Reflexed Ocean Spray

[Doug509]

Looking for ideas on what to do with a highly reflexed 74" ocean spray stave.  Upper limb on right is reflexed 6"  lower limb 9".  I was considering reflexing the handle with steam to deflex limbs and make a reflex deflex bow.  Or should i leave as is and get tillering with no changes.

[Badger]

     I would deflex the handle. It would be very unstable with all that reflex

[medicinewheel]

...  I was considering reflexing the handle with steam to deflex limbs and make a reflex deflex bow.  ...

Guess you ment to say deflexing here??

[Del the cat]

     I would deflex the handle. It would be very unstable with all that reflex

What he says 
Plus, with that much reflex, it will be hell's own job to brace it, and then it may end up under weight because it's been worked down so much just to brace it.
Del

[Eric Krewson]

On an overly reflexed stave, I get out my heat gun and take most of the reflex out, I may leave 2-3 inches.

[Doug509]

Thanks for your suggestions.  I did use a heat gun on left/lower limb, 20" from the handle.  Now both limbs are equally reflexed now and the handle is 5" below the tips.  When I study the stave, I'm thinking a 5 curve bow could be possible?  The limbs are 25 to 30 mm wide, maybe too narrow for a 5 curve?

[Wallski]

I have some ocean spray but haven’t built one yet, so I’m waiting to see how your bow turns out.    I you have a nice size stave, which is hard to find.

[superdav95]

This could be a good candidate for a deflex reflex.  Just use steam on inners and get it into a deflex there and leave the kids and outers alone.  Heck you could even flip the tips too. 

[Doug509]

Decided to keep it simple and steam bend the handle a couple inches.  Should make a nice deflex reflex.  Still sitting in the caul this morning getting acclimated.

[Doug509]

Out of the caul and looking pretty good.  I need to taper the tips into knocks and then check tiller on a long string.  Does a deflrx reflex bow have symetrical limbs or can I keep the upper limb  1-2" longer?

[Pappy]

I usually make mine symmetrical but don't think it matters, also when tillering be careful not to get the mid limbs bending to much, they will look more flat, I watch the top[or back of the limb] to judge the amount of bend. Cool design , one of my favorite , very smooth to draw and shoot.
 Pappy

[Burnsie]

I had never heard of Ocean Spray before, so I did some Googling and bit of reading as it pertains to bow wood.  It appears you are very fortunate to have a stave that long, as well as a stave that hasn't checked/cracked badly.  A lot of comments online about how badly it checks and how rare it is to find anything over 50-60" long.  Supposed to be super tough wood if you can keep it from checking. Native Americans used it for all kinds of tools (ie: arrows) - early settlers made nails/pegs out of it.
Really like the shape you went with.

[Hamish]

Looking very cool, so far Doug.

[Del the cat]

What Pappy said! 
looking good.
Del

[Bob Barnes]

Love the shape now.  It's almost the same a most BBOs I have made.  I have read that it's difficult to pull off that shape on a selfbow.  I'm looking forward to seeing you make a nice bow.