Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: violet313 on October 15, 2013, 06:43:45 pm
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The infamous Mr Half Eye requested some pics so here's the photo-shoot to my daughter's freshly baked mollie, David (aka Boudicca) that was based on one of his layouts.
Anyone after the specs; they're here in this original thread (http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,42789.0.html) (that i may have put in the wrong place,,um sry)
Ok, pls no laughing at my (agile) mule (it's surely not over-engineered, heh); here she is on a long-string. The underside of the left limb is visible; that's the propeller twist, grr. These pics were taken as near bang-on straight as i could get, with the camera on a tripod. The right limb is correspondingly pulling down nearest the camera & up at the back. At the moment i'm willing to call this character (=
@16"
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49030299807_dcec93a1f3_c.jpg)
@21"
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49029577913_3a69b20ca2_c.jpg)
@24" ~this my daughters draw-length
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49030302247_3790c8a1ba_c.jpg)
@26"
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49030086271_063948e77c_c.jpg)
Same @ 26" that i took into gimp & added some imaginary lines to:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49029582133_ae810dd406_c.jpg)
Next up here she is doing a work-out on the Ash-staveboard that will hopefully become my second self-bow project. She's on a 55" short-string, lifting a bag of flint nodules & french bouls (;
Here pulling 35# @ 24" ~on the nuts, at the desired draw-length ~&she also pulls 45# @ 28".
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49029571318_27bedba5b6_c.jpg)
&here, all maxed-out, 52# @ 30" yikes!
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49030297347_f4f8a2bf00_c.jpg)
~so in case i was mad & needed telling, i think that's a pretty good sign she's reaching the limit cos she's started to stack-up a little.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49030292082_e5106e212f_c.jpg)
I will not be messing with her any further buuut,,, the bad bad pixie in me wants to pike another couple of inches off & get her down to 55" N2N. Going by Half Eye's design specs that i based this on, I have an inch i can lose in the 1.75" fades so i could keep the inner limbs @13" and the static outer limbs would still be near to that length, keeping true to the overall mollie look'n'feel,,
If anyones' not bored witless yet, here's a link to a flickr album with more pics
(https://www.flickr.com/photos/181864310@N03/albums/72157711685399831)
&Finally, here's a fun serving jig i made from half of a plastic food container & some odds & ends:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49030303822_a641ea59b4.jpg)
The serving reel is off to one side so that the whole thing's center-of gravity is in the middle. ~Inspired by the Backyard Bowyer (http://www.youtube.com/user/BackyardBowyer). This dude does in modern times what our neolithic ancestors did; just makes great stuff out of whatever is to hand. big-up!
Maybe i'll up a couple more pics when she's scrubbed up & looking pretty (=
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That there is an awesome bow! Nice work.
Tattoo Dave
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Love to make molly's myself, built only one but plan on building many more, I really like them.
DBar
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Certainly no molly expert but looks nice and even. Do you have picture of the bow unbraced? To see where the set is if any.
Just being nosey but are you UK based?
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Aw, thx for the kind words & taking an interest. This is really great site (=
@dwardo yes i am uk-based (&also quite nosey but prefer to call it curiosity lol).
&yes, in the flickr album (https://www.flickr.com/photos/181864310@N03/albums/72157711685399831) there's a pics showing the bow unbraced. also in the OP (http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,42789.0.html), i mention the set. And after yesterday's photo-shoot, where i left her pulling 52# for well over a minute as i faffed around with the camera; i am happy to say that the set remains the same as before: 2.25" immediately after exercise, settling to 2" after a couple of hours. i am a complete noob so i wouldn't know either but i've read that mollies show a bit more set than other types of bow so i'm pretty happy with it currently. will see what it's like once she's thrown a couple of hundred arrows,,, btw, on the subject of arrows does anyone have any idea what grain / type of arrow i should be using for this bow? ~i plan to make some arrows (neighbour has black geese yippee!) but would also like to buy some but don't want to waste cash..
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Nice to have more UK bowyers here! Welcome!
Don't worry about buying arrows, once you've made your first few sets you'll never use the bought ones anyway. There should be lots of info online about making arrows, often far more complex and intimidating than necessary. Personally, for the first set, I'd recommend buying some pine shafts and matching points from somewhere like longbowandarrow or thelongbowshop websites and fletch them with the geese (jealous!) Go for something like 45-50 spine, and you can sand them to make them softer or fit lighter points to stiffen if you need to.
You'll quickly spot any problems which you can adjust or work on with the next set.
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V, glad to see her , looks real good to me also. Very nicely done sir!!!!
rich
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Aw, thx for the kind words & taking an interest. This is really great site (=
@dwardo yes i am uk-based (&also quite nosey but prefer to call it curiosity lol).
&yes, in the attachment there are 25 pics; some of which show the bow unbraced. also in the OP (http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,42789.0.html), i mention the set. And after yesterday's photo-shoot, where i left her pulling 52# for well over a minute as i faffed around with the camera; i am happy to say that the set remains the same as before: 2.25" immediately after exercise, settling to 2" after a couple of hours. i am a complete noob so i wouldn't know either but i've read that mollies show a bit more set than other types of bow so i'm pretty happy with it currently. will see what it's like once she's thrown a couple of hundred arrows,,, btw, on the subject of arrows does anyone have any idea what grain / type of arrow i should be using for this bow? ~i plan to make some arrows (neighbour has black geese yippee!) but would also like to buy some but don't want to waste cash..
If you are making bows now the next step will be making arrows. Much cheaper to do it your self after a little initial outlay. Where abouts in the Uk are you roughly? Know a few archery suppliers up this way Nr chester.
Arrow spine is only a guide and depends on your arrow pass. I have a few different types of arrow spine and weight setups that I try first and see what the bow like then make a set up from there.
All part of the fun. Great bow by the way.
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....and I know a few archery stockists in the Surrey area, i.e near me - there are quite a few of UK-ers on the PA website/forum. :D
//Bob
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Woo hoo another UK bowyer (you are not a cat are you? ::) )
Great pics :)
Looks like a very nicely tillered bow.
Good to have you on board, I won't bother pointing you at my blog... 'cos if you can make a bow that seet you don't need any help from me! ;D
Del
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thx for the feedback re the arrows. & Half Eye, i can say (= cos she told me =) that the stick i have here aspires bigtime to be the Evil Bro's evil twisted bitch-of-a-half-sister lol
@WillS ~ er yea i have been bamboozled by the arrows infos ~it is a whole other deep thing.
i want to and will get around to making arrows. in fact i did a how-to on bamboo arrows & have a nice straight blunt for testing purposes &&i still bear the scars on my hands from learning the basics of flint-knapping.
the biG problem is tho, i have an imp of a daughter with itchy little mits & i've totally run out of time on this at the mo. so while i know it's almost as stupid as asking you all how long the piece of string in my pocket is; i realllly just want to order something cheap & practical online that may just about arrive by the w/end ~so we can go out & kill some tough ol'nasty hay-bails lol
lol, did i ask too big?
btw, i is a londoner.
@Del the cat ~lol & miaaaaawwwwww
(we have cats with opposable thumbs that given half a chance just might borrow a bow to take a shot the birds -i josh not lol)
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very nice tiller! and all around amazing looking bow
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Well here's some concluding notes and pics.
the bow is now called Artemis (imp-child is a big artemis fowl fan).
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49030107966_e891dce63d_z.jpg)
we failed to find any hay so were compelled to attack a pumpkin instead.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49030112096_034b119ca1_z.jpg)
My daughter and i are in total awe of the many beautiful zen sticks on this site (v.reminiscent of japanese raku pottery, i think) so even tho Artemis is a lowly board bow we nevertheless wanted to keep things minimal. we just gave her a few coats of olive oil and beeswax-terpentine polish and then went over her from nock to nock with a large smooth portland pebble to compact the wood-cells. finally for the grip, we decided to use hemp flashed with some red cotton to re-enforce the area receiving most hand contact and bound in a rest made from the end of an old belt. i wanted to add some more red cotton flashing at the top but the imp deterred me from doing so and also deterred me from trimming-off the bottom flashing (; so yes that is a deliberate um, tassel ;).
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49029606928_9e5e06afc9_z.jpg)
Caveats:
the rest needs to relax a little (or be re-positioned grr) as it looks clear from some of the pics we took, that the arrows could do with being a little closer to the center of the bow. the static limbs are almost certainly carrying more weight than needs be. i tried to make them blade-like so they pretty-much taper to nothing top & bottom. &so for that reason i left them deeper: about 1" tapering to 3/4"; i'm sure they could be less deep & still remain stiff. And those arrows we were using at the time were way long even for me, at 32"
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49030331742_a75e8c3b32_z.jpg)
About the arrows:
they're some cheap-as-chips test arrows i got online. i phoned the good folks up and they suggested *not cutting them down to size as we'd sooner or later break the tips in any case. & so we did. probably sooner rather than later, lol. so while all the arrows were initially the same; 32" long and with the same field point, we did end up with several different lengths. i have no idea what the spine would be but here's the specs afaik:
made from scotts pine and have no taper.
5/16" diameter
125 grain field point.
shortest: 27" ~> 450 grains total weight
longest: 32" ~> 550 grains total weight
Shooting from between 15-30 yards, the best length arrow seems to be the shortest one @27". The tips of the heavier long arrows are able to punch right through an old shed door that's used as a final back-stop in the garden, 25+ yards away.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49030109876_d2ef2cdfcd_z.jpg)
About the set:
we have now thrown easily over 1000 arrows and while it did reach nearly 2.5" one evening (was a rainy day) immediately after we had finished, happily, the set recedes to about 2"; &maybe gained about 1/8" (during final exercises she was settling to just under 2") but it's hard to be exact now since the grip won't let me lay her flat like before..
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49030116106_0df5b39b1e_z.jpg)
Overall Artemis seems to handle quite nicely really. no shock, verrrry quiet, arrows flying straight and speedwise we think she's in the 150fps range.
i don't have a fancy arrow chrono-thingemybob but using an ipod, we took some video of us trying to kill the pumpkin @22m (i measured it the next day). we then loaded the video clips into kdenlive: in one clip where an arrow kicks up some wood chippings, it took 14 frames from release. so since the ipod takes 30 frames/s i reckon that one was about 155 feet/s. Can anyone say what sort of max range a bow like this should be capable of? i was able to fling a couple of blunts weighted with bullet cases over 100m but we were not in a suitable place where we could totally go for it..
fin.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49030105746_5c0899c3af_z.jpg)
note: regretfully, some pumpkins were fatally wounded in the making of this post :(
btw: thank you MoNative! ~and just so i don't keep bumping this post,,, a pre-emptive bIg thX to anyone else that wants to add nice words. but you know you've all got me already with the damn bow-bug lol,, & even biGGer thx to anyone with constructive criticism/thoughts, i can only hope to learn from those that know telling it how it is,,
As time permits i hope to make some more board-bows and then /dreams/,,, have a go at a knarly ol zen stave with a wealth of horrid knots &ting. wahey ;) &just had some terrific gales a few days ago in southern uk so i'm on the lookout for any fallen sycamore or ash that i can squirrel away for a six months or so,,
ps, couldn't resist : our cats with opposable thumbs (= 4Del-the-cat =) they may look cute but it's a trick...
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49030103141_40792a9d52_z.jpg)
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Nice Job. Looks Awesome! Good work!
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Very nice !!
Thanks for sharing !
Welcome to the addiction !
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Cool bow. Ive also made a molle. Im also looking out for fallen trees but the council keep cutting them up >:(
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Good looking bow, really like the tiller too.
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Wanted to give this one a bump because I love mollies. (and the pics are still visible). 57" NTN doing 30" for over a minute is crazy. I like maple, but that is impressive amount of strain. Well tillered. I need to start shortening my molly designs I guess. I get nervous doing 30" with my 66" design. Guess I'm a big chicken.
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Wanted to give this one a bump because I love mollies. (and the pics are still visible). 57" NTN doing 30" for over a minute is crazy. I like maple, but that is impressive amount of strain. Well tillered. I need to start shortening my molly designs I guess. I get nervous doing 30" with my 66" design. Guess I'm a big chicken.
Me too.
Bjrogg
I think I just laid a egg
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Fantastic bow and its really great to have a woman (and another Brit!) on here! :)
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Congrats to you and your daughter,nice bow for sure.i like the bladed style levers rather than the rounded .
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Very nicely done .
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hey, it's been a long time i know, but thanks for the continued warm comments and guess what?!
we finally got around to making an arrow from scratch. here's some pics:
these were the ingredients all gathered from nearby woodlands (ahem, except for olive oil required for making vegetable glycerin)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48014127552_33707fe013_c.jpg)
that's rabbit poo
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48014051883_26f1b6ecbf_c.jpg)
charcoal and cordage made from carded nettle fibres
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48014122512_6b2659d147_c.jpg)
canada goose feathers and dried yucca leaves -yea, ok, the yucca came from the garden but we could have used anything,, ie: water-iris
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48014128027_49014b590d.jpg)
pine resin
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48014129612_45e63faa28_z.jpg)
then we made a little fire to straighten the hazel shafts over
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48014049848_fdc284f451_z.jpg)
and to prepare the pine-pitch. we also made some other (vegetable) glue using cornstarch, vinegar, and glycerol made from olive oil and lye from oak ashes. but mostly we used the pine-pitch resin which works really well but goes hard very quickly so is sometimes fiddly to apply.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48014035546_23fd02a5a6.jpg)
i knapped the arrow-head from the bottom of a glass ale-bottle. decent flint nodules are hard to come by in my neck of the woods and i didn't want to smash so many up with my lack of stone-working skills haha,
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48014037731_a9a31ef960_c.jpg)
here's some pics of the arrow-head loosly mounted in the hazel shaft:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48014034841_608416fb33_c.jpg)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48014125267_d3031ba7fe_c.jpg)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48014124672_c6fe8501d1_c.jpg)
and here it is once we mounted it
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48014124262_e84d820dab_c.jpg)
and here's the fletching which we really struggled with tbh lol. imp-child demanded that we only uses plant-based materials throughout this entire build,, so we tried to stick the fletching using some glue made from corn-flour but in contrast to the pine-pitch, that stuff took waaaaay long to set. lol. sigh. so it ended up being a bit messy by the time we'd got everything properly stuck together. and bound with yucca fibres for good measure.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48014045993_240e0c8496_c.jpg)
..and a final pic of our first home-made arrow! woot!
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48014032781_3b32d632fd_c.jpg)
Thanks again for all the kindly comments! i really cannot wait to have a go at making another bow for myself one of these fine days!
all pics can be found here on flickr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/181864310@N03/albums/72157711687437008/with/48014127552/)
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Great job! What kind of plant did the feathers come from? ;D ;D ;D ;D
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That's awesome!
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Very nice continued work with the arrow and glass point.
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Best wishes to you and your daughters future journy in archery ,i truly hope it lasts for decades.
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What kind of plant did the feathers come from? ;D ;D ;D ;D
lol errr... goose-grass ? :D