Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Woodland Roamer on December 05, 2007, 09:24:32 am
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I'm working on a black locust stave to make a bow for my brother for Christmas. This stave is the straightest and cleanest piece of bow wood I've ever worked with except for one thing. One limb has only about one inch of reflex and the other has about six inches. The reflex in each limb starts at the handle and is nice and even out to the tip but one just has so much more than the other. I just have the bow roughed out and have not started bending it yet. What should I do about the highly reflexed limb? I don't think I'll be able to heat in enough reflex in the other limb to match it. I had thought about trying to take out some of the extreme reflex out of the one limb and then put some reflex in the other limb to try and match them up a little better before tillering begins. What do you guys think?
Alan
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That is what I would do.I would go a little over on the non reflexed limb and a little under on the reflexed limb to account for there recovery and it should come out about right. :)
Pappy
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Or you leave it ,and shorten the less reflexed limb a few inches ,make it the bottom limb .Then tiller from there.Being careful to have each limb move about the same amount. Like an Andaman Island bow.
here's a pic or two of some from the internet.
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I'd try evening them out as best you can. 6" of reflex is almost too much, if you could get them both around 3" that would be ideal. 2 and 4 would be a decent result. Locusst usually hold a bend reasonably well, so you have a good shot at it. Might take a few sessions.
That Native guy looks kind of odd holding a plastic bag of peanuts or whatever that is.
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Thanks guys, I think I'll get it floor tillered tonight and then try to even up the reflex a bit and go from there. It's a great stave and I can't wait to see what kind of bow I can get out of it.
Alan