Hickory board bow shoots good w/pics

[30coupe]

Here are the first groups out of my hickory board bow I recently finished. These are at 15 yards. I still need to do some tweaking with the tune, but it's a shooter I think!

 

 

It's a Hill style bow 66" and 48# @ 27". Right now it's wearing a B50 string, but I may twist up a D97 and give that a try. The arrows in the pics are two POC 50-55s and two 2016s. It seems to like the 2016s a little better, but I'll get the woodies figured out before long. Both the xx75s and the POC were 565 grains, and it zips them along at a pretty surprising clip.

It does have about 2 1/4" of set, which I prefer to think of as string follow, lol! I backed it with an old silk tie. At first I planned on painting over the tie, but it came out looking kind of camo, so I went with that. It's very stable and smooth to 27", but it starts to stack after that. I don't notice the stack when shooting since 27" is about where I stop drawing anyway.

Here's a couple shots of the riser, which is walnut and maple wrapped with goat skin and stitched with artificial sinew.

 

 

 

Here's one at full draw.

 

It was fun to build and even more fun to shoot. It started as a 1x2 from Menards on sale for $4.56. I added some walnut and maple from my scrap bin and a piece of leather that came out a tad too small for another bow I have. The tie was on it's way to Goodwill but detoured to the back of my bow. I twisted up a B50 string for it, so altogether I have under $10 in the bow.

I've built some in the past, but this is my first successful board bow. My ultimate cool would be to take a critter using my homemade bow, shooting homemade arrows, carried in my homemade quiver. Then I'd celebrate with the lunch I carried afield in my homemade leather haversack. I'm afraid I'm hooked on building this trad stuff.

[Bernie B.]

Very nice Russ!  We're going to have to get together sometime and do a little stump shooting, since we live within twenty miles of each other.  I think you did very well on your first board bow!

Bernie Bjorklund

NC Iowa/SW Wisconsin

[30coupe]

Thanks Bernie! I told Jay we need to do that next time he gets home. Sounds like a great idea to me.

Here is a shot of the ugly tie backing.

 

It looks better on the bow than it did on me, lol! Don't tell my wife I said that though...she buys all my ties. I hate wearing them anyway, so mostly they hang in the closet.

[ron w]

Excellent job........  

[TJK68]

Very Nice, I kinda like the tie... on the bow that is. Congrats on a great job.
Tom

[owlbait]

Hey Russ, care to share the dimensions, or somewhere to look for them? That is neat. Bends real well too. I have an old red oak board I've been saving for just such a project. Any tips on gluing/attaching that handle?

[30coupe]

Thanks, guys. I'm pretty proud of the tiller. Not only does it look good, there is almost no hand shock. Anyone who is used to a Hill style bow would say there is no hand shock. If the tiller was off, it would thump you good, so I think I got it right. I've shot it with arrows from 9 gpp to these that are just under 12 gpp and can't really tell a difference as far as hand shock.

All in all, I'm satisfied. I also found a couple nice hickory boards at the Waterloo Menards last weekend, so I think there will be more shavings on the floor soon! They are eight footers, so I'm thinking a couple kids bows and a full sized hickory backed hickory in the future. I have four grandkids and another on the way. On Sunday, my three year-old granddaughter told me she wanted me to build her a bow, so I guess you could say I already have an order.

[m midd]

Looks very nice.

[30coupe]

Originally posted by owlbait:
Hey Russ, care to share the dimensions, or somewhere to look for them? That is neat. Bends real well too. I have an old red oak board I've been saving for just such a project. Any tips on gluing/attaching that handle?

I don't mind at all, but I will say, you will want to go wider at the fades with oak. I did this one in a pyramid style only because one limb kind of warped sideways. I used that side as it was and drew a line through the center of the bow. The other limb was straight, so the line was centered on that end and 1/4" from one side on the other end. I could have heated and bent it back, but I figured I was better off going where the board wanted to go to avoid twisting. My original plan was to stay parallel to mid-limb and then taper to 1/2" at the tips, but the warp eliminated that plan. That's why I ended up with more set than I would have liked. It doesn't seem to hurt performance though.

Anyway, it is 1 1/2" at the fades and tapers to 1/2" at the tips. It's 68" overall and actually 66.5" nock to nock. I make my own strings, so I wasn't worried about the odd length. I wanted to keep the nocks close to the end in case I had to pike the bow (shorten it to add draw weight). As it turned out, I didn't need to. I hit my goal weight exactly. The handle is 4" and the fades are 2". I like keeping the riser short to get as much of the limb working as I can, especially on an all wood bow. The grip area is 1 3/4" deep and 1" wide. The shelf is cut to 1/4" from center.

As to gluing the riser up. I just used Titebond III after roughing up the contact surfaces with a rasp. I clamped it up and left it that way for 24 hours. I think that is critical even though the glue says clamp for 30 minutes and dry in 2 hours. I don't rush that step. If you look at the picture you'll also see that I taper into the fades well beyond the glue line. I want any flex to take place outside the handle to eliminate stress on the glue line. It's kind of a fine line here as you want the limbs to bend into the fades, but not at the glue line.

With your oak, I'd want a pyramid style to be about 2" at the fades. Wider and flatter works a bit better with oak, I think. I tried a parallel limb oak board bow, but it cracked just past where the taper started.

Keep in mind, I am FAR from an expert. I just offer what I have learned from the Bowyer Bench and my own experience. Glad to help if I can though.

[mmgrode]

Good work, Russ!  Like the use of the tie as a backing...classy!          It may be your first board bow, but it certainly won't be your last...it's addicting!  Thanks for sharing.

[30coupe]

Originally posted by mmgrode:
Good work, Russ!  Like the use of the tie as a backing...classy!          It may be your first board bow, but it certainly won't be your last.  Thanks for sharing.

Umm, this is the first one that survived.    

It still won't be the last though! The board bows are cheap and relatively easy. There is a lot of osage orange growing on my sons' hunting lease though, so I'm VERY tempted. I have no idea what I'm doing with osage though, so I'm doing some studying. I don't want to cut a nice tree and not take care of it properly. Still very intriguing though.

[mmgrode]

I'd highly recommend the traditional bowyers bible series to give you a background on working with osage.  No better bow wood, in my opinion.

[JJB]

It looks like it shoots as good as it looks Russ.  Nice work, that tie backing is great!
-Jay

[wooddamon1]

That's a cool bow! Good job!

[Jason Kendall]

Nice work Russ! Those sure are fun to build. If ya need a draw knife and farriers rasp when ya tackle that Osage I have a set you can use.

[Shakes.602]

Very Nice!!     Thats the Best Idea for a Tie I have ever heard!! I had a Tie once, it was wrapping a Tuna Sandwich...  

[twitchstick]

Good job!  

[30coupe]

Shakes, sounds like you and I are on the same page with the ties!

Jason, I think I've got the tools, I just need to invest in some knowledge. I'll take any of that you have to offer!

Jay, it is a shooter. It likes a stiffer shaft than I thought it would though. I have been surprised at the performance. I guess I thought it would be a lot slower than it is.

[macksdad]

Nice looking bow 30 coupe

[owlbait]

Thanks Russ. I appreciate your reply.