Primitive Archer

Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: KenH on May 24, 2010, 11:27:53 am

Title: All Wood Asian-style Composite
Post by: KenH on May 24, 2010, 11:27:53 am
An Asian style bow, made from six different woods: Maple backed Red Oak working limbs, Walnut & Ash laminated Siyahs; Red Elm Handle, and Birch dowel String Bridges. Draws 40-45# @ 28"

58" TtT along the back - 56" in a straight line
56" NtN along the back - 53" in a straight line
17.5" Working Limbs 1" wide
6" Handle
3/8" thick laminated Siyahs 3.25" along the limb, 4.5" from angle to tip

I started with a 48" long 1.5" wide 1/4" thick Red Oak plank from Lowe's. Backed it with 1/8" Maple, and added a handle slab just on the back side. Proportionally it just seemed too wide to my eye, so I narrowed it to 1" before adding the siyahs. Literally only 100 strokes with a palm sander and 50 grit was the only wood I removed to get to my target weight!  In retrospect I could have left it at say 1.25" wide and tillered by narrowing (parallel or tapered limbs) rather than thinning.



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Title: Re: All Wood Asian-style Composite
Post by: Pappy on May 24, 2010, 11:50:59 am
Very nice looking bow,    :)
   Pappy
Title: Re: All Wood Asian-style Composite
Post by: half eye on May 24, 2010, 12:27:49 pm
Very Nice Ken, That is a sexy lookin bow my friend, really like the use of the dowel pins.
Rich
Title: Re: All Wood Asian-style Composite
Post by: Mark Anderson on May 24, 2010, 12:31:47 pm
That does look good! Any way you could post an unbraced profile picture? I would love to see how much that wood is working.
Mark
Title: Re: All Wood Asian-style Composite
Post by: OldBow on May 24, 2010, 01:12:17 pm
Quite the bow. Yes - do post more pictures of its details.
Title: Re: All Wood Asian-style Composite
Post by: Del the cat on May 24, 2010, 02:07:51 pm
Nice, that does well to stay together without fancy materials (that's horn, sinew or F/glass)
Congrats.
Del
Title: Re: All Wood Asian-style Composite
Post by: KenH on May 24, 2010, 02:45:01 pm
Strung & Unstrung


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Title: Re: All Wood Asian-style Composite
Post by: KenH on May 24, 2010, 02:46:00 pm
Siyah Detail


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Title: Re: All Wood Asian-style Composite
Post by: KenH on May 24, 2010, 02:46:46 pm
Handle Detail...


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Title: Re: All Wood Asian-style Composite
Post by: Josh on May 24, 2010, 03:44:22 pm
That is a very nice bow!  It is cool how you used all wood in this design.   :)
Title: Re: All Wood Asian-style Composite
Post by: dragonman on May 24, 2010, 06:27:27 pm
Very nice bow, its good to see something original, looks like that must be a good combo. of woods, the red oak and maple. How does it shoot?

David
Title: Re: All Wood Asian-style Composite
Post by: KenH on May 24, 2010, 06:29:37 pm
Shoots "with authority" as they say; even with the heavy arrows shown.  Smooth draw all the way from start to full draw.  No such thing as hand shock - of course it's only 40-45#...
Title: Re: All Wood Asian-style Composite
Post by: n2huntn on May 24, 2010, 06:31:58 pm
I like everything about it, great job.
N2
Title: Re: All Wood Asian-style Composite
Post by: Frode on May 24, 2010, 07:03:30 pm
That is superb!  What did you use to glue it, and did you sand off on the back, or belly, or both?  Pardon the questions, but I'd really like to try something like this!
Frode
Title: Re: All Wood Asian-style Composite
Post by: KenH on May 24, 2010, 07:59:09 pm
I used TBII to glue with - siyah laminations, handle, siyah to limb and string bridges. 

I only sanded the belly for tillering.  Lightly sanded everything, of course to make it pretty ::).  As I mentioned in my first post, I could have left the main limbs a full 1.5" wide and then taper-tillered from handle to tips; or gradually worked the parallel limbs narrower.  I think it would have been closer to 50# @ 27" or 28" if I'd done a sort of Holmegård taper - parallel for some distance from the handle, then tapering to the tips.

Next one I think will be 48" from tip-to-tip. 
Title: Re: All Wood Asian-style Composite
Post by: okiecountryboy on May 24, 2010, 09:32:52 pm
Ingenious and beautiful bow KenH.

Love to see a how to on this one!
Ron
Title: Re: All Wood Asian-style Composite
Post by: Lombard on May 24, 2010, 11:12:45 pm
Nice bow that you made there. Looks as though it would be light in the hand.
Title: Re: All Wood Asian-style Composite
Post by: ken75 on May 24, 2010, 11:50:18 pm
dang nice bow , something else to try one day
Title: Re: All Wood Asian-style Composite
Post by: KenH on May 25, 2010, 12:03:07 am
Ron - I'll post a How-to in the Tutorials section

Lombard -  8.5 ounces light in the hand!
Title: Re: All Wood Asian-style Composite
Post by: okiecountryboy on May 25, 2010, 12:15:43 am
Ron - I'll post a How-to in the Tutorials section

Lombard -  8.5 ounces light in the hand!

THANKS!!!
U DA BEST!
Be looking forward to it!
Ron
Title: Re: All Wood Asian-style Composite
Post by: bubby on May 25, 2010, 02:27:09 am
can't wait for the build-a-long,need to see how you spliced the syiahs in
Title: Re: All Wood Asian-style Composite
Post by: KenH on May 25, 2010, 11:32:53 am
No "splice" on the siyahs - no W splice or V splice - just a surface glue job.  I thought about wrapping the joint with artificial or real sinew but decided to see how well it works without - I've seen other bows done the same way using bamboo slat for the body and wooden siyahs surface glued.

The How-To is now in place.  Questions?  Drop me a note.
Title: Re: All Wood Asian-style Composite
Post by: okiecountryboy on May 30, 2010, 07:28:22 am
Ken PM me on when the how-to is posted!!!!!   VERY INTERESTED!!!!


Thanks

RON
Title: Re: All Wood Asian-style Composite
Post by: DirtyDan on May 30, 2010, 02:36:41 pm
Great job, Ken.  I love the fact that you made it of readily available materials and yet it functions as well as the complicated Asian designs.  Excellent craftsmanship and innovation.  Thanks.
Dan
Title: Re: All Wood Asian-style Composite
Post by: KenH on May 30, 2010, 03:34:56 pm
The How-to has been posted for a couple days, okiecountryboy!

Thanks Dan, I do what I can with what I got.  I do have got some better (or at least different) woods coming for the Mark II version.  Somebody asked why I didn't sinew it; and I told them;  1) I just didn't want to mess with icky animal bits, and 2) the sinew would get in the way of looking at the beautiful wood.
Title: Re: All Wood Asian-style Composite
Post by: JBL on June 02, 2010, 12:56:02 pm
Ken thanks for sharing, and thanks for the "How To".  I really like the design; again BRAVO!!!
Title: Re: All Wood Asian-style Composite
Post by: The Gopher on June 02, 2010, 01:03:36 pm
i've been working on a similar type bow but isn't going as well, it helped a lot to see how you did things. 
Title: Re: All Wood Asian-style Composite
Post by: aero86 on June 02, 2010, 01:15:50 pm
i personally cant wait for the mkII version   ;) ;)
Title: Re: All Wood Asian-style Composite
Post by: KenH on June 02, 2010, 02:30:33 pm
Gopher - if you got questions, drop me a PM or an email.  I'm not an expert but I'll help where I can...

EXPERT
ex= former
spurt = drip under pressure.
Title: Re: All Wood Asian-style Composite
Post by: 15yearold.archer on September 03, 2010, 04:49:09 pm
love this idea , i want to try one but would you use this for  deer hunting ? , and how hard overall was it >?
Title: Re: All Wood Asian-style Composite
Post by: Skimo on September 04, 2010, 01:14:45 am
Sweet bow. Very nice work. Now I want to build one... so many bows

Skimo
Title: Re: All Wood Asian-style Composite
Post by: kurogane_84 on July 16, 2012, 05:34:22 pm
I like the design, i may need to take from the nock ends, for the bow im planning to build later on lol
Title: Re: All Wood Asian-style Composite
Post by: rhansen on May 02, 2013, 10:39:07 pm
Ok, now that is fantastic!!
Title: Re: All Wood Asian-style Composite
Post by: bow101 on May 02, 2013, 11:02:24 pm
 8)   yes very cool looking bow, art work in wood.
Title: Re: All Wood Asian-style Composite
Post by: UserNameTaken on May 03, 2013, 01:15:46 pm
I wouldn't have thought that maple & red oak would stand up to such a high-stress design, but it doesn't look like it's taking much set.

Did you heat treat the belly? That might be a way to take it a little further, if you haven't already.