"pushing my limits" bow buildalong - Cosmetic suggestions?

[Luke Vander Vennen]

Looks pretty good to me.     :notworhty:

[Dano]

Awesome job Chris, she looks great to me.

[ChrisS]

Ah, finally acceptable (to me anyway). I haven't seen any short static recurves tillered before, so I just have to guess at what they should look like. Here's how it ended up at 27 inches:

 

What do you think, is the first 1/2 too excessive? If the string doesn't leave the curves, does that make this a longbow with heavy tips?    Seriously, the string does leave curves at 26", it just isn't much.

It's *really* light... light enough to not want to say it out loud. I was really careful with scraping to leave a perfectly flat surface on the belly and a nice transition into the fades... so it's getting more belly after I bullet proof the back. I don't know if hickory can take that abuse at hunting weight so I'm going to play it safe  

[Luke Vander Vennen]

horn it  

[sticshooter]

Looks like it should shoot. Now if ya get it to draw 29" I could shoot it.LOL Good job.<><

[Brian Halbleib]

Nice build-a-long format and nice bow. Thanks for sharing.

-Brian
 www.bowyersjournal.com

[tom sawyer]

Neat bow.  You did a good job with this.

What poundage are you at now?  And what is the side profile when just unstrung?

I think you can see where a lower angle on your statics would have helped.  I'd be interested in seeing numbers for a F/D curve if you can get to it.  Surely that bow would have a super-smooth draw.

And am I nuts or is your tiller tree, an actual tree?

[ChrisS]

Thanks Brian. Glad ya liked it. Old school html, simple but effective      

Luke, I'd be lying if I said it wasn't in the back of my mind hehe. I'll have plenty of time to decide waiting for sinew to dry.

It's at *cough* 28#. Probably 30# at 28". I actually draw 29" too, sticshooter. I just didn't want to take it all the way back.

Sorry I didn't take any shots of the profile after unstrung. The bottom point of deflex is 1-1/2 inches from the bottom of the belly slat in the handle. It was originally 1 inch. The 1/2 inch of reflex is gone and past midlimb is flat out to the curve base. Still, the tips were higher than the back of the handle hehe.

That night I laid down a course of sinew. I knew that I'd be swamped with one programming project due tonight (reason I've been absent) and another due first week of Oct. I wanted to get the bow drying since I won't have time to touch it again for another week or two.

An F/D curve would have been nice to make, but I didn't think about it. It would have been cool to see the differences (if any) when the sinew is applied and again after the belly is put on. Ah well. It felt good pulling back.. the up front weight at 6" of pull disappeared with the reflex unfortunately. Still plenty up front after the first 6" though.

And yea, it's a tree        When I moved in here I didn't have anything to build with, so I use a lot of scrap and junk from the back yard and saved the decent stock for when I need it. I can't wait to graduate and actually start making money instead of constantly forking it out  

I'll be back and working on it in a while. Going to give it another course after the next school project is finished. Then comes the hardest part, waiting.

Chris

[tom sawyer]

Don't get in a hurry, it always forks out easier than it forks in.

And always keep that tiller tree.  Its one of a kind, at least until I make mine.  hehe

[ChrisS]

Sorry I've been gone, my programming projects are over so I've got time again. Here's a small update and a ttt so I don't lose track of the thread.

Sinewing went well. Pulled in a considerable amount of reflex too. I didn't prestress the limbs at all. Going to work on tip alignment this weekend, and possibly evening up the limbs if needed. I hope the ends of the sinew doesn't lift. I don't want to wrap them yet, as I'll be cleaning up the sides and belly.

Hey Tom, you have to have a story to go with the tree though    Mine ended up in the back yard, but it didn't start there. Before I made my first bow, I was looking for local materials. I was out one night in January (cold and snowing) walking the dogs and found that tree down about 1/2 mile down the trail. I thought it was birch and said "Score!". Dragged the thing all the way back to the car and went home. I just went to bed because I was sore and dead tired. Got up the next morning... looked at it... slapped myself on the forehead and cursed. Aspen. I guess it looked like birch in the dark, I don't know. Anyway, I wound up trying to split it anyway, and that's why it has that big slab missing in the pics. I dumped it in the yard. At least it proved useful for something  

[ChrisS]

Alright... I'm frustrated so it's time to put it away for a while. Most of my tiller decisions today have been wrong and I keep making things worse. Something just looks wrong and I can't figure out what it is.     Can somebody take a look and maybe give me a plan of attack?

One of the big problems is that the handle will rotate around the post it is sitting on. I'll never do it this way again in the future. I'll use a flat pedistal and leave the handle flat until tillering is done. It makes it really hard to tell if one limb is stronger than the other.

Braced:
 
< Higher resolution version >

At 22 inches:
 
< Higher resolution version >


Thanks for any help!
Chris

[Lewis Brookshire III]

Right limb from fade to mid limb looks stiffer than the other side

[Dano]

Yep, I agree "Right limb from fade to mid limb looks stiffer", you can see it better in the braced picture.

[ChrisS]

Ah, thanks. I see it. I've been looking at this too much today.

I should just call it a day and pick it back up tomorrow.

[ChrisS]

OK! Was back at it today. Unfortunately the supplies for my knife project didn't arrive until today, so I wasn't distracted from pulling this thing all the way back before letting the sinew finish curing. Impatience took hold, what can I say?  

Link to page 4:   page 4  

I worked the 1/3 on the right but I still didn't get it down enough. I'm worried about taking too much.. this thing is getting really thin and it doesn't take much to make a difference now. Near the curves there is only 1/4" of wood hehe. Off the fades there is 3/8".

 

It is drawing 36# now and I drew up a F/D curve for ya Lennie. It's pretty boring, a straight line basically. The only stacking is an extra pound of draw from 26 to 28 inches. I think that's pretty darn good for a bow that is (from base of curve to base of curve) 53" long with a 12" rigid handle  :D  

Top tip is pulling perfect. Bottom is still pulling off to one side, but I think I can straighten it up when I thin the tips. I believe that should be the next step. What do you think I should do with the tips? I'm thinking of putting the string nocks as far down as possible. I can't imagine longer statics would do anything except add weight and instability, especially when the string doesn't lift off.

Chris

[Lewis Brookshire III]

Looks pretty darn good to me. What was your target weight?

[ChrisS]

50#    

I will be putting more belly on it. I kept the belly flat all through tillering and it goes smoothly right into the fades. Hopefully I can pick some weight back up. If I can flatten out some horn I'll go for it, otherwise I'm not sure. Lamination of bulletwood or osage?

[ChrisS]

Well, I'm stuck. I'd love to do it, but I believe horn will be out of my reach. I can't cut strips off a buffalo horn without a bandsaw, so that's out. I *might* be able to cut gemsbok by hand with my coping saw, but I'm not sure if I could pull off flattening it or not. I don't have much to spend and I wouldn't know where else to get one but ebay. Has anybody bought one and how much did it end up costing?

Hmm.. a wood lam would probably be easier, but I just can't deny the coolness factor of horn  

[Lewis Brookshire III]

It would have more coolness factor BUT it would be easier and cheaper to good a wood lam. Try to find an exotic wood that will hold up to be bieng on the back and use that. It would look really nice. You could use Boo with the nodes still on it, I personally think that looks nice but a nice exotic wood would look good too.

[ChrisS]

I'm back! School had me very busy the past few weeks, so I had plenty of time to think.

I do appreciate the input ROH, though I did decide to go all out    Osage would have costed me as much as a horn off ebay. I don't mind doing the labor on it.

I'm to the point of flattening. I'm just going by John Sturtevant's tutorial. I really doubt I'm going to be able to flatten it past half way though. It's pretty thick.