A few pics of my bows

[AKmud]

Hi all,

I just found this forum a week or so ago and wanted to say it is a wealth of great information!

I am an aspiring new bowyer and thought I would post a couple pics of the bows I have made so far. I have built 4 oak and one hickory board bows, but am looking forward to tackling a stave sometime.  

My very first bow for my 6yo daughter.  It ended up being 48" and only about 5# draw which is way too light for her, but my 2yo boy is having a time with it -

     

This was my second bow, a 60" 15# for my nephew.  I inlaid a piece of walnut in the handle for color.  I got a little carried away with the arrow shelf    :rolleyes:   -

     

     

This is my latest bow, a 72" hickory.  It is pulling ~45# @ 28".  The handle is inlaid with walnut and purple heart.  I have to say, hickory is much nicer to work with than oak!

     


     

The hickory bow at 28" on the tillering tree.  There is a bit of positive tiller in the right limb so I made it the top.  I thought about trying to even out the tiller a bit more, but I didn't want to lose any more draw weight.  It turned out to be a good shooter. -

   

[DBerrard]

Pretty good work there. We'll ignore the compounds  :D
BTW, there's another TradGang member, forget his username atm, from Wasilla. Might have to keep an eye out for him...yall could do some shooting and/or hunting together...who knows.

Regards

[CCWhitetail]

They Look good

[John Scifres]

I hope you don't mind some constructive criticism.

On the last bow, you really should place your bow in the tillering stick just like you are going to hold it.  The way it is sitting is distorting the tiller.  The right limb looks great but the left has a hinge in the outer third.

Tiller is everything on wooden bows.  Learn to make it perfect and you will make great shooting bows.  It's a long enough bow that you could easily cut an inch or two off each limb to bring up any weight you lose.

[elkslayer]

I like the bow but I to see the left limb hinging. Other than that it looks good, the handle and arrow shelf is way different.

[razorback]

Did you center an 8" riser/handle piece on that bow and cut the arrowq shelf in the center of the length of the bow

[AKmud]

John, I'm all for criticism at this point!  The hickory bow is only my 5th bow at this time so I am looking for any pointers I can find.  I didn't think about how it was resting on the tree, I just wanted a stable platform, but I'll make sure it is more in the grip next time.  I haven't been carving out the handle/grip until after the tillering is done so I have a solid base on the tree.  Should the grip be carved before?  

I did notice the slight hinge, but it never showed up until I reached a full 28" draw and then it was a pretty small defect so I opted to let it slide since the weight was right on target.  Should I go back and work it some more, or will it survive?

[AKmud]

razorback,

The riser is actually 10" and the dead center of the bow is between the shelf and where the web of your hand would ride.  Should the center be more one way or another?  

Here is a pic after a tung oil and wax finish -

   

   

   

[AKmud]

Well, I finished up the "brother bow" to my first hickory bow.  The second came out of the same 1x4 board.  I was fighting the limb twist with this one and by the time I got it taken care of I was down to about 40#.  Funny thing though...I was shaping the nocks on my new belt sander and got a little out of hand    :eek:  so I ended up taking 1 1/4" off each limb which brought the weight back up to a solid 50# @ 28".  They both shoot really well, no stacking and very little (if any...) hand shock.   I thought they turned out to be a nice set.

     

   

   

[razorback]

Is it the angle of the shot or is the lower limb a lot longer than the upper. You have a lot of riser above your arrow shelf, which seems to me to be wood that you could use in the working part of the limb. Guys on here with way more experience with design could give better insight. jmho

[AKmud]

It's the angle of the shot, the saddle for the grip is just about dead center of the bow and the risers are 10".  

I was wondering about the risers...  It seems to me you want the riser equal distance from the center of the bow so the pressure is the same.  I have pretty big hands so I went with 10" risers for a larger grip area.  Should I trim down the upper part of the riser or will it change how it tillers?