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Hazelnut bow build-a-long (fixed pictures)

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Gordon:

--- Quote ---What I find so unattainable, is you all seem to make the limbs so darn thick! How do you get them to bend like that with out damage or set?

--- End quote ---

bb,

I'm not sure what you mean. Do you mean thick limbs relative to a laminated glass bow?

Gordon

TRACY:
Great build-a-long. That seems to be a somewhat straight stave for hazelnut. They don't grow very straight in my area, Indiana, kinda shrubby.

Gordon:
It is time now to brace the bow for the first time. For me this is the most nerve wracking part of the process. The long-string hides many tillering flaws which are revealed when the bow is braced. A common problem is for one limb to appear stronger or a hinge that will suddenly reveal itself. Initially I keep the brace height low – no more than 4”. If I see a flaw I quickly unbrace the bow and fix it using the long string. Exercising a bow on a short string under these circumstances will often result in excessive set.

This time I’m lucky and the first brace reveals no major problems. Now it is just a matter of reducing weight and finessing the tiller.

Gordon:
But before I continue tillering, I check the string alignment. The string is off-center by a little more than ½”. I like the string to track down the middle of the handle or just favoring the side of the arrow pass. Some bowyers advocate letting the string track well to the side of the arrow so that the bow is almost center-shot. I don’t recommend that because it tends to cause the bow to torque in the hand upon release – at least that is my experience.



I’m going to bend the handle area to move the tips into proper alignment. Sometimes I use steam and a press, but this time I’m going to use dry heat. I rub cooking oil on the belly side of the handle – this helps distribute the heat more evenly. Then I clamp the bow and fasten a weight on the limb that I want to move. I position a stop under the weight to prevent the handle from bending more than I need. I apply the heat evenly over a 4” area until the wood is too hot to touch, but just before it begins to brown. I then let it cool for about 2 hours.
 


I got lucky and nailed it the first time – the string is now tracking right down the center of the handle when braced.

Gordon:
Now that the string is tracking I remove wood on both limbs to reduce weight. I use long strokes with a scraper to ensure I’m taking wood off evenly. Between removal sessions I pull the bow on the tree about 30 times to exercise the wood. I’m essentially “training” the wood to bend further and further.

Following are pictures of the bow at rest and braced.





Here the bow is pulled to 21”. It’s bending nicely in the handle, inner and mid limbs, but is a little stiff yet in both outer limbs.



Next – narrowing the tips and adding tip overlays.

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