Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Morgan on September 24, 2017, 11:41:57 am
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I got my first hackberry bow flinging arrows. I have to say that I really really like hackberry!
Had a shallow stave that I was going to make a bend through bow with but made a stiff handle flatbow instead. Stave dried with prop twist and side bow, heated a lot of it out and am going to live with the rest. Had 1 1/2" reflex. Heat treated the belly at floor tiller, and again before final tillering. After a hundred arrows it has half an inch of follow right after unstrung and about 3/4" reflex an hour after unstrung. I hope it stays this way. Tiller was a challenge for me with the twist and side bow, but I have it somewhat decent. I don't know how much of a finish job I will do on this one, probably just some dark stain or dye and a piece of leather on the small handle. I'll try to post pics when I have a semi finish job done if I can figure out a way other than photobucket.
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That's great Morgan, man I still remember shooting my first bow the first time. What a rush, unbelievable feeling and totally addictive.
Bjrogg
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BJ, I've made a handful of bows to the shooting stage, this is the first one that I'm satisfied enough with to finish out. It has several flaws, but I like it. I really like the wood most though. It is very snappy and light and a breeze to work.
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BJ, I've made a handful of bows to the shooting stage, this is the first one that I'm satisfied enough with to finish out. It has several flaws, but I like it. I really like the wood most though. It is very snappy and light and a breeze to work.
Morgan, I'm sure it's the first of many to sir. ;)
Bjrogg
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Well done, but I'm afraid without pics it is deemed not to have happened ;)
Del
If you crop/resize/edit the pics down to less than 250kB you can just attach them to the post ( click on "Attachments and other options" which is just below the box that you type your post into )
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Sounds good. Congratulations, Morgan. Jawge
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I have terrible photo skills and the fd is on a light background but it's as good as I have
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Pretty blame good Morgan...Congratulations!!!It's always fun making a nice shooter,and it means your paying close attention seeing where it could be better.That seems to be the addictive part....lol.Got a top view of the layout profile?
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Looks really good! You can be proud of that! It was worth it finishing this one.
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Very nice looks great ! congrats that un braced looks awsome and the rest of the tiller to. bet it shoots great !
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Nice bow...well done
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Yup, nice work... :)
Del
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nice bend, like it
Hans
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Nice work sir! I too love Hackberry. Just an FYI...Your unbraced profile looks good, but tempered Hackberry is so much less likely to lose it's chili than untempered. It improves the compression strength greatly. Yours looks to be holding up fine thus far, but tempering the belly will set it in. Nicely done!
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That came out great, you did a fantastic job holding the profile. Got to be a good shooter!!
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Wow. Thanks guys! Slim bob, I heated the belly a couple times. Once between floor tillering and after the first dozen shots the tiller changed so I heated it again and finished the tillering out best I could. Hope I got it good enough to hold.
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Well, that, and a pretty dang good tiller explains that profile!
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very nice congrats on that one, for sure,, (SH)
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Great tiller. :BB I'll bet it's a blast to shoot. (SH) Congrats!
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Wow, thanks for the compliments guys. I am really not sure if I laid that bow out right or not, but the way I have it now, the top limb is longer than the bottom one. First time I had it shooting tiller looked good on the tree after lots of exercising so I started shootings it. After I shot it a while my boy wanted to shoot and when he came to full draw the lions share of movement was from the bottom limb. That's when it got toasted again and back to the tree. Do y'all lay your stuff handles bows out with top limb longer or the other way around?
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Good job Morgan! That will make you a nice little bow for sure. Ive not had the chance to work my hackberry yet but I tend to work white wood in the winter months.
When you say toast the belly, it should be just that, make that dude look like a nice piece of dark brown toast. But in the same manner take your time doing it. If you hold your heat gun closer than about 6 inches from the belly you are just darkening the surface. If you hold it back and it takes some time to get dark then you are doing it right. It should take about a half hour to 45 min per limb to do a heat treat. Try that on your next one, you will see a big difference.
Another small pointer on your leather handle. Looks like you used either bow string or possibly artificial sinew to sew it together. Instead of punching holes with a leather punch try using a drill with a very small drill bit or a small nail. That will give you a tighter fit and a strong seam. But thats just aesthetics. But hey, thats why we are here, to share our work and learn from each other!
Patrick
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That is a really nice bow with great looking tiller!
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Good job Morgan! That will make you a nice little bow for sure. Ive not had the chance to work my hackberry yet but I tend to work white wood in the winter months.
When you say toast the belly, it should be just that, make that dude look like a nice piece of dark brown toast. But in the same manner take your time doing it. If you hold your heat gun closer than about 6 inches from the belly you are just darkening the surface. If you hold it back and it takes some time to get dark then you are doing it right. It should take about a half hour to 45 min per limb to do a heat treat. Try that on your next one, you will see a big difference.
Another small pointer on your leather handle. Looks like you used either bow string or possibly artificial sinew to sew it together. Instead of punching holes with a leather punch try using a drill with a very small drill bit or a small nail. That will give you a tighter fit and a strong seam. But thats just aesthetics. But hey, thats why we are here, to share our work and learn from each other!
Patrick
Thank you for the tips Patrick. That was the first time I completely finished a bow out. Had no idea what I was doing on the leather, just cut the cuff off of an old welding glove. The string lace is b50.
When heating the belly, I didn't spend as much time as you suggested, probably spent 45 min on both limbs together. The limbs darkened a lot but most of the dark scraped off at last tiller tweaks and sanding. Only the porous rings retained any color. I will take more time on my next one, hated the idea of going too far and ruining the bow that far into it. Thanks again, everyone here has been very helpful to me.
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No problem Morgan, you did do a good job on the bow for sure. Especially since its the first on you have finished.
Look up heat treating, Marc Stlouis (I believe) has a great instructional thread on the subject. Also check out YouTube for a video about using painters tape to make a handle wrap. The tape is the pattern for cutting the leather.
Sounds like you have the bug, look forward to seeing your next bow!
Patrick
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I don't know what Hackberry is, but it looks like a nice bow. My first (working) bow was a 60" 70lb osage. I have a great love for it, but I don't shoot it much, even after trimming it down to 63lb. My fave at the moment is a laminated one straight of the TBB 4. But the first sits on the rack in a place of pride. (SH)
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Congrats That looks like a great shooter to me, tiller looks good, wished my first several had looked close to that good. Welcome to the addiction . Nothing like your first real shooter. Well maybe a few things close but not many. ;) ;D ;D ;D
Pappy