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thoughts on long narrow hickory bow,,

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PatM:
 Definitely a very viable choice, especially where you  are.  Narrow Hickory was used where it arguably is not a good choice.

organic_archer:
I’d say go for it! 70” long sounds nice, but a width of 1.25” or 1.5” might be a little better. I’ve made lots of 1.5” wide bendy handles and they’re not as finicky about arrow spine as you’d expect. I’ll post an ERC longbow with a 1.5” midsection here shortly.

Maybe instead of a full D cross section for hickory, something more like a squished oval? Heavily rounded but still with a narrow flat section in the center of the belly? Shaped like “0” and heat treated as you mentioned.

It might take some string follow, but it’s not that big of a deal. It’s always the goal to have as little as possible but there’s no reason to discard a bow for it unless it’s clearly a dud when you shoot it.

I did an experiment with a green, sopping wet hackberry bow last fall. Force dried it over a fire, crafted it into a bow, and hunted with it. It took over 3” of permanent set and passed an arrow clean through a mature doe at 7 yards.

*Edited for grammar errors.

Buckskinner:
That's a cool hunt.  I just checked out your website, awesome gallery and sexy bows!

Well, I'm giving the narrow hickory a go, I had a really nice stave with natural reflex that I goofed on the profiling anyway.  Started working on it this morning and have it to floor tillering.  It's not going to push any big boundaries as I'm shooting for about 35-40# for a bow to start shooting again after my shoulder injury.  I'll definitely heat treat the belly.

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