bend through handle finished

[walkabout]

just got completely done with my bend through handle, 61" overall red oak bow. burlap backed, with 7" snakeskin accents at the tips with black B50 wrapping over the transitions. some of the pics arent great but it turned out very well upper limb and tip  handle and bottom limb   braced full profile   limb and camo stain on burlap   handle, layers of leather wrapped with hemp saturated in tbIII buffalo hide floppy rest  limb tip with snakeskin accent   this bow pulls 50#@27", despite a crack developing during tillering shoots really well, no finger pinch i can notice or stacking.

[DesertFox]

Thats neat! I'm still working on my bending handle bow. I might be able to get it onto the short string today.

So, how wide is the bow at the handle? I went and narrowed my handle because my board started out 1.75 inches wide.

Lastly, do you plan to go after some small game with this sucker? :3

[Traxx]

Nuttin wrong with thatn.Congrats.

[Rain Man]

Bravo walkabout. I'd be proud of that one.

[Pat B]

Looks pretty cool. How about a full draw pic.

[walkabout]

i left it full 1.75 wide at the handle, and though it feels beefy its not uncomfortable with the leather layers i used on the back and belly to round it out. i find this bow likes a more straight/loose grip anyway so the handle works great.ill get a full draw pic up as soon as i get to have some spare time, most of my time now is packing up my stuff for the move, but i should be able to get out this weekend with it. im pretty excited because i get to rebuild my shop/mancave after we move and itll be nice to have more of the stuff i use right where i need it rather than having to reorganize after various stages of work.

[DVSHUNTER]

cool looking burlap backing

[DVSHUNTER]

cool looking burlap backing

[walkabout]

yea i wasnt too happy with the original color of the burlap so i used some walnut stain to do a camo of sorts, just dabbed spots with a foam brush till they got darker, added some break up lines to it. a few spots where excess titebond came through the burlap and didnt take any stain but it turned out pretty well. also this bow took a fair amount of set even though i was careful, about 1 3/4".

[George Tsoukalas]

Very nice. I don't go over 1.5 in wide at the handle for the bend in the handle bows. Makes tuning a bit difficult. Jawge

[Innocente]

give us some full draw pics, if you can

gettin to where i click any post you start walkabout, i like your work.

[walkabout]

yea i would have liked the handle a little narrower but thats what the starting dimensions of the board were to begin with, and i was unsure of thinning it down any. thanks innocente, im steadily working my way up, loving these board bows right now as theyre a bit of a challenge, but otherwise thats what i got to work with until i get settled in the new apartment and get some extra$ toward materials. going to try my hand at a laminated bow when i do get my shop finished over there.hopefully sometime soon too i can get my hands on a vine maple stave or something similar, im dying to try my hand at something with alot of character

[walkabout]

yea the handle is 1.5", got a bunch of numbers in my head from work and posted the wrong one.lol. my next short bow im going to add reflexed tips with some tapered pieces glued onto the tips, ive tried it on kids bows and am confident i can pull it off with a full size one.

[DesertFox]

Originally posted by walkabout:
yea the handle is 1.5", got a bunch of numbers in my head from work and posted the wrong one.lol. my next short bow im going to add reflexed tips with some tapered pieces glued onto the tips, ive tried it on kids bows and am confident i can pull it off with a full size one.

Your tapered glue-on idea actually helped SAVE my static recurve by the way. I had accidentally removed wood around one of the curves and it had weakened it enough to cause the bend to come out when drawn. I added a small piece of hickory to the back and TADAA! The curve was saved and the bow was finished! (pics to come in a few days, btw)

So, thank you for typing that idea down.

[walkabout]

glad you were able to save it, looking forward to the pics. the overlays i thought up based on the perry reflex idea, only instead of the entire bow i localised it to the tips. i wanted to reflex but the thought of relying on an entire glued on tip to hold makes me nervous. with the thin tapers i dont have to worry about an entire chunk of reflexed tip failing at the glue and flying off, if it does fail it will probably just become straight.lol. i believe the tillering of a reflexed tip(although usually made by gluing reflex) is basically the makings of a r/d design, not sure how well a steam bent reflex would hold up but might be worth a try.i tillered one of my glued up reflex tips to bend when drawn, seems like it would add a little bit of speed.