Had this stave in the corner of my garage for a year or so.......it started as a 72" Warbow experiment, but the Malas on the belly chrylas on the bottom limb. It was pulling 90 odd pound at 30" but it was too harsh to draw, and the tiller was rubbish. I thought a couple of weeks ago I could make something of this stave.
The bow was too stiff in the handle, this is why the bottom limb developed Fractures, my fault, so I reduced the handle width down to 29mm from 35mm, 150mm either side of centre, and to relieve the limbs even more, I flattened the D profile of the belly from the handle evenly following the tapers to the tips, leaving the already rounded sides and crowned back. I was hoping that this would remove two the fracture marks, I was surprised at how deep they were, and re tillered.
I now have a Malas,Wenge,Hickory ELB. 72"NtN, 60lb @ 28". Bow has just under 1" of set.
This is now one of the best shooting ELB's I have made, It is light, manageable and shoots where I look. Gonna shoot it tomorrow a Local shoot.
There are still remnants of 2 little fractures on the bottom limb but as the bows profile and mass has been reduced, so has the stress on that spot and so does not appear to be getting any worse. I shall keep an eye on it over the weekend.
