Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Marc St Louis on July 13, 2020, 02:58:41 pm
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Started this bow last Winter, this was in the very early stages of covid. The stave was relatively short so I figured I would make a D bow and since I hadn't made a sinew backed bow in more than 15 years decided to go that route. The stave came from a small diameter tree and I knew that if I left it the way it was that I would be left with mostly sapwood and I didn't want that. I decided to remove most of the sapwood and slightly de-crown the stave at the same time. It also had a bit of character, such as one tip having a slight recurve, so I evened things up a bit with dry-heat. I shaped the limbs and floor tillered it then backed it with 3 courses of sinew, most of it mounded down the center of the working imbs. I then put it aside to dry and season for a few months. Then a couple months ago, with social distancing still in effect and not much to do, I started tillering. I wasn't looking for a lot of draw weight and ended finishing it up to about 52# @ 28". The bow is 57" N to N and the limbs are just under 1 1/2" wide. The sinew is Moose backstrap and the final touch was a Rattlesnake skin I got in trade a few years ago. It has fairly high string tension hence the FF string, for now, but I am planning a linen string for it.
Here's some pics
(https://i.imgur.com/GF6smgN.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/ut4hHED.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/e4fDhHw.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/U75zUMj.jpg)
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Nice work. Well done as usual.
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Very nice Marc. I don't know how you guys can get 28" out of a less than 60" bow. I start to pucker getting 28" out of 64".
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Great full draw curve on that one!
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Awesome little bow. What did you think of buckthorn?
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beautiful. my favorite kind of bow. superb tillering :OK :OK :OK
the linen string will be the icing on the cake
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Very nice Marc. The profiles look fantastic. Always enjoy looking at your bows.
Bjrogg
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Thanks guys
I like Buckthorn. It's a bit weak in tension but a very elastic wood in compression
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Very nice, Marc. I really like the unbraced profile. Your linen strings...are they endless loop strings made with Irish lockstitch linen? I've been wondering the technique used to serve the loops...where the serving starts and ends and feeding the serving through the loop itself.
Been wondering about that.
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Very nice, Marc. I really like the unbraced profile. Your linen strings...are they endless loop strings made with Irish lockstitch linen? I've been wondering the technique used to serve the loops...where the serving starts and ends and feeding the serving through the loop itself.
Been wondering about that.
Nice one Marc.
Parnell, endless strings are typically served in a straight line under tension and then rotated around pegs and served together to form the loop. They are not served as a loop.
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Excellent bow Marc.Good use of all the working limb that's there without much set while keeping a good amount of kick back on the tips.
I don't remember seeing too many bows of yours with snake skins.
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Beautiful bow and excellent bend, as on all of your bows. Thanks for posting!
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So, if the back is slightly de-crowned, it still has some crown and is still all covered with sapwood, but the sapwood is thinner in the center. Correct ?
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wow that is so beautiful in every way, thanks for posting , I love that bow,,
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very nice
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Quite nice, Marc
you mentioned evening things up a bit with the reflex in one limb, but also must have left reflex in that limb also?
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Beautiful lil bow....
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Another fine bow Marc. Arvin
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I pretty well only make endless loop strings. The linen I generally use is Barbour 16/2 I picked up online several years ago. I was quite impressed with it's strength when I got it and managed to get a # of it till the source dried up. Pat's description pretty well sums it up.
Yes the sapwood is most likely thinner down the center of the limb
Most of the reflex is from reverse bracing before applying the sinew, the rest is from the sinew pulling in a bit more reflex as it seasoned. I don't quite know why one limb picked up more reflex. It could be that the limb I used dry-heat on reacted differently to the sinew, unfortunately I didn't keep track of that. There was a slight discrepancy when I reverse braced it but it just became worse as the sinew seasoned
It does shoot quite well. I haven't shot it through a chrono but it seems that # for # it shoots harder than a straight limb bow but not quite as hard as one of my faster recurves
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I've had that reflex be more in 1 limb more than another after tillering to brace myself doing bows like that too.It does'nt take much difference for it to show exaggereated after sinewing while reverse bracing it.Pretty sure your correct about the reason yours did with the heat correction to 1 limb.Buckthorn must like heat correction.It all worked out fine though.I usually put the higher reflexed limb as the bottom limb.
Your bow would make a very fine turkey blind bow because of it's shorter length.
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Yes it's not that uncommon but the difference in reflex on this bow is a bit extreme. It doesn't really matter where you put the more reflexed limb as long as it's properly tillered
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I never worked with sinew, but that bow maintains some pretty serious reflex for its length. Pretty cool. Real nice bow!
Mike
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Yes it's not that uncommon but the difference in reflex on this bow is a bit extreme. It doesn't really matter where you put the more reflexed limb as long as it's properly tillered
I've tried it both ways and agree it really does'nt matter for tiller but don't like removing more wood if used as top limb for slight positive tiller reasons on my bows.
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I just finished a bow with reflex more in one limb,, at brace,, it looks like positive tiller,, but a full draw, the reflexed limb is actually weaker,,so I put it on top,,,,it seemed to work ok,, its a no handle bow, so I can shoot it either limb up,,
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No guarantee that a good looking braced profile will give you a positive tiller. Always best to just let the bow let you know what it wants
Made a linen string for the bow yesterday and shot it a bit. It is quite fast. If I can get the right weather conditions I'll take my chrony out and test it
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Very nice Marc! Do you think a sinew bow performs as well as your wood laminate bows?
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No guarantee that a good looking braced profile will give you a positive tiller. Always best to just let the bow let you know what it wants
Made a linen string for the bow yesterday and shot it a bit. It is quite fast. If I can get the right weather conditions I'll take my chrony out and test it
I always let a feel in the hand at full draw and a snap shot tell me what the tiller is at full draw.They get a good work out during tillering so no surprises ever happen.
Good luck with your testing.
I just finished a bow with reflex more in one limb,, at brace,, it looks like positive tiller,, but a full draw, the reflexed limb is actually weaker,,so I put it on top,,,,it seemed to work ok,, its a no handle bow, so I can shoot it either limb up,,
On a self bow if the reflexed limb is weaker at full draw you've compromised your reflex and removed too much wood making the bow limb a noodle.Thickness on that limb will be significantly thinner.
On a sinewed bow it'll retain it's reflex after unbracing and be significantly thinner too.Only thing saving the resting profile is the sinew if it's thick enough,but the bow will not be what it could have been used as a lower limb.Bendy handle or stiff.
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Great looking bow all around, Marc! Thanks for showing us what can be done. A bowyer can learn a lot from seeing a bow like that.
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Exactly Weylin.
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Thanks guys
All else being equal a sinew backed bow will easily match a hard backing for performance, the only affecting factor is moisture.
Sorry Ed but I disagree. In fact on this bow the lower limb actually looks thinner. There are too many variables in wood itself to qualify such a statement
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Nice bow Marc, you work Cascara yet?
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No Brian I haven't. Don't have access to it and my understanding is that the 2 are related.
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No Brian I haven't. Don't have access to it and my understanding is that the 2 are related.
Yes they are, yet i have not found one person that has worked both to give a hands on report if they are that "similar." Sugar maple and red maple are maples but worlds apart. :)
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Beautiful bow Mark, impressive how much reflex it retained.
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That’s real beauty Marc! Arvin