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Attempt at 100# Ash warbow.

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nathan elliot:
I have recently been inspired to make an English Warbow. After reading everything I could find on Ash warbows, I decided it was time to jump in and go for it.

I am going to try and build a +100# Ash Warbow. Started out like this-





Taken it down to this-
Width at handle = 40mm
Width at tip = 19mm
Thickness at handle = 30mm
Thickness at tip = 19mm
Bow length =1980mm

And it looks like this-




Im keeping it oval in cross section, as has been advised.

Thanks to Alan's site for the specs to this bow ;), it is still a wee bit off the 120# bow given as an example by Alan. So far so good. I am going to stick it in the wood dryer over night to bring the moister down some. I think I am getting ready to put her on the tree and start the tiller.

A couple of questions if I may. When should I heat treat?  And what do temporary knocks look like? I have some horn on the way, but up to now I have only used overlays and am worried about the tillering string slicing into the wood, should I just wait and put on horn knocks and tiller from there?

Regards

Nathan.
 

Ian.:
Hi
 great to see more people trying for warbows, you mite want to make it more square in section as ash can crysal bad,
 as for heat treating i wouldn't bother but it depends what you want to achieve Ive never done it so i cant say,
 tillering knocks are quite simple just use a round file or tile saw to cut a grove that doesn't slip, and make sure the string stays in place it is a horrible feeling seeing a string come off a bow while tillering makes you think you broke the bow
look forward to seeing it on the tiller
Ian

nathan elliot:
Hope you can see these pictures, it is quite flat on the belly, I have rounded the corners. I am going to try and keep this profile.



On the heat treating, I have found that the bows I make just pick up less set when heat treated (Thanks Marc St Louis!). I don't want to have too much string follow, maybe 2in. I made this long bow at the weekend from the same Ash tree. 50# at 28in, still less than 1 inch of set after 200 odd arrows. Plus just to push my luck I made the belly nice and crowned. No crystals.....yet!! (I know the black horn look pants on a white bow like this. Thats why I have since dyed it dark brown :))



So should I heat treat or not?

Nathan

Jaro:
You will probably get best results if you heat treat now, then tiler, then heat treat and adjust again.
I have made 90# ash longbow which shot standart 220 yrds this way. Heat treating will help you with some problems which are inherent to whitewood and if you do multiple times as you get rid of the wood, it will end up being physically light, which is the key to have a good shooter.

With this weight and ash, I would like to have physical weight of the bow under 700 gram, 600 more likely.

Regards

Jaro

nathan elliot:
Thanks Jaro! Great to have your input on this one! I have just shaped some horn knocks. Now for a coffee and then on with some heat treating. The bow weighs 900gm at the moment so I have a ways to go yet. The  horn knocks came out OK, still a bit worried about cutting temp knocks in white wood as I have had some nasty experiences with string cutting right through Rowan ash in the past.

Nathan

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