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Ironwood Bow Designs
wooddamon1:
Hey guys, what designs are your favorites for ironwood selfbows? I have a piece blanked out at 2" wide and 68" long, it's currently in the caul to reflex a limb to match the other. I've seen a couple flatbows styled basically the same as an Osage bow, but was wondering if I could maybe make a narrower longbow (1.25-1.5", approx).
Anyway, thanks in advance for any ideas or suggestions. This will be my first ironwood bow after making a few successful Osage bows.
I plan on heat-treating the belly as well, should I wait until final tiller, or is it okay to do when I'm close?
superdav95:
Ironwood hhb is very good bowl wood. It’s tough and very dense. It also takes heat treat very well. What sort of draw length you looking for? At 68” you should be ok to the drawlength of your choice within reason. Is this going to be a self bow? How will you be heat treating this bow? Will the piece need some straightening prior to heat treatment or will you clamp down or clamp out any twist while heat treating. Really the sky is the limit with hhb. It’s good thin and wider or narrow and little thicker. I’ve made them both ways and they hold up well if you can get them straight. That’s the challenge with hhb is finding a piece that’s straight or able to be straightened with little steam or heat furring heat treatment. I usually just go to floor tiller dimensions and then heat treat. Best of luck.
bassman211:
Iron wood can misleading as to what the wood really is. American horn beam, or as I refer to it as blue beech is also called iron wood by some. I have made more bows from blue beech than hop hornbeam. Both are good bow wood. My draw is 25 inches ,so I make them 62 long, 1 5/8 wide at the fades to 1/2 at the tips, and floor tiller, and put on a form ,and heavy heat the belly. The back on blue beech is more irregular ,so I sinew back them. For me hop horn beam had a tendency to belly fret with the wood I was using as opposed to blue beech, but was easier to make a self bow from.
wooddamon1:
Thanks guys.
Dave, I plan on using a heat gun to get a little deflex out of one limb, it's at floor tiller now. Tomorrow I'll get the limbs narrowed down a little and get the thickness taper looking good before I do any heating. I draw 28" and usually make Osage bows 66", even though I've gotten down to 62" and got a nice shooter.
bjrogg:
All good advice.
I might add make sure it’s dry. I really like to get it roughed out, shaped to caul and then let it set for a couple months. HHB can really hold its moisture for a long time if it isn’t close to bow dimensions.
For recurves I usually steam for at least a hour. Really getting a boiling hard the last 15 minutes. I use a metal backer to keep belly side of recurve from lifting slivers. Have everything ready before you remove from boiling . Work with a purpose, but don’t force it if it doesn’t want to go. Put it back in the boiling water.
Definitely agree with the heat treatment. Love the smell of heat treating HHB in the morning.
Bjrogg
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