bend through handle design

[walkabout]

haha thanks i definitely will. after having alot of staves turn into scrap i told myself id go as slow as needed to get the bows right, and so far its worked. just alot of looking for details and then fixing anything inconsistent.

[George Tsoukalas]

You may want to slap on some burlap, silk or linen as insurance. I usually back, if I back which is almost never,  after long string tillering and before stringing with the short string. I advise beginners to back their first few. You havin' fun yet?    Jawge

[walkabout]

yea i put burlap on it right after i got the limbs shaped before tillering. every bow ive made has been greta, i learn new stuff with every one which is exactly what id hoped. i build seats for cars for a living so days building bows good or bad are always fun. showed my grandpa one of my bows when i went back home for easter and his face lit up like a kid at xmas,lol. reactions like that are exactly why i do this. well that and the great feeling that i get when i see one of my bows shoots like a dream    kudos to all you guys here though, if it werent for all the great minds here doing what they do many of us would have never even imagined we could build bows.  

[George Tsoukalas]

"showed my grandpa one of my bows when i went back home for easter and his face lit up like a kid at xmas,lol. "
That is special. Makes me feel good hearing that. Goodnight.    Jawge

[walkabout]

did me too, hes the one who introduced me to archery, grew up shooting an old ben pearson recurve he had, took us kids out into the yard and let us have at it.gave me great incentive toward the tradition. his dad and grandpa grew up on a reservation, and he hunted and trapped from the time he was 10 or so to make ends meet during the depression, doing his share for the family. He raised me like a son because he never had one, and im quite proud to pass on the know how he has and the love for all the things outdoors.

[walkabout]

George you mention on your site about marking in 6 inch intervals down the limbs then measuring distance to the string, i was wondering, does a shorter distance to string from one side to the other mean that the short side is bending less? this seems like a good method to check while bows are on the tree at a given draw length, and as always im interested in learning:D

[George Tsoukalas]

walk, I check those measurements at brace height. The shortest distance means that area is stiffer. If it's within a 1/4 inch I'm ok with it. I don't use tiller sticks. I wouldn't leave a stave drawn long enough to check that measurement.BTW you can also check both sides of the limb to see if there is a twist.  Jawge

[walkabout]

ah ok, makes sense. i use a tillering tree to do all my bows, because of the safety issue and its easier to have it upright when checking the tiller over. this bows coming along good although slowly, im being conservative to try to reach my draw weight without it getting too much set or blowing, although its a pretty sound piece. thanks for all the help

[walkabout]

just an update, been slow going with work but got it to brace height and its pulling 45#@23", developed a crack but i saturated it with superglue and wrapped about 1/2" around it and its holding great so far, all is left is bringing the weight to 45#@ 25-26 then put a finish on it. after this bow im not going to use burlap as backing for awhile by the way, ive had it mask problems a bit too much for my liking.

[walkabout]

wanted to post a few pics of the progress, im just about done with it   full draw on the tillering tree  picture of the belly   pic of the string alignment   lower limb is a little stiff out of the fade looking at the pic, im gfoint to adress this before i put the final touches on it.

[b.glass]

Looking pretty good walkabout!

[Rain Man]

Lookin good!!  Can't wait to see the finished bow pics

[walkabout]

this one was tough,lol. trying not to come up eak and to get even tiler at such a short length. im glad i tried it though, im doing a few new things and learning along the way.

[walkabout]

i have a good bit of snakeskin scraps so i think im going to do a diy micarta/phenolic snakeskin overlay on the tips. handle is gonna be layers of leather superglued together and sanded down to contour, then glued on and wrapped over.