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First attempt build a long !

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Stick Bender:
I have read BowEds thread on horn prep , read and reread Adams book ,watched a ton of utube and been studying composites on and off for a year now and still a little nervous about starting this project given the expense & rarity of good horn but figured I would post my question here instead of PM so as others in the same boat can learn ,I got these horns a while back they are flattened one side & now need to be thinned but at the thickest part they are 0.30 they also have some what I would describe as pitting on the surface so I need to get them thinned to find out how much width is available so my question is at this point being the thickest part is 0.30 should I try to heat straiten the horn for ease of flattening or thin them more ? I have thought about using double back heavy duty carpet tape and forcing them flat on a dead flat milled board in order to flatten more but there still just a bit strong for it ?

Stick Bender:
Pitts

BowEd:
That pithing on 1 side shown in the picture is just the natural grooves on the outside of the horn.A lot of that can be sanded away by crowning the horn on that side some.Then you will find how wide of horn you got too.Starting with 1 side or the inside flat to begin with.
The horn widths and thickness taper on my bows were 1 and 3/8" wide mostly.Narrower towards the tip end.Starting out as wide as possible is good.Tapered in thickness 1/32" every 6" of length on type of bow I made.Regular horn bows I don't think have as much thickness taper at least from the fades to midlimb because of working area and shorter length.
A person can slowly heat bend that horn then or before to a nice slow not too abrubt arch and flat with no twist.I use the heat gun very carefully and hold it in place to cool.Remember less thick less heat needed while using dry heat.Matching the pair in profile.It can be done steaming too with the way yours are thickness wise and clamping to the shape you want till cool.Some prefer to do it that way.This can all be done even with an 18" belt sander and a file.You want the thicker end towards the handle.It can get very thin out towards the tip too.
From there you can either groove the horn in a jig or glue it flat too.

Stick Bender:
Thanks Bud you brought it together for me as usual Im hopping to pull 1 3/8 width on this one My maple stave is 61 in. trying to make one similar to your current hunting bow just a bit longer and a bit lighter draw , hey Ed how much reflex where you at before sinew after you took it off the form cured ?Right now I will take them down to 3/16 & see where Im at on width after straitening them a bit more!

BowEd:
I gave it 8" and it came off the form with 5.5".

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