Author Topic: Elm molly 48@28  (Read 7862 times)

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Offline leonwood

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Elm molly 48@28
« on: September 20, 2017, 01:23:44 pm »
This is my first elm stave and my first self bow mollegabet. (Did make a couple of laminated mollegabets) It was a bit of a wonky stave (see rough out pic below) but since it is elm I decided on a molly design anyways.

The stave, although waxed on the back, was full of drying cracks. But after building my mulberry bows with huge cracks held up fine I decided to ignore it and continue the build.
Roughed it out with the drawknife and straightened the tips with dry heat. (See rough out pic below why this was needed)

Tillered the bow to brace and flipped the tips a bit for looks.
Then I heat treated the belly for 40 minutes per limb and let cool overnight. The next morning when I took it off the form I was shocked that the previous corrected bends had returned! Guess I heated a little too far into the levers. So I had to clamp the tips up and correct them again. (Sounds bad but is actually really easy with a heat gun and some clamps)

After heat treating and straightening the tips again I tillered it to 25” and started shooting it at a low drawlength. After a few shots a weak spot next to the handle showed up (despite being 3 mm thicker then the other side!) and I lost about 12 lbs trying to correct that.

Since the elm looked a little boring besides the brown streaking and cracks on the back I added some paint to the tips and some red serving thread to divide the color and the wood. (thread and super glue are also extra security for some drying cracks that run out where the levers begin) Sanded the paint a bit to “age” it and put some leather on for a handle.
All in all a project which was full of mistakes and problems but came out as a super smooth shooter.

Specs:
length: 64 ntn
widest part: 1.9 inch
tips width: 6 mm (0.25 inch)
draw weight: 48@28
handle: rounded leather cord
working area (minus the fades) and levers are the same length

// roughed out


// side profile unbraced

// top profile




// braced




// tip detail


// handle belly




// drying cracks filled with ca


// fd






Offline ksnow

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Re: Elm molly 48@28
« Reply #1 on: September 20, 2017, 01:33:08 pm »
Very nice work, every detail looks superb.

Kyle

Offline Aaron H

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Re: Elm molly 48@28
« Reply #2 on: September 20, 2017, 01:40:13 pm »
Your finish work is very nice  :NN

Offline DC

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Re: Elm molly 48@28
« Reply #3 on: September 20, 2017, 01:40:33 pm »
Nice job, that turned out great!

Offline Danzn Bar

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Re: Elm molly 48@28
« Reply #4 on: September 20, 2017, 01:57:25 pm »
Very well done
DBar
Integrity is doing the right thing when no one is looking

Offline Del the cat

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    • Derek Hutchison Native Wood Self Bows
Re: Elm molly 48@28
« Reply #5 on: September 20, 2017, 02:01:19 pm »
Holy Molle
Del  ;D
Health warning, these posts may contain traces of nut.

Offline Steve Milbocker

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Re: Elm molly 48@28
« Reply #6 on: September 20, 2017, 02:07:08 pm »
I like that a lot, very well done. I'm working a HH stave now that would be a good cantidate for one.
I'm no where near as smart as my phone!

Offline Traxx

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Re: Elm molly 48@28
« Reply #7 on: September 20, 2017, 02:27:38 pm »
Very Nice,,,,

In the past,,i was not fond of the look of this style bow,,but your example is making me reconsider my opinion..

Offline Pat B

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Re: Elm molly 48@28
« Reply #8 on: September 20, 2017, 02:33:02 pm »
I can't see the pics.  :(
Make the most of all that comes and the least of all that goes!    Pat Brennan  Brevard, NC

Offline leonwood

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    • Leonwood Bows
Re: Elm molly 48@28
« Reply #9 on: September 20, 2017, 04:16:25 pm »
I can't see the pics.  :(

Sorry Pat, no idea what causes that, maybe this wil help:

For the people who can't see the pics, this is the direct link to the album:
https://flickr.com/photos/149541802@N05/sets/72157686286399790

Offline Stick Bender

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Re: Elm molly 48@28
« Reply #10 on: September 20, 2017, 04:25:21 pm »
Very nice congrats !
If you fear failure you will never Try !

Offline bushboy

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Re: Elm molly 48@28
« Reply #11 on: September 20, 2017, 04:41:35 pm »
Looks awesome!great profiles and tiller!wicked!i love mollegebets!
Some like motorboats,I like kayaks,some like guns,I like bows,but not the wheelie type.

Offline leonwood

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    • Leonwood Bows
Re: Elm molly 48@28
« Reply #12 on: September 20, 2017, 04:42:43 pm »
Thanks for the compliments! I am going to do some more mollies wih a higher draw weight and some other woods like yew and black locust and maybe combine it with a hollow limb design just to see what it does for me

Offline bushboy

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Re: Elm molly 48@28
« Reply #13 on: September 20, 2017, 04:47:14 pm »
Could you post a straight on profile pic pls?
Some like motorboats,I like kayaks,some like guns,I like bows,but not the wheelie type.

Offline BowEd

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Re: Elm molly 48@28
« Reply #14 on: September 20, 2017, 04:56:47 pm »
Very nicely done.
BowEd
You got to stand for something or you'll fall for anything.
Ed