Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Danzn Bar on November 17, 2015, 05:05:18 pm
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Working on my first hackberry stave and was needing some confirmation on my game plan.......
Had to chase a ring on this stave.....
Got it to floor tiller...lot more wood than osage at this point.
It's 1 1/2" wide and 68" long....looking for about 50# @ 28"
Planning on a static recurve about 3" of reflex
Toasting the belly and trapping the back....
What do you guys think of the plan so far? Anything to look out for with hackberry?
Comments welcome.
Thanks
DBar
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Good luck with it Bill. After you figure out hackberry you will have to teach me.
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Hackberry makes a good bow but is light weight. At 1 1/2" I would keep the bow 68" long. Get a lot of limb working. Hackberry is the most bendable wood in America when steamed, you can make some crazy designs with it.
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Hackberry makes a good bow but is light weight. At 1 1/2" I would keep the bow 68" long. Get a lot of limb working. Hackberry is the most bendable wood in America when steamed, you can make some crazy designs with it.
Great to know about steaming....You have convinced to use steam and I'm going to try the tightest static bends I've ever done. Thanks
DBar
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Hackberry will make a quick bow if you can keep the set to a minimum. Like Steve said keep keep that length and you should be fine. 1-3/4" wide wouldve been better but it should work.
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Yes..... I understand about the width 1 3/4 to 2" would have been better. 1 1/2" is all this stave would give up.......but I do have some others wider that I will tackle once I have this one under my belt.
Thanks for the info....
DBar
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Hackberry is an amazing wood. Your dimensions sound okay, that's about what this one is http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,53578.msg726573.html#msg726573
It wasn't heat treated and I found out the staves weren't fully dry so you can probably get one with little to no set.
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Watching this, Bill, I got a primo stave from Clint at the Classic. And it's about 2 1/2" wide and straight.
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Toast the heck out of the belly that will help with the set and it smells like popcorn
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Thanks David I remember that one and I ran across it during my research......Thanks
Eddie, I got this stave from Clint at the first Moon Tree Gathering (2013)...He has graciously provided me with another a few months back.
Thanks Bubby, I'm planning on toasting the heck out of the belly, I'm just not sure when to, I think I'm going to get the tiller close on the long string and do some dry heat corrections and toast the belly at the same time. Then I was going to bend the statics with steam.
What do you think about that plan?
Thanks
DBar
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Sounds good to my dbar, and when she's all tillered toast it again
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How far did you run the 1 1/2" width? Your right on that fine line width wise. If you still can id keep that width out at least as far as 2/3 the way out for a static recurve before tapering to your tips. Hopefully its a good piece of hackberry and if so it should be ok. If not youll know when your long string tillering and its taking more set than it should at that point. And yes temper it well done BEFORE you string and brace it up.
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I just finished my second hackberry and so far I like it. Toasted the belly as deeply as I thought I could and it has held a good bit of reflex so far. Mine is closer to 2 inches wide though, and more pyramid in design. I will post pics here soon. Best of luck with yours.
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Big guy you got lots of good info here. I'd only suggest the bulk of the reflex you add take place mid way and out, maybe a 1/2" inch only from fades to mid way. If you start it too soon you will get a gull wing shape, I doubt you don't.
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rps3....Thanks for the info..............
Bad Chris....I think this stave started out too narrow for a static recurve. I've only got 1 1/2" about 1/3 of the limb, so I'm just going to flip the last 4-5" to keep the stress down on the limb and get as much working as possible. I've tempered it before I started pulling it on the tree, thanks..
Good Chris...my caul starts reflex very soon, I need to make a new one with more reflex mid limb, Marshall next year I want to get the dim's of your caul....If I end up with a gull wing shape on my first I won't be too disappointed. I will have learned a lot from it.
And yes bubby my shop smells like carmel popcorn.... :) :) ;)
Thanks again, guys for all of your good advice.......
One specific question....what do you guys think of trapping the back?
Thanks,
DBar
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with hackberry you just take bark off and use that as back? or you decrown and back with something?
I've got a big stave drying but rings are not really evident. chasing one looks a little difficult
forgive me danzB. didnt mean to hack (berry :-X) your post
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I made a real good hackberry bow a few years back. It might still be in my archived posts. I don't know anything about trapping or recurving, but hackberry does need to be a little overbuilt compared to osage. I used a 3-3.5 inch dia. tree, so the back has a decent crown. It only took on about an inch of set, and is only 62" ttt, I believe. 1.5" width is good. Heat treat the crap out of it, or it's worthless in my opinion. My hackberry is among my best shooters. Good luck and post pics of the progress.
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As far as trapping goes I see very little use for it, if a stave has the slightest crown at all it is allready trapped. 1/16 of an inch difference in thickness from the edges to the crown is a lot of wood.
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Took a nice little 4x4 whitetail with my hackberry bow on Monday. If the growth rings are thick, you can probably go a fair bit shorter - my little bow is 56" tip to tip and draws mid-50s @ 28.
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Finally finished my first hackberry a few weeks ago.................
In general I really like the wood it takes heat like you wouldn't believe, at least this stave did. Got it to floor tiller and heat treated it and it was like starting all over again. It picked up a lot of weight.
Ended up just flipping the tips a bit, due to the overall width and trapped the back.
Here's the specs
66" ntn
56# @ 28"
1 1/2" wide @ fades across the back it's 1"
Tapers to 10" short of the tips and is 1" wide and across the back it's 1/2"
Tips tapers quickly to 5/16" @ the nocks.
Not my best tiller job, after all this time I still see the top limb is a bit stiff. It pulls good and shoots fine though.
Here's a few pictures, thanks for looking.
Till next time,
DBar
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And a few more
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Finish looks intriguing. How'd ya do that?
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Mike,
I just dyed the complete bow with an alcohol dye, then used a black paint on the back and faded it out towards the tips. highlited the back edge with a gold paint pen.... then four coats of tung oil.... thats it.....
Sorry my picture taking sucks......
DBar
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Gotta say, this one was worth waiting for! Tiller is close enough to perfect for me!
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Wow Bill! That is one awesome looking Hackberry bow. I can't wait to see that one in person in a couple of weeks.
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" heat treated it and it was like starting all over again. It picked up a lot of weight."
Describes my experience with it too. Looks like a great bow.
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Thanks JW....
Clint....it will be at Moontree. again thanks for the stave.
Yep rps3, it really likes heat. I would love to see what it would do as a static. I got another stave that is much wider that I'm thinking about.
Thanks again guys!
DBar
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That looks great dbar, nice effect on the finish too.
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Man that's a looker! Nice finish bill as always
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Looks great Bill, holding a nice profile from the side view, tiller looks darn good to me, and that finish is cool looking too. I'd say it's a big success on your first hackberry, I look forward to checking it out up close in a couple months.
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Nice looking Hackberry bow!
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Great job Bill. That tiller looks excellent to me. Your finishing work is always awesome.
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Our internet, for some reason, has been verrry slow today. So did my 1st reply not knowing that all your pics had not yet loaded. Hope to see ya shootin' that one in less than 2 months!
Oh, and thanks for the finishing details.
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A very nice looking bow.
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Beautiful job on that Hackberry, very nice overall. :)
Pappy
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Not too shabby big guy! Making a hackberry bow long, like you did, is the ticket to holding a nice shape.
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Tiller looks great to me. I really like the stain job with the paint outline. Leather grip looks awesome too! Well done
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Gorgeous bow sir
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Thanks guys....
DBar
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Bill, I can bring another hackberry log to Moontree to split up and share with everybody if you need more.
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Clint,
Mighty nice offer....I'm sure everyone would appreciate it, I'll be glad to swing a maul and split some hackberry.
Thanks
DBar
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You fellas are tryin' to tempt me to make the long drive to moontree!!