Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: tsa yo ga on October 16, 2008, 02:51:28 pm
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hey ya'll
i need some advice. i have a stave of hickory roughed out and drying. it is hickory and only a hair over an inch in width and about 60" long. it was a sapling and it is the best start i've made yet. is it too narrow? i am hoping it will become a bow, not just more kinlin.
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it would make a perfect eastern woodlands d bow.
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At that narrow width, it'll probably take a fair bit of set. Is the stave dead straight? If you lose anymore width when you cut your profile, it won't help. I usually make my hickory bows (self or backed) at least 1.5" at the fadse, sometimes wider. 1" would be OK with osage. That said, give your stave a go... why not?!
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Yep just right for a good D bow.
Alan
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Tsa Go Ya, that's fine ol boy. Go for it. I have a short version of an eastern woodlans D bow, that's 48" long, only about an inch wide. Pulls 45lbs at 20" and never did take much set. I don't see any problem with your stave-just don't take it any narrower than that, except at the tips.
~~Papa Matt
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Well ya can't put the wood back on! Leave it as wide as it is now an hope for the best. Tillered to a D bow and you might get away with little set.
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We made a Community Bow a couple years ago that was a replica of a Cayuga eastern Woodlands deflex/reflex design. It was red hickory, about 60" long, 1 1/16" wide, and pulled in the high 50's at 28" without excessive set. Make it bend through the handle and heat in a little reflex before tillering.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v325/hillbillync/Community%20Bow%20Project/cbowbell.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v325/hillbillync/Community%20Bow%20Project/cbowbrace.jpg)
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thats a nice looking bow there hillbilly ;D
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As Hillbilly said, temper the belly, and you won't have a problem, especially when it's a nice D bow. Hickory's a geat wood so long as you manage to get it dry enough.
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I think it would work perfectly. I haven't had a whole lot of experience with Hickory, but theoretically the high crown on the back should be great. I've heard that Hickory's back can overpower the belly, causing excessive set. With a high crown bow, this would even out.
I say go for it.
Sean
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I have made a few just like that out of saplings about 60 inches and bend through the handle
that turned out in the low 50's @26 and didn't take a lot of set.I just split it down the middle and had a flat belly and crowed back.It worked fine,like adb I usually ,when I have enough wood
make them 1 1/2 to 1 5/8 but you have to use what you have.Go for it.Just make sure you
keep the hickory dry and tiller slow in several sessions and it should make a fine bow. :)
Pappy
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thats a nice looking bow there hillbilly
SD, all I did on that one was cut the stave and rough out the profile. Pat bent the curves into it, Marc St. Louis tillered it, Minuteman fine-tuned and sanded it, and Mullet did the finish and decoration. It turned out to be a good shooter, it's a pretty close replica of a Cayuga bow in the Encyclopedia of Native American Bows, Arrows, and Quivers. There's an article about the building of it in the Summer 2006 (vol 14 issue 2) PA.
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h.b. you all did a fine job making that one then,simply ;)
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too narrow, too short.
maybe if you made a D bow with a flat belly, and kept the draw length under 27", you might be okay.
otherwise, I'd make a woman's or a kid's bow out of it.
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Thanks for the input everybody. The stave will stay 1'' wide and i will go slowly with the tillering. I have a good feeling about it, it might be my first hunting weight bow. It has some natural reflex and is fairly straight, one end does bend a bit. I will attempt to temper the belly, could someone let me know how that works? It is bending, but not much. I will post some pics soon if my better half can figure that out. thanks again for the encouragement. Jay
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i say go for it, you wont know if it will work untill you try, i have a little oasge bow thats not more than 5/8ths wide tip to tip, and about 5/8ths thick tip to tip
pulls 23 lbs @ 21 inches,shoots nice out to 20 yds,never tried any further shots with it.put about 500 arows thru now.
tim
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almost every bow i have made has been out of hickory, most 1-1/8 at widest, the elb type's like this are my personal favourite- they'vealso been 70-72 inches though, so i'm not real sure how the 60 inch would work... if its still green, you might want to try reflexing it while itsstill green, and leave it like that until you think its dry and ready, everyone has a different preference- looking foward to seeing it tho man! good luck, hope it goes well. -jimmy
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Tempering the belly is a simple matter. Once the bow is roughed out and floor tillered, you clamp the bow belly-up onto a 2x4 into about 1 1/2"-3" of reflex, with 1 3/4" seeming to be the best, and take a heat gun to the belly. Go slow, and evenly. It should tunr a nice, even, dark brown. Marc St. Louis says that each limb should take about 20 minutes or so to properly temper.
You can also sinew back it if you have the sinew to do it. I made a nice 62" hickory, still slightly green, backed with sinew and pulling 60# or so at 27". It only took about 2" of set, and considering it was still green, I was impressed. It shot well.
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Hidee ya'll,
When tempering, would I do this and then finish the tillering or would I do it after tillering? I have not proceeded at all this weekend, just been lookin' at it and dreamin' about the possibilities.
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I would floor tiller it and get it bending evenly to about brace height or a little below, then heat-temper the belly while putting some reflex in it at the same time.
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You may not get 50# from it. It's a bit narrow and short. But you may get a nice 35# bow. Jawge
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hey ya'll,
i have yet another question. I plan on tempering the belly, but first the nocks are out of alignment and one limb has a whoop de doo. Should i address these problems first with steam bending? and then temper the belly. I realize it may never be the draw wt i'm after, but i will "endeavor to persevere" anyway. If i steam bend the stave, must i shellac it first? Thanks for the help!
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If you make a caul, you can correct those problems at the same time you're tempering/reflexing it.
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Hillbilly, Can I use dry heat to fix problems? It's not quite dry yet.
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The usual mantra is dry wood, dry heat;wet wood, wet heat. But--I've used dry heat on wettish wood for minor corrections (seal the back first) and steamed recurves into dry wood. I usually use steam for major bends, dry heat for minor ones and reflexing. There are plenty of people on here who have a lot more experience bending wood than I do, though. Hickory usually isn't too bad to check, so you will probably be ok if it isn't really wet.
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Hello friends,
I have been playing with this stave some lately. I steamed the limb tips in an attempt to correct alignment. It was fun, and the tips are closer but not exact. Then I used a heat gun to temper, but did not have time enough to get the wood a dark brown as suggested.
Hillbilly shared the Cayuga community bow that has similar dimensions as the "bow" I'm working on. My question is this: would it make sense to use the same limb thickness dimensions as the Cayuga bow as a guide? If so, can someone provide those dimensions? I know that tillering is where the real art of bowmaking begins, I would like this one to work out. Thanks.
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Every piece of wood is different, the thickness will depend on the individual stave. You can guesstimate a starting thickness, but it's mostly working it down as you tiller. Best I can remember, i think I started that one out a fuzz less than an inch thick at the handle tapering down to about a half-inch thick at the tips. That will give you a starting point for floor tillering, you can work it down from there as you see how it bends.
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I appreciate everyone's input. I'm thinking about tillering with sandpaper so I don't get overzealous.
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GOT A IDEA HERE IF YA WANT A HUNTING WT BOW MIGHT BE A GOOD IDEA TO SINEW BACK IT ADD A LIL WT AND THE SAFTEY IN CASE IT DOES BLOW UP I THINK YOU D GET A BIT MORE OUT OF IT BROCK
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I hear that, I want to attempt that at some point. Could I finish bow and add sinew after the fact or will that not work? Maybe I should put it on hold til i locate neccesary materials. Is 60" too long for sinew? If so, I could take some length off both ends which I'm thinking of anyway because I can't seem to get proper nock alignment.
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IF IT WAS ME I THINK ID LEAVE IT AT 60 LONG TRY TO STRIGHTN WHAT YA HAVE TO ANDD THE SINEW THEN TILLER IT ID NEED SEE PIC S TO RELLEY SAY ASK JEWAGE WHAT HE THINK S