Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: leonwood on November 07, 2018, 06:27:21 am
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A few months ago I got this really crooked piece of laburnum with a huge reflexed kink right in the middle from my friend Pinaka Longbows. The stave was already cut with a bandsaw so my width was pretty much set at about 1.2 inch max. (Stave pic below)
I first started to get the sapwood down to three rings. This worked really easy with this piece of laburnum since it has a nice crunchy darker layer between the sap rings.
Now I knew that much reflex would almost be impossible to keep in a self bow but it felt like a waste to just steam it out. Then I remembered Simson’s osage fivecurves and decided that this was the perfect stave have a go at that!
So I cut a caul for the deflexed parts out of some pine and steamed the deflex next to the handle in. I used my old reflex caul to steam in the reflexed tips. This was done in four sessions in about a week. Left it to rehydrate for another week and started tillering.
Now this stave has quite a few knots and most of them where really brittle and some even crumbled out so I drilled them out on the belly and inserted some laburnum plugs from another piece I had lying around. After first brace I had to correct one of the deflex curves because they where to uneven for my liking. Then after reducing the width at the tips I had to do about eight! heat corrections to get the string alignment right. I don’t think I ever used so much heat on a bow to get it to shoot!
Finished it up with buffalo horn tip overlays and arrow pass.
The handle is really rounded so decided on a simple wrap to make life easier. Wrapped it with a strip of leather and a cotton shoe lace and that came out way prettier then I expected, sometimes the easy way out is better;-)
Specs:
Wood: Laburnum
Length: 64” ntn
Draw weight: #50@28”
String: 8 strand fast flight
Tip Overlays: Buffalo horn
Arrow pass: Buffalo horn
Handle: Cow leather strip combined with shoe lace
//stave
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4837/31890275798_31bb2e5274_b.jpg)
// profiles
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4818/45667985072_3f3844dbc9_b.jpg)
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4824/43901259720_1ca7a84057_b.jpg)
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4878/45667985022_2ba82b8b0e_b.jpg)
// braced
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1972/31846948078_e6384176d5_b.jpg)
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4901/44993882664_e6c4095c5e_b.jpg)
// handle
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4871/45718730251_fe4deeee11_b.jpg)
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4834/45667984832_3aaa0c0e4f_b.jpg)
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4893/45718730151_42478ff701_b.jpg)
// details
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4913/45667985282_7668d042a1_b.jpg)
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4850/44804641405_257f63f25b_b.jpg)
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1936/31846947578_87e8282c77_b.jpg)
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1906/44993882904_0085d5f6da_b.jpg)
// fd
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4832/45667985842_20e609d790_b.jpg)
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Wow - that bow just leaves me speechless!
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Stunning :)
Del
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Great vision to see what was there for a bow Leon.Nice work!That can take forever with all of the reheatings but looks like it was well worth the effort in the end.
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That wood sure is pretty and you did it justice with your craftsmanship! Another finely executed plan. Great job!
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Thats a good example of seeing what the wood wants to be.nice.
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That sure is a pretty bow. Sometimes you feel like youre never going to get it right with all those heat corrections, but it is all the more satisfying when it works out.
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Awesome bow and I bet she has good cast. Great unstrung profile and tiller. Well done.
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WOW, that is most impressive work. Really great job on a stave that to be difficult to work, but you showed who was boss.
Steve
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Wow, that looks great.
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+1 to all the previous comments, that's a beaut!
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Beautiful job on that one, you knocked it out of the park! I bet she is a screamer.
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That is a very cool bow. That’s an inspiring bow.
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Hi, master of curves!
That is what we like to see, hard work but a beautyful result. And you've got more weight out than I estimated.
I like the profiles: stave, unbraced, braced and fd - this is showing the really masterful work.
Congrats! Will be a good candidate for the BOM.
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There's a laburnum growing wild near me I've been debating cutting or not cutting, that bow may have just tipped the balance. Absolutely stunning, I love it.
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Ha ha i knew i would turn out well, you're the only one i know with the patience and skills needed to make a bow out this stave.
I wasn't up to it for sure ;D
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That is a beautiful bow. You've done an excellent job with that one
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Wow. Great job
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Whoa. Leon, I'm blown away (W
Gorgeous!
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Holy wow! My favorite bow I've seen in awhile. Outstanding both technically and artistically. Well done.
I'm unfamiliar with that wood, would you say it's similar to any other particular wood?
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That is absolutely incredible man! 8)
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Thanks for the compliments guys! This was one of the most challenging bows I have ever done and I am glad it held up,
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Ha ha i knew i would turn out well, you're the only one i know with the patience and skills needed to make a bow out this stave.
I wasn't up to it for sure ;D
Yeah I remeber it standing in your hallway just begging me to take it with me ;D
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I'm unfamiliar with that wood, would you say it's similar to any other particular wood?
It is top bow wood for sure! It is similar like yew in that you can use the sap on the back and it has great compression strength so you can get away with a narrow rounded belly. It is a little heavier then yew though.
Over here it mostly grows in gardens and some parks so it is hard to get. It usually grows pretty crooked too!
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AWESOME!!!!
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What a great bow!
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Amazing Leonwood. Like Simson said those curves are simply beautiful and your work is fantastic. It's sure a more than worthy candidate for BOM.
Bjrogg
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It's all been said. :OK 8)
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I like absolutely everything about that bow. Great work.
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It might grow pretty crooked, but you used that to your advantage in the most beautiful way possible!
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Well I'll never post a photo of a bow again.
That is absolutely unreal. Gorgeous work!
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Most excellent!using a r/d limb profile is quite genius!
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Thanks again for all the compliments. These kind of builds take me a long time but I really enjoy it. I have a couple of really perfect staves lying around but somehow I always take the gnarly ones first ;D
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My dream bow!
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Very nice!
I love that shape!
Where does it start to bend? The fades looking quite stiff.
I have a similar Profil on a brunch of purple leaf plum, that's why I'm asking
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Very nice!
I love that shape!
Where does it start to bend? The fades looking quite stiff.
I have a similar Profil on a brunch of purple leaf plum, that's why I'm asking
Thanks!
The fades are actually working quite a bit, even the handle flattens out a tiny amount at full draw. I tried to get the whole limb working because it is easy to create a hinge in the deflexed part because the leverage is a bit different then on normal straight handle bows.
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Thank you leonwood,
I appreciate your replys a lot (not to forget all the others)
So, to get as less stress, to the wood, as possible is the best for this curves.
Thanks to you and simons I'm going to work on my Sudbury again...
Entering this forum is something like tbb5. As this is for free I hope I can help or inspire someone as well,....someday.
Sometimes I feel like, asking too much for what I have to give.
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Gorgeous bow! You've done an incredible job with this bow in every aspect. Beautiful wood too.
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Dude you killed that one. Stunning in every way.
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This is honestly one of the most beautiful bows I have ever seen! The curves are just perfect and I love the deep colour of Laburnum! I can imagine that it took you a lot of patience to make it - but it was definitely worth every second!
My favorite for BOM...
Greetz from Berlin
Torsten
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knocked that one out of the park! That is one of the most beautiful bows i have seen in a very long time! amazing work!
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Beautiful bow, I like every part of it. :)
Pappy
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Thats a real stunner bud.. I love everything about it. awesome job!!!!!!!!! :OK
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Leon, unfortunately this bow is so ugly you should DEFINITELY give it away to some loser friend! Hmmm I would recommend someone who’s name starts with a J! :P ;)
As you already know this bow is insanely well crafted especially considering how crooked it was! And no I won’t stop telling people how good you are at building bows. Hats off!
See you soon & cheers,
Jaap
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Leon, unfortunately this bow is so ugly you should DEFINITELY give it away to some loser friend! Hmmm I would recommend someone who’s name starts with a J! :P ;)
As you already know this bow is insanely well crafted especially considering how crooked it was! And no I won’t stop telling people how good you are at building bows. Hats off!
See you soon & cheers,
Jaap
Thanks Jaap, will take it with me to our next shoot so you can try it! How’s the yew recurve coming along? You will need to post pictures here when finished of course!
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Masterful, simply masterful.
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That's about as good as it gets. Excellent looking bow!
Mike
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Beautiful bow and excellent photos! Thanks for sharing.
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Leon, unfortunately this bow is so ugly you should DEFINITELY give it away to some loser friend! Hmmm I would recommend someone who’s name starts with a J! :P ;)
As you already know this bow is insanely well crafted especially considering how crooked it was! And no I won’t stop telling people how good you are at building bows. Hats off!
See you soon & cheers,
Jaap
Thanks Jaap, will take it with me to our next shoot so you can try it! How’s the yew recurve coming along? You will need to post pictures here when finished of course!
Nice!! Very much looking forward to it! Oh that thing? Hmm I’m not so sure about it xD. But we’ll see!
I will put it here if it succeeds.
Jaap
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Love this bow. Spectacular workmanship.
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(A) (A) (A)........
........ (A) (A) (A) (A) (A)
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Had to create an account after about a year of lurking to to say Wow! What an amazing bow!
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Really awesome looking bow!!!
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This is one of the best bows I have ever seen. You, sir, are becoming a true master in our craft.
I'm unfamiliar with that wood, would you say it's similar to any other particular wood?
It is top bow wood for sure! It is similar like yew in that you can use the sap on the back and it has great compression strength so you can get away with a narrow rounded belly. It is a little heavier then yew though.
Over here it mostly grows in gardens and some parks so it is hard to get. It usually grows pretty crooked too!
I was going to say that it looks a lot like yew.
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This is one of the best bows I have ever seen. You, sir, are becoming a true master in our craft.
Thanks again!
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Wow that's a pretty bow!
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Very nice bow. Arvin
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Most beautiful bow i have ever seen.
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quiet a nice bow and looks like a real shooter.
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Another great bow. Lovely.
:-)