Primitive Archer

Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Strichev on May 22, 2016, 04:18:50 am

Title: My first successful bow
Post by: Strichev on May 22, 2016, 04:18:50 am
Welll, first off, I'd like to say thank you to everyone here on Primitive Archer; you guys have created a wealth of bowyering knowledge beyond comparison. I didn't even have to post any questions, the search function answered everything. It's like having a master bowyer nearby all the time. Well, in a way it is indeed so.

Anyhow here is the crudely made, obscene amount of deflex featuring, yew longbow of mine. I'll post some close up pictures too.

172 cm tip to tip, 60 pounds at 28 inches, a whole lot of deflex (it's super easy to string this thing). The tiller is far from perfect, its looks exaggerated slightly by the distinct nature of the piece used. One limb had 4 cm natural delfex concentrated in a bend some 30 cm from the tip (that's the lower limb). The upper limb had 3 cm natural reflex. The whole thing was twisted to such and extent that I had to lay out the bow diagonally across the grain and still it just barely fit in. That's why the sapwood seems to extend to the belly of one tip and hardwood almost reaches the back on the other tip. A whole lot of heat bending had to be done to get the string alignment done.

The next bow shall have no deflex and perfect tiller. I swear!

(http://i.imgur.com/bo4waY1.jpg)

(http://i.imgur.com/8iYbc2o.jpg)

(http://i.imgur.com/UjQGQMo.jpg)
Title: Re: My first successful bow
Post by: George Tsoukalas on May 22, 2016, 08:16:29 am
Looks like you did a nice job! Congratulations! Jawge
Title: Re: My first successful bow
Post by: BowEd on May 22, 2016, 08:19:33 am
You got a shooter there if it feels good in the hand when drawing.
Title: Re: My first successful bow
Post by: Pat B on May 22, 2016, 10:34:15 am
Welcome to PA and thanks for the kind words about our wonderful site. It is folks that like to share their knowledge that make us what we are today. Pass it on!   8)
 Your bow is functional(successful) and every bow you build after this one will be better. Well done! 
Title: Re: My first successful bow
Post by: Stick Bender on May 22, 2016, 11:23:52 am
Nice Bow Welcome
Title: Re: My first successful bow
Post by: Redhand on May 22, 2016, 11:46:51 am
Nice work.  Congrats on your first successful bow.
Title: Re: My first successful bow
Post by: penderbender on May 22, 2016, 01:16:26 pm
Looks like she'll shoot! Good job! Keep on making shavings, they will only get better!
Title: Re: My first successful bow
Post by: GB on May 22, 2016, 02:30:59 pm
Good looking bow!
Title: Re: My first successful bow
Post by: mwosborn on May 22, 2016, 02:44:27 pm
Congrats!  Tiller looks pretty good to me.
Title: Re: My first successful bow
Post by: wizardgoat on May 22, 2016, 03:03:17 pm
That's a nice first bow, congrats. Where do you live?
Title: Re: My first successful bow
Post by: dantolin on May 22, 2016, 03:43:41 pm
Congratulations!!! I remember my first successful too (i Didn't believe that :) ) Congrats again!! It's good bow!
Title: Re: My first successful bow
Post by: bubby on May 22, 2016, 05:12:53 pm
Good job, nice first bow
Title: Re: My first successful bow
Post by: Del the cat on May 22, 2016, 05:26:39 pm
Looks like you've done a good job with a very testing piece of wood.
Del
Title: Re: My first successful bow
Post by: Siyah Later on May 22, 2016, 06:14:28 pm
Having started with board bows I can't imagine taking on such a difficult piece of wood for my first bow.  Nice work and congratulations!
Title: Re: My first successful bow
Post by: bushboy on May 22, 2016, 06:27:33 pm
Looks good!nice work!
Title: Re: My first successful bow
Post by: Peacebow_Coos on May 22, 2016, 09:45:02 pm
That's a good looking first bow, and a high weight, my first many came in under 35!
Title: Re: My first successful bow
Post by: mikekeswick on May 23, 2016, 02:11:21 am
Nicely done. It's not easy to work out problems when you are just starting.
How come there is a millstone in your picture? Are you in the Peak?
Title: Re: My first successful bow
Post by: Strichev on May 23, 2016, 02:57:32 am
Thank you everyone. It shoot nice but that deflex is really bothering me everytime I see it unstrung. I'll start a new one soon.


How come there is a millstone in your picture? Are you in the Peak?

Peak millstone? I had to google that one.  :D That's actually not a millstone, it's really thin (somewhere around 5 cm or so).  Made from a single piece of stone it was used for crushing fruit in preparation for the making of cider, rakia, apple vinegar and such. It stood vertically in a carved out log and was rolled back and forth to crush the fruit. I'm always amazed how they managed to chisel it out without the stone cracking - especially because it's so thin. One can still see the chisel marks.
Title: Re: My first successful bow
Post by: Pappy on May 23, 2016, 05:00:14 am
Very nice bend on that one, welcome and looking forward to seeing more of your work. :)
 Pappy
Title: Re: My first successful bow
Post by: Parnell on May 24, 2016, 07:05:51 am
Looks great.  Well done and welcome to PA.
Title: Re: My first successful bow
Post by: Dmead on May 24, 2016, 03:12:05 pm
Beautiful first bow! Be proud of it, and no worries on the deflex..some just turn out that way. You found the bow within that piece of wood that to most..would have been firewood! I have two very similar to yours..one is my first bow ever made as well ...and it has more than 20,000 arrows through it..all sapwood erc elb. Still a sweet shooter.
The other was a gift to my Father for his 60th bday. I actually named it firewood. Lol. HIs was more like yours. It had twist and a bad split from the start, but is still shooting today. One can learn excellent lessons from tackling difficult wood.
Yes as others have stated, be proud to call this your first bow. Everything from here will be easier for you. From the pictures as far as I can tell you followed the undulations in the back beautifully. NIcely done!
Title: Re: My first successful bow
Post by: JW_Halverson on May 24, 2016, 10:18:23 pm
Good work for a new workman!  It would be good work for a journeyman bowyer, sir!!!

I look forward to seeing more of your efforts, and welcome to our community!