Opinions on my first board bow

[Cwikbow]

Greetings, I am very new to the hobby of bow making and would like to know what you all think of my first bow. The bow is red oak and backed and the handle is a glued on piece of hickory. The bow, I believe, is whip tillered but this is because I made a mistake and accidentally rounded off the edge of my oak board.I thought it would be okay and glued the handle on anyway... The handle is glued on with Titebond II and due to my inexperience I thought this would be fine if I filled it with loctite super glue, so far it hasn't caused any real problems. Also, after cutting out the fades with a coping saw I noticed a very small crack in the handle where it transitions into the oak board. For some reason I did not think this would be a problem but the 1/8 inch crack has progressed and is now over an inch long going vertically down the handle. Here are two pics of my bow I can upload more if needed. Oh, and I was wondering what a acceptable bow length would be with a lengthy 32 inch draw.

  http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/s481/cwiker1/Bowatfullbrace.jpg  

  http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/s481/cwiker1/tilleredto32inches.jpg

[KellyG]

It looks to me the middle third of each limb is doing all the work. You need to get it binding more at the fades and tips. At least that is what I see.

I am NO EXPERT I have only one bow under my belt. Now I know the reall experts will come and correct me if I am wrong in a few.

Welcome to the madness,
Kelly

[dmikeyj]

Hard to tell from the pics, but is it a pyramid design?  If so, the limbs near the fades needs to be the same thickness as in the middle third, I can see it is much beefier near the fades.
If it were my bow, I'd be getting those fades nearer to even thickness with the rest of the limbs, and leave the outer third alone until the fade area was worked out better.  It may turn out ok to leave those tips alone, save that for after the rest is bending more evenly.

If its not a pyramid design, I wouldn't go for more even thickness, but I'd still take off a bunch near the fades first thing.  Not taking off too much at a time, and don't forget to pull the bow after each removal a bunch to let it settle into the new thickness.

Looking at it again, regardless of the profile, the fades need to extend into the limb, not just end at where the handle glues on.  When the fades are completely within a glued-on handle, that is a recipe for the handle to pop off.

Neither am I an expert, but I hope this helps some.

Mike

[Living_waters]

A good tool to have starting out doing board bows is a tiller gizmo, easy to make and will help you visualize where you need work much easier. here is the link  http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=125;t=001047;p=1#000000   these work good as long as it is a straight limb design.

For an oak board bow with non working handle minimum length you can use the formula (draw lengthx2)x1.15)+1 it will keep you pretty safe as long as tiller is correct.

[Nim-rod]

Gizmo!!!!!! Yea best tool ever! Yea what they said....more bend right out of the fades. But for a first attemt I see potential there. Watch that crack! Crack kills! (bows anyways). My advise for that tillering tree is to get some pulleys so you can stand back and exersize the limbs with ease and you can observe better without needing to leave it pulled back for long. I'm willing to bet that bow #2 will look much better.

[Cwikbow]

Okay, I originally built the bow for my Grandfather who is ailing and can no longer walk and hunt so I think I will just finish it up and give it to him. I just wanted to shoot it a few times being as it is my first bow, but with the handle concerns I will forgo that idea.In the meantime I am going to follow 4est Trekkers pyramid bow build along. And the bow was supposed to be a stiff through the handle design made out of a 1"x2"x6' oak board built using a build along I found through google. The limbs stay 1 3/4" wide until 15" from the center of the bow when they start taper ending up at 1/2" wide at the tips. As far as exercising the limbs I stopped counting at 1000 pulls. It only displays 1 1/2" of set but then again I haven't shot it in. I used a sharp pocket knife as a scraper and pulled the bow 30 times every time I removed any wood. Overall this experience has been very exciting and I plan on making more bows in the future but hopefully making fewer mistakes lol. Thanks for the input by the way. Oh, and the tillering stick I made was my first attempt at carpentry and it didn't come out well. I plan on making a new one in the near future when I can afford it.

[Cwikbow]

Here are a couple more photo's I uploaded.

You can see on the left side of the pic where I accidentally rounded the edge of the board lol. If you look closely you can see the glue line where I tried to fill it.    http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/s481/cwiker1/Closerview.jpg  

These are some other random pics I took.    http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/s481/cwiker1/LeftLimb.jpg    
   http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/s481/cwiker1/Rightlimb.jpg  
   http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/s481/cwiker1/Underside.jpg  

KellyG: Haha thanks for the welcome man.

Nim-Rod: I actually used a gizmo but I didn't get too close to the handle and I think maybe I should have. The crack in the handle sucks lol I put it on the tiller tree after sanding and thinning near the fades and even though I exercised the limbs over 30 times to 32" I heard tick..tick.....tick I thought I was getting ready to see the bows demise but it was actually the crack in the handle which got bigger.

[Living_waters]

Pulling a red oak board bow to 32 inches is an amazing feat. That is something to be proud of in itself, most first round board bows probably dont make 20 before they explode. More than likely your handle is popping because the limbs are reaching their max and have to transmit force everywhere they can and in this case the handle is bending slightly. Not bad

[Cwikbow]

Living_waters: Thanks, that kind of makes me feel better. My draw is 31.6" so I figured a 32" tiller would be okay. According to my scale, a bathroom scale lol, it pulls approximately 50# at 32". However, I don't have any arrows so I never shot it lol. Maybe I will attempt to make some bamboo arrows and shoot it at least once.

[DVSHUNTER]

If it never shoots an arrow is it really a bow or just a bent stick? Nice job    

[George Tsoukalas]

Welcome and congratulations on your bow. For future ones, the bows need to start bending right at the end of the fades. Too much of the limb is not bending at all. With a 32 inch draw you need to have a pretty long bow if you want to make bow where the handle bends. I would go 74 in. at least. If you make a bend in the handle bow you can go shorter. How long is the stave. Do have someone watch you shoot and mark where you are drawing to on the arrow. Our pose draws are often longer than our shooting draws. My site has info. Jawge
 http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/

[nlester]

Looks like my 1st couple of bows.  Your bow looks whip tillered to me.  I'm by no means an expert though.  You're getting a lot of bend mid-limbs to tips, but very stiff in the fades.  Roy from PA told me....."stay away from the last 8 inches of the tips"....I've taken it to heart.  You've still made a shooter though and you made it with your own hands.  That in itself is a great accomplishment!  Good luck!

[razorback]

As LW said getting a board bow to 32" is a real feat,especially with only part of the limb doing the work. I'm with him on the handle popping thing. End of the fade needs to be in the board section of the bow, that way non of the handle has a chance to bend. Great job for your first bow. I would get the inner third working some more, pretty it up a little and give it to your grandfather. Sounds like he wont be shooting it much, so I wouldn't worry about perfection.

[Cwikbow]

The bow is 70" NTN with a 10" piece of hickory for the handle which is supposed to remain stiff. The tips I left 5-6 inches alone for most of the tillering process. The bow has probably held together because I backed it with a layer of drywall tape and Titebond II lol. I am working on making some bamboo arrows I found a build along for on the site here and when I do that I will have someone mark the arrow for me. For my draw length I spread my arms out and had my wife measure from the tip of my middle finger on my left hand to the middle finger on my right then I divided that by 2.5 which coincidentally was the same as holding the end of the measuring tape in between my thumb and index finger and pulling the tape measure like I would a bow. I am 6'3" so I expect to have a little long of a draw lol. The bow has been mostly finished up. However, it needs a few coats of spar urethane. I bought the kind in he can which was probably a mistake due to my lack of experience lol. I have a couple more boards I am currently working on to make bows with, however, they are 6' boards. Would those be okay to use if backed? Anyway, thanks to everyone for the help I am loving this new hobby of mine and look forward to making some more.

[Cwikbow]

Here are some pictures of the bow while being finished up as well as an arrow I made.

 http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/s497/Chriskerr/Bow%20stuff/Handleafteronecoatofsparurethane.jpg

 http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/s497/Chriskerr/Bow%20stuff/firstspraying.jpg

 http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/s497/Chriskerr/Bow%20stuff/Colorcombination.jpg

 http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/s497/Chriskerr/Bow%20stuff/Bambooarrow.jpg

[Cwikbow]

I have been looking for some sort of information about shaping the fades on a stiff handle bow. So, if any of you have some information or pictures that would be great. I am working on another bow and I don't want to make the same mistake I made with this one. Thanks!