Hickory selfbow build along

[shawn]

I purchased a couple of hickory staves from Linc a couple of months ago. After reading a post from John Scrifes, I decided to take him up on his challage to post a bow build along. What I hope to build is a 67.5" 55 pound @ 28" hickory flatbow. I would like to put elk antler tips on this bow. I purchased some rawhide for this bow, but I am not sure if I will be using the rawhide for backing. I am currently using 2 main sources of information for this project. I am using The Bent Stick as well as the video Building Bows from White Woods with Murray Gaskins.

I have already layed out the bow and have started making shavings. The bow is 2" wide at the fades and will taper to 5/8" at the tips. The biggest challenge for me up to now is keeping the limbs flat and matching both limbs. The limbs are just starting to bend. I will try to get some pictures of the limbs bending.

I do have some questions. When do I need to attach the elk limb tip protectors? What glue should I use for the elk? I am sure I will have more questions later.

Here are a few pictures of my progress up to now.

 
back of bow

 
Handle area

 
Side profile

 
The lines on the belly are to mark every 4". I number each individual area to help me keep track when matching the limbs to one another.

More to follow as I make progress.

Shawn

[bbassi]

Cool! Show me how to do it 'cause I got a bunch of staves sitting here waiting to be bows.  

[hill boy]

Yea you got my attention.I'm going to keep an eye on this thread and start collecting some staves myself.I have lots of hickory around here.Good luck Shawn, looks good so far

[Danny Roberts]

Real nice !!!

[John Scifres]

Sweet.  Keep up the good work!

[Linc]

WOW, great work so far Shawn.

Elk antler can wait till bow is ready for finishing. I have had good luck with TB II for gluing them on,not that most would recomment it.

[ChristopherO]

I, too, mark every 4" (on the sides) to help keep the limbs in proportion.  Doesn't matter, I still tend to get the bottom limb too limber! LOL
I just glued up some antler tips with titebond 3 that seems to work well.
Did you dry your hickory out well?  I've found 6% not to be too dry for this wood.  Hickory can take a set pretty easy for a novice like me.
Thanks for the build along.

[shawn]

I have been a little sidetracked with warm weather (AKA yard work) and the fact that I was all ready to do a little stumpin' only to discover I had no more stumpin' arrows. The arrows are just about done. I have to work tonight and Wednesday night. I hope to get back at it Thursday. It is starting to bend while floor tillering. I have decided to go ahead and use the rawhide for backing. I will also be attaching the elk antler tip overlays.

Now comes the questions.
1) What order do I attach the rawhide and overlays?

2) Should I can cut my string grooves after attaching the overlays.

3) Does the rawhide need to go all the way to the tip? If so, do I attach the overlays right over the rawhide?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Shawn

I will be taking pictures on Thursday. More to come...

[John Scifres]

Put on the overlays and then cut your string nocks.

Put on the rawhide up to the overlays.

[shawn]

Thank you John. That was the info I was looking for.

[Lost Arra]

Shawn: I've been making some hickory bows lately and I wanted to know how you decided on the limb width profile? It looks like your fade width is carried parallel for about 1/2+ of the limb length. Is that from Comstock's book?

That's a nice looking stave. I didn't know Linc had any straight wood.    

[shawn]

Bob,

Both Mr. Comstock and Mr. Gaskins suggest a 2"wide bow from the fades to 1/2 way down the limbs. I did take it further than 1/2 way. I figure I can always remove some wood from the limbs if needed. According to both men, a 2" wide limb from the fades to about 1/2 way down the limb and then tapered to about 5/8" at the tips will make a durable bow. My goal is to have a bow that will not explode in my face at full draw. I hope to get some time to make some shavings tonight.

Shawn

[pseman]

Very interested to see this. I am wanting to try my hand at a hickory selfbow(my first attempt) and like to see these build-a-longs. I can learn more with a few pics than from pages of words.

[Osagetree]

[shawn]

Time to attach the elk antler for the tip overlays.
I broke out the elk antler and went to work.
 
Here are the tools I used. Bandsaw, rasp, clamps, Titebond3, and a toothing plane.
 
I cut out a couple of pieces to use as the overlays. I used a rasp to flatten the bottom of the elk.

Once the overlay pieces looked about right to me, I grapped my toothing plane to put grooves in the tips for better adhesion.
 

Here is the elk clamped to the tip of the bow.

More to follow after the glue dries. I intend to shape the tips and cut the string grooves. Once that is done, I will apply the rawhide.

Shawn

[George Tsoukalas]

Looking good, Shawn. Jawge

[**DONOTDELETE**]

did you ruff sand the back of the antler pieces?

[shawn]

I grooved both the limb tips and the antler pieces prior to attaching the antler. I was thinking this morning that I should have used a dark piece of wood in between the limb tips and the antler. That would have looked nice. I will have to do that on my next bow. I hope to get the rawhide on today.

Shawn

[shawn]

I shaped the elk antler overlays this morning.

Here are the tools I used:
 
The saw is a tile saw I happened to see at the hardware store the other day. It worked well for cutting the string grooves. I put the masking tape at the end of the piece of elk to protect the limb while filing (nice tip Ferret).

I could not get a quality photo of the finished overlays. I will work on that.

The following link is to Ferrets rawhide attaching tutorial. It is very well done. I did not have any Ace bandage, so I used an old bucycle innertube. I did not apply the tube until the glue started to set. I hope that worked. We'll see on Sunday.
 http://tradgang.com//noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=000036

Here are the tools I used:
 

 
One limb almost finished.

 
Second limb with innertube attached.

More to come on Sunday.

Shawn

[ishiwannabe]

Looking good man.....following with interest. I need to start building one soon.