Hickory backed Australian Cypress

[Nezwin]

Not to everyone's taste, but a nice little shooter.

68" ntn, 40#@28" after being shot in. 1/8" Hickory backing on a nice board Australian Cypress board I picked up locally. Trimmings are Red Gum. Australian Cypress is a lot tougher & more elastic than the Northern Hemisphere stuff, smells gorgeous as it's worked too    

Still needs a bit of tidying up but she's pretty much there.

 

Used the right half of the left board. Saving the right board for someone else...

 

 

On the tillering stick. Not perfect but close enough to call.

 

 

Did I mention I like the grain on this?    :D

[Nezwin]

 


 

 

[Pat B]

That is gorgeous wood. I was surprised when I read cypress. Some Native Americans in the Southern US made bows from our cypress but they were long, wide and not very strong.
 Your tiller looks pretty good although it bends a bit too much near the fades. If it shoots well, just enjoy it.

[KellyG]

That is some pretyy wood for sure. Nice bow too.

[wood carver 2]

Not to everyone's taste? I sure like it! Pretty wood too.
Dave.

[fujimo]

very cool bow- my style- simple and elegant!!  

[fujimo]

oops!

[LittleBen]

Very nice! That cypress looks great.

Can you tell us more of the dimensions like width, and set/string follow?

[Nezwin]

Thanks for the encouragement, everyone! Glad you liked it.

Australian Cypress isn't like the Northern Hemisphere stuff, it's more like Yew in terms of crushibility, flexibility, etc. You wouldn't want to try it unbacked though, the grain would be a nightmare to deal with.

The bow is 70" total, 68" ntn, 14" centre stiff section/handle.

1.5" wide at the fades tapering to 1.25" at 12" from nocks where it then tapers down to 0.5" at the nocks.

I started the thickness at 5/8" at the fades and 1/2" at the nocks but I ended up tillering another 1/8" or so out of it toward the tips, I reckon. I'm really surprised how much had to be taken off and it's still bending too much at the fades! You can see in the picture of the nocks how it bulges a bit at the very tip, which shows how much extra I took off the limb in tillering.

Has taken about 3/4" set after a hundred or so arrows and a few days rest. Not bad, all told. Going to try a 64" recurve with it next but got some surgery coming up so might be a while before I'm back in the shed.