New Hickory Board Bow Pics

[30coupe]

Here are some pictures of the hickory board bow I just finished. It is about 66" nock to nock and backed with an old silk tie. According to my spring scale, it is 48# @ 27". I'm hoping it will settle in to about the mid 40s. It draws smooth to my 27" draw and shoots pretty good. I haven't had time to do any tuning yet, so I'm not sure just what it's going to like for arrows. At the moment it seems to like 2016s, but I'm hoping to find a woodie it likes.

Here is the strung profile:

 

And the full draw profile (ignore the fat guy in the pictures please):

 

 

I added a leather grip laced with artificial sinew:

 

 

And added some leather to the narrow shelf:

 

[rmorris]

Looking good!

[30coupe]

I hadn't done the leather shelf thing before, so I guess I could have thinned it a bit more:

 

It actually feels pretty good. The thin goatskin leather grip makes it stand out more than a thicker one would, but I really like the feel of this grip.

The riser is from a couple scraps I had around, one black walnut and the other hard maple.

It was dark by the time I got a chance to shoot it, so I couldn't get any outdoor pictures. I think it will look a lot nicer in the sunlight. It was way too much fun to shoot! I can't wait to get some POC arrows made up to fit it. I guess the ultimate dream would be to take a critter with the bow and arrows I made while carrying the back quiver and leather haversack I made! Would that be cool or what!

[Nim-rod]

I like it.

[30coupe]

I added a thin leather side plate. The arrows were kind of loud dragging across the bare wood when I drew them.

 

That should take care of the noise.

[DVSHUNTER]

Nice looking bow1

[Eric Krewson]

That is some mighty fine tillering, reminds me of the tillering the late DCM did which was flawless.

My only suggestion would be to feather out your arrow rest into the handle to get rid of that big hump under the leather.

An arrow rest is just there, no stress or pressure on it so it doesn't require a huge glue surface to hold it on.

I glue on wood rests most of the time and feather them into my handle so they disappear under the leather.

 

They look this way once the leather is put on.

 

[PEARL DRUMS]

Very nice bow! I would gladly hang that on my rack.....and shoot it of course.

[George Tsoukalas]

Excellent work! You did well. Jawge

[SportHunter]

Great job Russ, tiller looks great. Congrats on your first!

[dmikeyj]

Great bow, looks like it'll throw an arrow for sure...

[Igor]

Excellent...extremely nice 1st!


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Glenn

[Cuban Missile]

Yeah well done!  I have a hickory in the works too right now all be it not that far.

[JJB]

Russ - that turned out really nice!  Enjoy shooting it and have fun with the next one.
-Jay

[30coupe]

That looks nice, Eric. I may give that a try next time. I think the leather would be okay if I thinned it a bit more. It was my first attempt.

[Jorgy]

well done,very nice bow!!

[red hill]

Good job, Russ. Very nice bow.

[mwosborn]

Nice work - bet she shoots nice.

[KellyG]

30coupe

That is a sweet looking bow. Heck I really like your stitching job and handle wrap. I would not have noticed the rest abrupt end if Eric had not pointed it out. (He does have a trained eye for such.)

Great job!

[30coupe]

Thanks for all the kind words, guys.

Eric, I am truly humbled to be compared to DCM. I did spend a lot of time on the tiller. Your gizmo was the key, so I owe you a big thank you!

Kelly, I really want a picture with this bow like the one in your avatar! What a buck!

Finding the right board is probably the biggest challenge. I haven't managed to pick up another quite as good yet. I'd like to find a local source for ipe. I hear both good and bad about it, but I am intrigued by the possibility of a narrow longbow that won't take a lot of set. Ipe seems to be capable of that. I could order on of the online kits, but after building this bow for under $10, I have a hard time paying four to 10 times as much for the next one!