Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Mo_coon-catcher on March 01, 2013, 01:19:50 pm
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I don't think I have showed off any of my bows on here yet, so I figured it's about time that I should. I have made a few others before this, but this is one of my better performer. It's 60" ntn White Ash Molle with a 50/50 lever to working limb ratio that draws 45lbs @ 27". The working limbs are 1 7/8" tapering to 1 3/4" then fades down to 3/4" at the start of the levers then tapers down to 3/8" at the tips. After the bow was tillered I thinned and rounded the levers until they started to bend at full draw, then I heavily heat treated them to stiffen them up a little. Which one of the levers has a little kink in it that deflexes that side a little more than the other, which I didn't take into account for and over thinned that lever a little, but it still works. The working limbs were mildly trapped then heat treated. When I heat treated it I put about an inch of reflex into it and it has ended up with 1/2" of deflex in one limb and 3/4" of deflex in the limb that has a kink in the lever. After shooting for a while it ends up with about 1" of deflex. The finish is about 5 coats of truoil then a coat of paraffin wax, and the handle is wrapped with hemp twine and is coated in TB2. This bow has no handshock and is pretty fast. A friend and I made some 900 grain arrows that we fluflu fletched and we could get it to shoot about 120 yards with them. (we were lobbing them at a rifle gong that was 100 yards out). Sorry about no full draw pics, I would take it now but I recently lost my camera, I think it's at home somewhere but I'm at school 2 hours away till next weekend. O and I finished making this bow at school. Now for this pics, which hopefully I get to work.
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Nice
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Looks good! I really like ash. Like what you did with it too! 1/2 or 3/4 inch of set is not bad for such a short bow out of a wood that is known for being set prone. It's actually pretty darn good! Nice job! with this type of bow be sure to measure set where the lever begins not from the tips. The tiller looks good. If I had a suggestion I would say you may want to get the fades moving just a bit more on the next one. Like the handle and I like the plane natural look of the wood. Looks really good!
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One thing I forgot to mention is that the handle is 6". When I measured set I measured from the knocks. In the pic of the bow on the tillering tree it is not quite to full draw. I didn't want to keep the bow at full draw the whole time I was taking the picture. I'm thinking that the heat treating is what helped the most with the set, I actually heat treated it a couple of times by the time I was done.
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It looks real nice. Judging from the bottom pic on the tree, it looks like the bow is doing the bending in the fades and nothing in the mid-limb area.. ::)
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i disagree bow101. since its a molle its only supposed to bend where its bending.
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Oh didn't know.. ::)
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That's gorgeous!!
Are you sure it's ash? The grain in the "grip pic" looks (to me) like maple. Either way, it's a stunning bow!!
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you have done a nice job well done.
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I'm 99% sure that it's White ash. The tree came off of a State park that I work at in the summer, it got blown down so I nabbed the trunk of it when we cut it up to move it. The guys that I work with all said that it was ash, and there is a bunch of it around the park. And it looks exactly like the trees that a biologist put emerald ash borer traps in. I think that tree must have been good wood since I have made two bows out of it and they are both very fast. If I could get a picture of the other one off my phone I would put it on here.
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Its ash.
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Cool. I've got some ash that's nice and seasoned by now. I hope it looks half as nice as yours turned out, when I work on it!!