Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Lehtis on November 02, 2018, 09:19:13 am
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Dark evenings here in Finland meaning time for bow making. Five ELB stylish longbows in plans. All bamboo backed, three with osage belly and two with lemonwood. One osage bellied will have hickory core, the others cumaru, all 5 mm thick. Should make two ca. 50 lbs and one over 60 lbs for my friends. Two have not yet got dedicated owners; one perhaps for myself but that should be ca. 80 lbs.
The three osage bellied have been bandsawn and sanded to shape and are ready for rasping and tillering. The two lemonwood bellied are just glued with Unibond 800. Bamboo backs, lemonwood bellies and core slices are full length. Osage bellies have made from billets with V-joint and epoxy at handle area.
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Looking pretty good so far. If you'd like I'll move this to BOWS or you can keep it here in How To..
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OK to move to BOWS... Actually, I was originally planning to start this there.
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I like it. Hope to see progress pics!
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Some progress: All staves sawn and sanded to shape. Backs are ca. 12 mm wide at limb tips and at center + 1 foot the width is 30 mm. After these picks the bamboo back corners have been rounded and they are ready for tillering process. Unfortunately some autumn flu slows me down a bit and I´m not going to breathe dust just now.
#1 & #3 from top are Bamboo-Cumaru-Osage, #2 Bamboo-Hickory-Osage and #4 & #5 Bamboo-Cumaru-Lemonwood
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Your bamboo appears to be very thick.
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4-5 mm thick... perhaps for some too thick but similar bows have been working fine so far for me... :-)
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Osage bellied now pre-tillered close to ordered strength and they´ve got some horn on limb tips. Lemonwood bellied will wait a bit until I decide how strong they will be... or, in worst case, they may be replacement bows for the previous ones in case some of them will explode.
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What is the redish colored tip?bet that will look sharp when finished.
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Man, that first one is bending really, really good. I'm impressed. I'm sure the rest of them are going to be excellent.
Do you know my buddy Kristoff? He is a bow maker from Finland. Haven't spoken with him for several years. Danny
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ohma2; That´s only paint on horn. Looks like the buffalo breeders paint the horns of their buffalos. I´ve got red, blue and once green horns on addition to non-painted ones.
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Sidwinder; I have not heard about Kristoff (or similar) named guys here, sorry. Anyway, the traditional bowyers group is not too big here, so perhaps some day...
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Nocks raw shaped and bows tillered close to wanted strength. Also some test arrows shot and the bows are now ready for arrow strike plates and surface smoothing and TruOiling.
Top: Bamboo-Cumaru-Osage, ca. 52lbs@26,5"
Middle: Bamboo-Cumaru-Osage, ca. 52lbs@28"
Bottom: Bamboo-Hickory-Osage, ca. 62lbs@28"
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The nocks...
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They're looking great buddy! 8)
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Kiitos, sieddy! They are now ready for TruOil. Some more pics after that.
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The sticks now smoothed, some leather on handle back and the first layer of TruOil spread. Must start my string factory next.
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Three TruOil layers on bows now. Next week "shooting-in" with few tens of arrows to see what pound values will be written on the bows before finalizing the oiling and giving them away to the new owners. The dacron strings will be pre-stretched with 63 kg (139 lbs) minimum over night. And, ofcourse, the leather handle covers should be stitched round the handles.
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Mighty nice bows there!
You're an ELB-machine.
Why the hell do you use Dacron strings?
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Very nice Lehtis. Did I miss how long these are? They look to be true longbows.
I like your take on strings simson. You are just a little more direct than me (lol)
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Simson; IFAA rules allow only dacron as string material in historic bow class. No traditional natural fibers, no ff or other modern ones. These bows will be used in this association’s competitions. Another story is that do the organizers really check the string materials... and how...
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Bayou Ben; I have not mentioned the length before. They are ca. 70-71”. I’ll measure and mark them before giving to the new owners.
As I replied to simson, dacron is one and only material permitted in IFAA’s rule book... and we Finns tend to obey rules and laws literally... ;-)
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Now I want to make some Victorian style elbs. What is the approximate thickness at handle and tips?
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younbowyer33: Not expert with history but my bows are (depending on the strength and materials) 28-30 mm wide and 30-32 mm thick at handle. The handle fade to limbs within 5-10 cm. Tips before horn nocks are 13-14 mm and round. From tips the limbs start to be more and more D-shaped ca 10. cm from tips.
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The bows are now practically ready for real shooting. Only the handles must first dry overninght; I stitched them on wet. The final strength of each bow seen in the photo. More pics when the new owners sling arrows with these.
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The black handle bow shot by it´s new owner.
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The dark green handle bow and it´s new owner.
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Man those look nice in the hands of their owners. Very professional job you did on those!
Looks like those guys know a thing or two about shooting.
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The brown handle bow ready to be shipped to it´s new home.
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Kiitos, Bayou Ben!
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Where do you get lemonwood?
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Those are some sleek and elegant looking bows there! Great job!
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Kivad jousid ! Olen kateellinen :D....
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matius!! (lol) (lol)
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Kiitos, Maitus!
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Nice work :)
Del
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Nice bows.
To stretch dacron strings brace the bow then take a piece of thick leather, fold it in half either side of the string and rub up and down the string until it is warm/hot to the touch. Shoot it a few times with the string warm. It won't stretch anymore.
On your next ones try getting more bend from mid limb out to the tips. As the wood gets thinner towards the tips it can bend further safely without taking set. This will lower the mid limb strain and you will see less set.
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These bows are very very nice! Love the full riser attached in belly wood.
These bows are IFAA legal in the Historic Class with B 50 string?
HH~
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bownarra: Thanks for advice. Tiller, like beauty, is in spectator´s eyes and never perfect... ;-) Actually, you are correct. I have had some tillering problems especially with lower limbs. I´ve got to pay attention to that and try to remove more wood near the handle next time.
HedgeHunter: Yes, these are IFAA compatible. The ones I use are quite similar but stronger, 72-78 lbs@28". Two of them, made in 2017, are takedowns to make air travelling easier and cheaper. Carriage bows say the English.
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oh when i put matius's comment in google translate it sayed "Nice drinks! Im Jealous!" i went back and looked and it also means bows! ;D
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So in historical class shoting Mediterranean style , how do you shoot the rather close 3d targets. I would think with the high weight you’ll be aiming in ground?
I can see for the 50-70m field targets those weights be fine with heavy arrows.
Do you have pictures of your take downs? Using brass fittings? Takedowns are Historical class legal as well?
I really like your ELBs with the handle part of the belly not glued on.
HH~
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Wow,great build a long. John
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HedgeHunter: I have another chain in which there are three osage bellied ELB´s from 2017: http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,60847.msg849842.html#msg849842
The brown leather handle bow was originally made as TD. The bamboo backed I tuned to TD in 2018. I´ll try to dig out some pics here.
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In the end of that attached link there´s some pics how I converted that bamboo backed bow to TD. Down under a couple of pics from that hickory backed bow also.
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Better now:
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All those arrows! wow! I love the bows! they look very fluid and good!
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Yes
I see I love your bows. Im going to make a boo backed, hickory and Osage i think, soon.
HH~
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Thank you guys! Next bigger test for those TDs will be IFAA’s Indoor European Championships in Northern Ireland on March 2020; EIAC 2020. Then, in case no new and better bows in hand, World Field Archery Championships in Estonia on August 2020; WFAC 2020. Got to defend my gold medals from previous competitions (Hungary and South Africa).