'boo backed / 'boo bellied....need advice!

[Hammerhead]

I would contact Vinson Minor with that question.
The bow you are describing sounds like his cane dragons. He does boo belly and back.

[Jason Jelinek]

Make the next one a pyramid bow (only width taper and no thickness taper) and you won't have to tiller on the belly or the back.  The tiller will come from the width taper.  A 4:1 taper (1-1/2" to 3/8" will work) gives you a circular tiller.  This way you get all the power fibers on the belly and the back.

Jason

[John Sturtevant]

Doug, I’m still just learning how to make these also.   They can be “character builders”.  I’ve yet to build one that when I was finished I stood back and said “Wow….that’s perfect”.   It’s always “Hell, I can do better then that”….then I start another.  

 From what you’ve described you’ve really done an excellent job if your tiller is looking good and you’re only 4” away from your target weight / draw length.  You must have done a great job preparing your belly bamboo…that seems one of the keys to this type of bow.   I’ve started tiller the individual pieces of belly BB….bending them like they would be on the bow before glue up.   Figure if they don’t bend evenly before they are glued on then it’s just one more thing I’ll need to fight later.

You’re getting some great advice already.   My two cents, for what it’s worth.

-   Please don’t scrape between the nodes on the back….reducing the power fibers.  This is not a good idea.
-   If you can avoid scraping between the nodes on the belly, you’ll end up with a better bow.   I suspect you’ll be able to avoid this.
-   Work the devil out of those limbs, as JD already indicated.   Then work them a little more.   You’ve probably already figured out that you need to work the limbs more to register changes when using woods like bullet or blood wood vs. hedge.   Same seems to apply with the BB belly’s…particularly if the BB is tempered.  
-   I would reduce weight by trapping and rounding edges…like others have said.   I’ve got a couple that I needed to trap the belly almost as much as the back and they worked out just fine.  Trapping the back more can remove a surprising amount of weight, though, and that’s where I’d concentrate first.   Then rounding the belly edges more (assuming you’ve already done this)…then belly trapping last if needed.
-   Assuming the belly BB was not tempered before it was applied?    It does make a big difference in regards to retaining profile.   I have not tried the “torch” method after glue up…but if JD say’s it works then it does.
I might suggest tempering it before glue up next time.  No doubt there will be a next time.

All I can think of for now…   You’re going to end up with a great bow, and learn a lot in the process.

[rocdoc]

John....glad you finally surfaced for air!  JD told me you had been making some of these so I'd hoped you could give me some advice.  I never even considered scraping the back boo...had too many problems with the first boo backed bows I made just because I scraped a little too aggresively getting the rind off!  

Knowing your standard of bows, I'm sure that the 'boo sandwiches' you've made are awsome, even if YOU think they aren't up to snuff.

I'm going to trap the back a little more and then spend a lot of time excersising the bow before I trap any on the belly.

I'll try and get some pics posted after while.

[don s]

the article in primitive archer gives an e-mail address if there are any questions. here it is, assuming it's the same 3+ years later.
                                       don

      [email protected]

[rocdoc]

OK guys.  I'm going to post a few pics.  Since I don't know how to post multiple pics on one reply I'll post them 1 at a time.  5 pics in all (for now).

Here's the first.....unbraced profile.

 

[rocdoc]

Braced at apx. 6"

 

[rocdoc]

drawn to 24" (52#)

 

[rocdoc]

Actually that was only 20" draw.  I weighed it at 24" and 52#.

This is a pic of the strung bow showing string alignment.

 

[rocdoc]

This last pic shows how conservative I've been to this point on trapping the back.

 

[Dano]

It's lookin real good, how ya doin at gettin the wieght off?


The bow Doug, the bow  

[rocdoc]

Dano!!     :mad:

Dano...I before E and sometimes Y and W.    

I haven't started scraping yet...a little bit gun shy.

[Dano]

I always forget that rule, thanks for the lesson.  :D  

Ain't no rush, specially when your gun shy  

[NEW GUY]

Thx for the pics Doug.  I think I understand what trappin means now. lol

That weight seems about right for us midget draw folks. haha

[Dano]

Oh sure the New Guy spells it right  

[NEW GUY]

ROFL..........just lettin you lead the way Dano.  

[John Sturtevant]

Looking great Doug.

You can only look at it and fret, stew and worry for so long though....better get to making shavings.  

Can't really tell from the pics, but did you stagger the nodes back to belly?   Makes them a little easier to tiller.

Vise looks a little whimpy for bow building.    

That's all the smart arse stuff I can think of for now.  Heading out to the shop where I will try to think of some more.

[horseapple]

Nice Doug...

Tiller looks very good, looks as tho the back and belly nodes are not staggered as much as they should be but all in all it looks great, kindof hard to see that smooth tiller with nodes on the belly, right?  What about the handle? are you going to add something as I notice its more of a D bow...

[Timo]

Doug, while you are fretting,might as well tidy up that shop a bit? ha,ha.

[rocdoc]

Timo.  I clean my shop EVERY June....not time yet    :D

JD / John.....Yeah, the nodes aren't spaced quite right.  I've got to be honest, I was trying to get a belly node placed in a certain area on one of the limbs about 10-12 inches from the tip because it was bending a little too much there.  Thought, no problemo...I'll just put a node there.  It worked but may bite me in the butt with the stagger on all the rest.  Kinda like robbin Peter to pay Paul.    

JD......REALLY gotta squint to see the tiller with all them nodes.  Sometimes when I'm having trouble reading the tiller I take pics to view it that way.  It's a lot easier for me to tell from a picture than real life.....go figure.     :rolleyes: