hickory recurve. Tiller check?

[Rileykinsel]

New hickory selfbow. The bow is about 58 inches and 47 pounds at 26 inches. I usually draw to 28 but didn’t wanted to risk it with such a short recurve. I’m impatient when it comes to bow making. Cut this stave down a month or 2 ago and have been slowly working it since, until it felt dry enough to start tillering. Steam bent recurves. Heat treated twice, once after floor tillering and again after finishing the tiller. I believe the recurves added 3 inches of reflex and after being unstrung for a few hours it holds about 1.5 and recovers to 2-2.5. Shoots surprisingly fast and quiet. Almost as much penetration as my glass thunderstick longbow. Still needs some sanding, staining, and sealing but I couldn’t help myself and have already had it in the woods with me twice😂. Please let me know what you think!

[Rileykinsel]

Drawn to 26. How’s the tiller? Never tillered a bow so short with steep curves. Do the outer limbs need some work? It’s at the perfect hunting weight now so I really don’t want to take more off if I can help it.

[Rileykinsel]

A few more photos. I’ll update again once I get the stain and grip finished

[wooddamon1]

Tiller looks good to me, if it's quick and quiet I'd call it done. Looking forward to seeing it all prettied up. Nice work!

[Roy from Pa]

Looks nice.

[Rileykinsel]

Thanks fellas. I was a bit worried about the bow because I went from dappling to bow in about a month. So I sat in the woods for about 4~5 hrs this am with just at or above freezing temps. The bow holds about .75 inches of reflex after being unstrung and climbs to about 1.5after sitting.  steamed in 3.25 inches of recurve in and have to assume some of that came out while it dried. So being generous with myself and guessing the tips were recurved about 3 inches prior to tillering, I’ve got about 2.25-2.5 inches of set. I’ve also hunted with it a total of 3 times before sealing the wood so I imagine that didn’t help😅. The draw weight right now sits at about 41 pounds at 26 inches and 43 at 27(I forgot that I had taken a few more scrapes of one limb prior to making the original post and forgot to put it back on the scale). I’m afraid to pull it all the way to 28 so I marked a few of my hunting arrows at 26 and will only be pulling  to that for the season.

[Noah70]

The bow looks good, but the brisket (or steak?) looks excellent!    Great work!!

[Mo_coon-catcher]

Tiller looks great, I wouldn’t touch it. Especially if it feels good to shoot.

Kyle

[Rileykinsel]

She’s done for now. Tried a Minwax stain and let it sit for 2x the recommended time before wiping off but with the heat tempering and burnishing it barely took at all so Its going to stay natural with a very slight tint. Decided to finish with black trap wax (a mixture of beeswax and paraffin wax according to the manufacturer). This is the only finish I’ve ever really used because like I said before… I’m impatient and like how quick the process is. Melt the wax with a heat gun and rub it in good with my hands first then a paper towel to smooth it out with lots of friction. Filed about an 1/8 inch arrow shelf and then shaped a piece of wine cork and glued it on to give me about a 1/2 inch shelf. The wrap is just fake leather (vinyl) but I like it because it really stretches and sticks to itself allowing me to install without and glue on the bow. There’s a slight propeller twist (natural from the stave) and one limb kicks out slightly but not enough to cause issues. I actually like this because the string tracks slightly to one side and I just used that side as my shooting side and get a slightly more center shot bow. Just needs its own string and my  dog killed one of our rabbits so I have the perfect pelt for some string silencers haha.

[Pat B]

Nice hickory recurve, Riley. The tiller looks good to me. Well done!   

[Buemaker]

Looking very good.

[KellyG]

  nice job.