adjust the thickness of the spacer whilst keeping the faces of the spacer parallel.
I've unclamped it now and the string line is better, It's just inside the grip now where it was on the edge of it before, mind, that's not to say it won't get more attention at some point. If a jobs worth doing, it's worth doing right, even if it takes 4 attempts! here's a pic of the natural reflex too.
I've also been shooting a few bows to see which I fancy taking to the Aurora shoot on Sunday... it looks like Twister has claimed his place!.
Hey Derek. I've seen other people use oil to heat treat. What happens to the oil residue? Does it affect the subsequent rasping/sanding etc? When I've dry heat treated I sometimes have a job to remove the charring! Any advice? Thanks> Paul
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't penetrate too deep, I wipe it off, then wipe again with a rag and white spirit. It then disappears with scraping. I don't actually know what it achieves, I'm just following what they do on Primitive archer where they use dry heat a lot more than steam. I think maybe it helps distribute the heat into the bow and stops it drying out, but I can't back that up with experimental data.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the oil helps to prevent charring. Have you noticed if that's the case?
ReplyDeleteYes, i'd imagine it chars less than dry wood, but I've not done a comparative test. It's one of those things that it prob' sensible to do on the grounds that it does no harm and may do some good.
ReplyDeleteThanks Derek.
ReplyDeleteAll the best.
Paul