Home Grown Hunting Equipment for 2006/07 (UPDATE - Nov. 5th, 2006)

[Osagetree]

Starting with the osage, I use another one of my great grandfathers scribing tools. Set the depth, lock it in and run the flat edge down the back side of the stave and it follows the contour of the back of the stave to a tee. It creates a scribe mark that a pincil lead fits into and follows along the mark no problem.

I start at the end of the fades and measure 9/16" thick (back to belly) on the limb and on both sides of the limb. I had to go this thin to get down to the thinest parts, of the thinest limb on the stave.

With the rings paper thin and my poor tillering, this bow will probably set more than I want it to. And, the draw weight I will need is questionable. Ohio law requires at least a 45# draw weight.

 

Flip the stave around and I do the other linb in the same fashion.

 

All of this gives me a nice line to follow when removing wood from the belly of the stave.

 

I mark the ends of the handle at 1 1/8" and draw in the fades.

 

With the stave turned in the vise belly up. I follow the two lines with a rasp as I remove the wood down to each line. This way when I remove the wood I will follow the twist in the limbs while keeping a uniforn thickness from the end of the fades to the tips of the limbs.

 

Here is the ripped out section that was created when the log was split. It could not be completely avoided while patterning and shaping the stave to this point. This created a limb defect in the roughly finished stave. Both limbs are like this and each are on oppisite sides, on each limb. This may be an avantage as I tiller as it will oppose the natural twist in the limbs. We'll see!

 

My camara aint the best. Sorry for the pic angles and quality but, this gives you a pretty good idea how the stave is,,,,, for better lack of words,,, mis-shapen!

 

[Tony Phillips]

OSAGETREE


Not to nit-pick but Ohio requires 40#s not 45#.

Here is the requirement straight from the Ohio DNR WEB page.

Allowable Hunting Equipment

Archery Season:

Longbow: minimum draw weight 40 lbs. Crossbow: draw weight not less than 75 lbs., nor more than 200 lbs.

[Marvin M.]

Keep it coming OT.  

[Osagetree]

Tony,,, you are right,,,

If I am correct,it used to be 45# though. Good catch!

Good to see another Buckeye on here! Nice horn bow, did you make it?

Marvin,

Have a look at the temp in my building today,,,

 

The thermometer is on the inside of the door in the shade.

I'll keep it coming as long as I can today,,, tomorrow I go back to work.  :mad:

[Marvin M.]

I hear you.  I guess I'm a little south of you here.  It gets pretty "toasty" doing anything these days.  

Don't overdo it in that heat.

[Tony Phillips]

OSAGETREE,

    No that bow is a Saluki Scythian, another Ohio bowyer. Yes it is hot up here on the North Shore. You may be right about the 45#, I’m not sure.

  Keep up the good work on this build-along, it’s something that I couldn’t do so I’m living it through you.

[Osagetree]

Using my draw knife, flat file and razor sharp metal scraper, I remove the tools marks left by the rasp.

With the edge of the draw knife used as a scraper I remove most of the marks. if the daw knife catches or hangs up on the fades, knots or just digs in by accident, I use the flat file to file below that spot, so the draw knife scrapes smoothly and evenly.

The small scraper I use is really a replacement blade for a tile floor pole scraper used to remove gum and such from Vinyl tile floors. These are cheap as dirt and last forever, and they work great.

 

Here is the fade area after scraping.

 

This is the ripped out area that I could not avoid in the patterm of the bow. I use the smaller scraper to blend it all in while rounding off the edges and just making it look better. These areas will be watched carefully when I get to the tillering.

Here is a picture before I work the bad spot.

 

Here is after I use the scaper to blend it in.

 

Well the stave is looking a little more like a bow,,, well thats my opinion anyway.    

 

[Bucket]

Awesome. Do you plan on trying to remove the twist in the limb or will you tiller with it in?

I feel your pain when it comes to the heat. Funny thing is, I spent a lot of summers working out in the heat in central Florida and didn't really think much of it. The last couple days it's been in the low 90's and it pains me to go from the air conditioned car to the air conditioned office.   :D

[Osagetree]

Bucket,,, The heat up here is alot more humid than in Florida. I know what you mean I used to live down there as a kid.

Also funny you ask about the twist,,,

Using a little vegitable oil, the heat gun and a pair of vise grips with leather pads to protect the back of the bow. I use a couple well placed heat bends to help take out some twist and add some reflex at the same time.

 

With the bow stave in the vise with the back facing up, I use the grips as a lever to lift up and bend just past where I want it to be. Remove the heat and hold it until it cools,,, about 4 or 5 minutes.

 

bend #1

 

bend #2

 

bend #3

 

Then I'll do the other limb the same way.

This work is best done in the winter time!    

[Bucket]

Okay, this is going to sound like a dumb question but...when you laid out the limbs, you measured it off a straight center line. Now the limbs snake. What gives?

[Osagetree]

Bucket, the straight line was used to line up the tips @ center. I had to curve around to avoid bad spots in the wood or stave, thus making the limbs curve,,, thus adding character to the bow,,, That's my theory anyway.

Here is the bow after bending to remove twist. Man it is hot,,, and I am debating whether or not to bend more. I can live with it, but I could do better if I go at it again with the heat gun.

 

[Osagetree]

Got back out this evening long enough to do a little floor tillering. I put it on the long string and this is a shot of the first time on the tree.

I got some more tillering to do, especialy on the right limb! I had my son pulling on the rope as I took the picture and he went a little further than I like on the first real bend,,, oh well thats okay!

 

It's just to hot to continue.......

[Shaun]

Looking good OT.

[Guru]

Joe, I've been following along since the beginning......I think this is one of the most interesting threads in the history of TG.I can't wait to see how all this unfolds during the upcomming season. Great job bud      

[TimBow2]

great thread indeed      

[Osagetree]

I am a little embarrassed with you guy's watching. I've seen some of your work and you all make me look like a child at play,,, well I am sort of.

 

I think I am done for the day!

Thanks Gang for the kindness............

[Marvin M.]

Looking good.  I love that tillering board.  Just moved to a new house and haven't set my stuff up yet.  Good news is I now have a basement and don't have to deal with 100 summer days to "play" with my archery equipment.

[Osagetree]

Played around with the tiller this evening. Limbs are get'n weaker and I'm getting concerned,,, again.

I am around brace height in this pic and it's pulling about 38lbs.

 

I can't get that left limb to bend at mid-limb. If you look at the last picture I posted, you can see the woop in the left limb. This is where I'm having trouble getting it to bend.

[John Scifres]

While not an insurmountable problem, I'd be inclined to even up the profile of that stave with a caul and a heat gun.

[Osagetree]

Well John,,, that's a great idea! Thanks for chiming in!

I never made me a caul, but I got a heat gun and I can improvise.

Why didn't I do that to begin with?