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6 piece Asiatic style bamboo bow
PatM:
That's too bad. Tillering by material removal is just not the best option for a bamboo belly. How far off was it in tiller? Most would brace by placing their knees on the midlimbs rather than the handle.
superdav95:
--- Quote from: PatM on May 27, 2022, 04:25:37 pm ---That's too bad. Tillering by material removal is just not the best option for a bamboo belly. How far off was it in tiller? Most would brace by placing their knees on the midlimbs rather than the handle.
--- End quote ---
Pat. It was off enough that I didn’t feel like I could get it braced otherwise. I did try to bend it a bit at mid limbs too but in hindsight maybe I should have used some light radiant heat to loosen up slightly perhaps instead of removal of belly wood. That may have been the better option I’m not sure. What prevented me trying that was that there is no horn on this bow. Just bamboo and sinew. I wasn’t confident that this would work out too well so I abandoned the thought at the time and went with removal. The bow acted as though I had uneven sinew laid on the limbs the way it was bending for me. It seemed the inner of the one limb was much stronger on the one side which caused me to scrape to get the other side as even as I could. Removal of inner limb is risky to say the least especially with these little bows. Clearly I went too far. Question for anyone out there… any thoughts on tillering and finishing the bending of a bamboo bow of this type first to just beyond brace then applying sinew??? This would certainly eliminate some of the issues I had with this bow. I could be wrong on that but my thinking is that by getting the outlets close at brace with even bend I could focus on very even layering of sinew on inner and mid limbs where I want the strength to be. I’ll try another one here soon and learn from this one regardless.
Thanks for looking and joining me on this journey.
Dave
BowEd:
In the past making my version of horn bows [1 piece bow] bringing the wood bow [core] to brace and alignment without stressing wood before horn application and sinewing I know helped.The pre taper of this core then would transfer the bend yet properly and with putting a taper on the horn too before applying it and an even layer of sinew applied.I'm sure that pretiller method would work with your bamboo/sinew version also.
After successfully making a bow then I took note of thickness's of limbs/thickness's of components for future bows to come within my draw weight that I wanted on future bows.Cutting down the time of tillering to a minimum.Especially after I made a peg board to get it to brace.
I think we've discussed this before in the past and it leads to more fuel in the fire to attempt more future bows and it's a good note.
I might note here my version of horn bows do not stress the horn or sinew to it's abilities that it could do.Too long of working limbs compared to actual Turkish style horn bows made.Still my version with excessive reflex shot arrows exceedingly well.
Your version of bamboo/sinew bows I think it would be appropriate to make them in this way with excellent results.
To note here getting Adam Karpowizs' book on turkish horn bows gave more insight.You may have that book too I'm not sure.
On threads in the past of mine making my version of horn bows I've shown the tillering process on the peg board.
For overall excellent speed on these bows cutting down the working length of these bows whether they be horn bows or self bows gives positive results.
You are correct in saying these sinewed horn bows are a completely different animal [like it's alive] than self bows.I'm still always amazed by what these composites will do on a bow.
superdav95:
You know Ed I think it’s very interesting to me how the process works and to me it’s part of the challenge. I do appreciate your comments and others here as well. A wealth of knowledge. I’m getting there slowly but surely. I think a peg board is in order and getting pre tiller fine tuned as you say before sinew might be the ticket. These little bows are only 56-58” ntn. Are are quite good shooters given the size. They give decent draw length as well for good power stroke. For being all wood the mass was also very low. Mainly under a pound for finished bow. The horn bellied version I made of these little bows had extra mass but still shot well. Not as fast I think partly due to the mass but still a fine shooter. The thing I like about these bows and your horn/ sinew bows is that they are still practical. I feel like some of the composite horn sinew bows out there although fast flight bows are not practical at all. They need to be warmed up or worked in and put in a jig or peg board or take two people just to get it strung up. Nothing against anyone who makes these bows as they are amazing achievements but the bows I like to make are practical compromises of these bows I guess. I want to be able to string up my bow with ease and be ready to go and shoot. Similar to the ease of a long bow but with some of the benefits of the composites. It’s a balance and a compromise in my view. I see this in your bows as well. You could take things closer to the edge of better performance but you don't because you know that if you do you would lose something in practical end and so it seems deliberate and intentional. Going to the edge of performance may be necessary even to know where that line is just so that we can back off a bit to maintain the other properties we want I guess. Either way it’s an awesome journey to say the least and I’m enjoying it. Thanks again Ed.
BowEd:
Well said Dave.I can see these type bows have imprinted onto you in the same way as me.When I showed my bows in the past I stated those exact intentions.A practical well performing/long time durable version of a hunting bow.
The dynamics of natural materials I might add out perform FG versions which was my intentions to show also.They may take longer to make but well worth the effort.
It's one of the true definitions of enjoying the journey in making bows.
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