Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Flntknp17 on February 28, 2022, 03:32:40 pm
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I've been slowly experimenting with ways to make good pieces of wood go farther whenever I can get my hands on them, and this particular piece of osage is really really nice wood. It was a 66" x 8" x 5/4 and I ripped it into 5 staves @ 66" x 1.5" x 5/4....but I was hoping I could double up and rip the 5/4 pieces into two staves each, so I started playing with the powerlam length to see how it turned out. I am sure others have done this way before me, and in a far more skillful manner, but it has been fun. This bow is the most recent iteration of the experiments (number 3 from that board), and has a 22" powerlam, a full 9" longer than my last effort. This long powerlam profoundly affected the shape of the glued up Perry reflex, and the thickness of the osage in the inner third of the working portion of the limb. This bow finished 51#@27", has a couple inches of just-unbraced reflex, and lost zero reflex during tillering. It is the quickest and one of the quietest bows I have made so far on my board bow journey. The bamboo is dyed with leather dye dissolved in acetone and finished with satin poly. Handle woods are padauk and red oak. I wish I had used something prettier than the oak, but I wasn't really sure this bow would survive with the aggressive reflex and long powerlam. Should be very stable and stiff though. Tips are made from a buffalo horn dog chew toy. Limbs are 1.5" pyramid taper to 5/16" tips.
Matt
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Nice! That looks like a fun shooter. I kind of like the oak - it makes the padauk pop. Plus the osage will darken up over time.
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Very sharp!
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Sharp bow! You got to love a pyramid. Smooth and fast as you said.
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that is cool! :OK I like everything about it and there's no doubt it's a shooter. Congrats!
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That’s great Matt! I love the dye work you do on your bows. Now if you could only replicate it or better yet find a way to continue improving on it (not much room at this point)!
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Looks like a nice bow, well done.
As for making your 'sage go further you are doing it the right way. If you add cores you can safely use 1/4" osage.
I would go with around 16" powerlams on this design. This bow may be a little stiff inner limb for a pyramid but the flip side is you get a very sweet shooter ;)
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If I had 3 hands I would give 3 thumbs up. Congrats on a beautiful boe
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Nice pyramid bow! Really nice finish work. Looks like a smooth shooting design.
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Really nice bow. Thanks for the information about the power lams. That padauk looks great with the red oak. Good contrast.