Rawhide and glue question

[pastorjosh44]

I'd greatly appreciate a bit of knowledge if you'd be so willing.  I made a bow out of a hickory stave and it came in quite a bit under weight (I'm still a newbie).  I reflexed the tips, but am still under weight.  So my next thought was that I would glue on some rawhide; however, I had already glued a cloth backing onto the back (simply for looks) and I used Titebond 3.  My question is if I can glue the rawhide directly to the back of that cloth, or do you think it will peel?  Thank you very much, blessings!

[LittleBen]

I think you could glue the rawhide and it would adhere assuming there is no finish over the cloth.

But I can also a sure you its not going to add much weight.

Take the experience you gained building that one and start another. Sometimes you gotta cut your losses and not throw good money at bad ... As they say.

[pastorjosh44]

Thank you LittleBen.  I've heard some people say rawhide will raise the weight 15lbs and others say only a couple lbs. I haven't done it enough to know.  Gracias!

[Bowjunkie]

15 lbs? Several layers of sinew? Perhaps. Rawhide? Nope.

[Pat B]

You might try putting the bow on a reflex form and heat treat the belly to a chocolate brown color then let it cool over night. You could possibly gain 5# to 10# by tempering and reflexing the limbs.
 If it was a hickory tree stave you shouldn't need any backing. Hickory is very strong in tension.  Also if you dry the wood to about 6% you will gain weight. Tempering helps to get there too along with increasing the compression strength.

[John Scifres]

Adding cloth and rawhide generally only protect the back from lifting a splinter.  They actually hinder performance so any negligible draw weight gain is more than offset by mass weight added to the limbs.  The more limb mass the spring has to move, the less energy available to transfer to the arrow.  i.e. Your arrow will go slower.

Gluing rawhide to the cloth will probably not work and certainly will not add performance.

There are other ways to redesign/rebuild your bow to fix it.  Give us the specs and we can offer suggestions.  Nock to nock length; style (bendy handle, rigid handle, flatbow); width along limbs would; draw length and draw weight targets and actual.

[pastorjosh44]

Thank you all for for the feedback.  The bow is 64 in ntn, it has slightly reflexed tips, 1 3/8 in wide in the limbs, stiff thru the handle, and is a flat bow style.  I'm embarrassed to say I was going for 40 lbs and only ended up at 25 lbs.  End draw length is only 26 in long.  I appreciate the help!

[Roy from Pa]

With a 26" draw length, a 60" bow would be fine. I would cut 2 inches off each end and toast the belly like Pat said. That should get you close to 40 #.

[pastorjosh44]

Sweet.  This was my first post and you all have been super helpful.  Thank you!

[passion for knowledge]

Got my first bow a little while back...
1968.
My cousin and I both bought bows, arrows and a target seen in the local sport shop window.
His back yard was narrow but very long - perfect.
Bow was probably #20 I would guess, tops, but we spent hours shooting 'em.
I was 13.
The first bow I built was a copy of that one - made of ash - 1969
Cutting a very long story short, didn't make another one until 2012.
Red oak - going for #40 - got #28, but I learned from it and it came in useful anyway. It's the bow that got my daughter into archery.
Just take what you learned from it and hang it on the wall.
Then, be sure to make another one.
You forget your failures when you shoot the successful ones!

[monterey]

I'm with P for K.  You seem to have built a fine bow that is just under target weight.  Hang it up, shoot it or give it to someone who fits the draw weight.  

I'm lucky, I have seven grand kids from age a little six year old girl to a 21 year old college center who can squat 630#.  For me there is no such thing as missing weight.  

[Roy from Pa]

I'm 67 and can still squat 630#'s..      

After thinking about this, yes leave the bow alone and make another one.. It will be fun..

[mikkekeswick]

Chances are the belly wood isn't in the best shape now so heat treating, cutting it down shorter etc may up your weight some but not 15# and whatever gain you get will likely mean you just increase your set.

By far the best option is to start again.
The key to hitting weight everytime goes like this
1 - Decide on your intended finished draw weight.
2 - Rough your bow out and get a good floor tiller. Having a finished bow of your intended weight will help to compare your new bow to.
3 - Once you have the bow bending some start using a long string that is only just long enough to get into the nocks without bending the bow. Tentatively pull back until either you see a tiller problem or you apply your intended draw weight to it.
4 - Once you are applying full draw weight to the bow and there are no obvious flaws to the tiller. You are getting somewhere! Ideally this will be at a shortish drawlength and from there to full draw you just keep doing the same thing. When checking tiller you pull it only to your intended draw weight (never, ever more!) or stop early if you see a flaw. Correct it and pull to intended weight.

[George Tsoukalas]

Back during my early days I stared finding out that all these fixes took longer than making another bow and did not work anyway.

They also cut down on the number of bows made and that's what you need, Pastr, experience.

Start another.

Jawge

[John Scifres]

I would definitely shorten it.  At the least, you will earn some more.  Expect around 10# of weight gain.  Make sure tiller is spot on.  Make sure the near handle wood is doing its part.  Got any pics?  particularly drawn.