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yew holmegaard--full draw pics--tru-oil finish
radius:
This island shows that the limb is thicker here than it is in either direction. A stiff spot.
Here's that same spot after i scraped off the pencil marks. I scraped it quite a bit more after this!
Here is the lower limb fadeout...you can guess how much thicker it is on that side than the other, because the big knot is right there, but the rings themselves show it. This is an awesome new thing for a board bow guy like me to discover!
I can hardly believe the thing is pulling 50# at 18" or so already. I have to be very careful with my tillering, to hit my intended draw weight of 60# @28". The bow does feel a little bulky, i admit it...but i'm looking forward to taking the tips down and perfecting the handle AFTER the main work is done and the limbs have been trained to bend.
Getting there!
radius:
Well, everybody: tonight i turned it into a bow at last. It pulls approximately 55# at 28". I have no idea how it shoots. It started with deflex and has some string follow...we'll see how it looks tomorrow. But i don't wanna cook the belly for reflex: too many knots. I'm happy. This stave was an amazing challenge and i learned alot about carving yew. Plus, if it shoots em fast enough, this is the bow i'm taking on the hunt this year.
Here are a couple tools i used a little bit...i thought i'd use them more.
This is the upper limb. These two knots right out of the fades actually don't interfere that much, and one of them actually gave me some INCENTIVE.
Here's a shot of the handle and the whopping brace height of what, 3"? Fistmele for a midget. Notice that the handle is semi-dished. It's not yet as good as i'd like it.
Ok, here's the upper limb again, a little while later, showing the incentive. I broke the knot with the rasp, and made a big valley right on the edge. This gave me my next tillering idea: trap the belly. I went approx 1/4" face of limb, 1/8" on the edge. This got rid of most of the chunk-out, and helped me to get it bending a little better along the whole length (well, not the whole length!)
Here's a shot with the brace height of 6". The handle has been dished out more and is pretty comfortable. That's my first go at a dished handle...i'll try that again.
The back of the bow, lower limb (over that big knot).
The whole back of the handle. I like how the sapwood pattern is different, top and bottom.
And here it is braced and hanging on the closet doors.
This stave was a huge lesson in carving, as i must have said at least 5 times already! So many knots! They change the shape of the back all up and down the bow, and require special attention in filing and scraping: you have to change direction all the time, and sometimes it doesn't seem to make any sense at all! The knots are the places where the limbs are stiffest, and paradoxically they are the most difficult to file away, and i had to be careful not to remove too much wood AROUND the knots and cause hinges.
The limbs bend pretty evenly for all their twist and knottiness. I'm stoked. I might file down the back a bit for finger grooves, and i will add more solid nocks. The whole thing needs to be well sanded and burnished, and then i think i'll get some tru-oil for it...how many coats should i use? One a day for a week and leave it at that?
Michael C.:
Nice, that looks good.
radius:
thank you kindly
Josh:
Wow turned out nice. When do we get full draw pics? :) -josh
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