Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: simk on March 04, 2019, 02:46:53 am
-
Hey there,
Me and btw (back-to-wood-Martin) have decided to give each other a personal bow and to document the building process here on a little build along.
As my bows - I dont know why - always end up at my personal comfortable drawing weight of around 40# it will be a challenge for me to end up with martin's 50#. But I will try.
Today I went into my stash to pick up a suitable stave. Lookin' forward see with what Martin will chime in...
Cheers
-
Should be interesting. (-P That sure looks like a dandy stave.
Bjrogg
-
Looking forward to seeing it.
-
sounds like a lot of fun. Keep posting a ton of pics all along the way
-
good looking stave, what kind of tree did it come from?
-
Wow, very nice stave!!!! :D :D
So, I had to go through my dry stash to find something very nice too.
I was looking for something suitable for a D/R design, and found about 3 staves - this is the best of them.
Ash
b2w
-
Hola Martin!
This looks like a promising stave too...3 or four rings to take down, 8 to get to the really luxurious ring 8)
I today roughed out my stave. Got really hungry and therefore needed some swiss cheese and bacon ;D
Next step will be taking down some sapwood, it's still .5"
Cheers
-
Another excited spectator here! (-P
-
thats some crispy lookn bacon and some dry cheese, was the cheese left out to long and dried up? >:D
-
I wanna see you eating that stuff!!! ;D
Found some time to follow up a bit. Cleaned up the stave and decrowned 2 growth rings. I´m not sure if there is enough wood for my desired crossection (which will be tapered towards the back) mid limb, and enough wood for a proper handle, when I go for the luxury growth rings 10 rings beneath.
I think I will take one more down, as this worked out quite good so far.
My challenge is going shorter with this one. I already cut it to 63". Desired draw length 28", draw weight around 45#.
-
Hi
Just curious: That hump will be the grip I think. Will you shorten top limb or will there be a yumi for me ;D
I have a beginners ring chasing tale:
There was a man who started chasing the seventh ring on his stave to have a decent amount of sap in the working limb. when he reached the other side of the stave there was one ring left. He learned two things: 1. Where the top of his stave is. 2. Yew is growing so slooooow. End.
Cheers
BtW (by the way): Nice old shaving horse and tools!
-
Hola!
Yes, the hump will be the grip.
Sorry for the pic, its canted. the upper will be a bit longer but not that much....
did some work yesterday. got it down to the 4thgrowthring. the luxury stuff was to deep and I wouldn't be able to get the desired width and thickness mid limb. Also the grain run didn't help as it was the opposite where more wood is left.
I changed the handle and inverted it as I discovered a nice close to center design.
Thickness is abut 3/4" now and thin enough to keep over the oven. It weighted 1246 grams and lost 10 overnight. I will keep it some days there maybe prepping the limbs for steaming.
-
looking good!
-
indeed, looking good martin, like the character on that stick!
mine starts looking bowalike as well. there was a big knot right after the fade => big relief when I found out that it just dissapears at the level of the belly - hopefully. Next will be steaming the recurves. Your turn again! Cheers
-
Cool some progress as well!
But I'm not sure it's gonna be my turn : the stave lost 40 Gramms since the last post, so some more days above the oven - heating season is over soon, hopefully.
-
i will probably have to sinew it with one layer - that's + 2 weeks for you ;D
-
As wood moisture isn't so important when doing steam bending, I decided to keep on.
First I narrowed the stave a bit more and made it thin enough to bend. Beside the handle some more deflex and the limbs reflex. Was a bit worried because of the humps close to the tips. Everything worked out fine, no cracks and the humps are pretty smooth now - the outer growth rings which I left at the tips helped to relieve some stress there.
Reflex is 4" inches now.
The Stave weights 881 grams now - will control that a bit for the next step, which will be a proper thickness taper and than a heat treatment.
Any concern? advice? thoughts? ... let me know!
good night!
B2W
-
final outcome
-
Not bad at all! It's taking shape.
-
I like it :)...!
-
Wow! Ambitous design ;D
I'm just stuck in a priority interim-project - my doughter want's a bow for her 4th birthday :BB
Cheers
Edit: Any concern? advice? thoughts?
I wasn't really successful with this r/d selfbows. They always lost lots of the reflex and/or collapsed in the r/d transission. Next time I will do it wider there...
-
trying to catch up a little bit - while still strugglin' with this little mini-kidz-bow! that was a thick bend, 1" square. cheers
-
Hello Everybody 8)
I just stole some time to proceed a little on this one: Chased a ring - roughed out - and today some tillering.
What da ya think about that tiller? Upper limb is right.
What da ya think about this ring violation on the last picture? Its about 4" before the outer fade on the lower limb. I would like to go without backing the bow? On the third pic you see how the knot after the fade came out. nice strange violet wood...
Next will be bracing it.
Cheers
-
Hi simk!
Cannot help you as I´m not a yew expert, but I like the color!
Have you heat treated the levers? - they look so burnished to me.
Couldn't make some progress on yours, so many other things to do right now...
-
Hey b2w - never hurry and take ya time! Yes I heat treated the levers to fixate the bend; they are quite thick so aggressive treating was indicated. The charcoal will fall away with final shaping anyway and the back was not affected.
The ring violation is now covered under a thick layer of sinew - 50 gramms to be exact.
My main concern still is the area of the prior knot after the fade; i have only limited confidence in that nice violet wood. Hope for the best.
It was already that knot that left a weak spot after removing and limited the draw weight to 27# @ 20" in the pretillering stage. If everything works out fine without further issues and surprises I will maybe still achieve the desired draw weight. I will try to do the final tillering slowly and careful. It takes two weaks to dry now! Cheers
-
few more
-
Ha, I made just the same face as your beloved one. Holy moly the sinew gained some reflex!
-
Reminds me of a really reflexed horn bow!
-
looks like it will do plenty fast
-
Hi Folks
The sinewing break allowed me to finish this little project in time - my sweety just got 4 years old and ordered a bow - a blue one!
Ok, tried my best in painting the bow - never done this before and also never felt the calling to do so - did my own colour of natural pigments - not so easy getting that lines clear.
Also first time doing arrows myself.
Anyway: It's very difficult to tiller such a little bow - hinged it twice with my little delta sander - got luck with fixing it again with heat.
Sealed with boat-lack as it's probably somtimes stored outside in the rain.
Girl happy - mission accomplished
-
clean release 8)
-
What a cool little bow!
The adult ones are looking pretty darn good too.
-
Hello Again & thank you Matt (-S
Today I mounted overlays. Don't know how you fit them on the stave but I have a special little procedure. Requires only a dirty finger...
cheer
-
OK - time to get a little nervous: Iniatial bend after sinewing...shows ok bend and draw force of around 33# on the tips => estimeted draw weight on 28" draw = 60#...that's fine. First excersise and correction measures established.
To be continued...
Cheers
-
I dont understand how rubbing the lead helps.
-
I dont understand how rubbing the lead helps.
If you do so the exact outlines of the overlay will appear as negative image on the paper... :OK
-
Hi Simon, what are you doing with those clamps in the second picture there?
-
Finally I could squeeze out some time for this bow!
I brought down the limbs to a reasonable thickness, slightly bending it over the chest.
Then tempering of the belly.
Here I also made some little corrections. Little more in a flat spot in the upper and a little less in the lower.
So now I have about 3" reflex.
After a bit of resting and rehydration I made the Back Taper and the nocks.
Bended it a bit over the chest - not far from bracing but I will bring it down a bit more before.
-
Here is a pic from the back with the string tracking I´m looking for.
What do you think? is this a way to go?
-
Both Beautiful looking Bows Guys - Nice post - double build along in one - seems like a dance off with Bows hahah
backtowood B2W - in your tool picture on 1st Page - there is a beautiful stool in Background - did you make that ?? hand tools - looks like the old fashion tractor seat type style made from a Log - (being a cabinet maker , made few chairs and can appreciate the shape in that one )
Sink - Is that a sort of Mongolian Horse bow type style made out of 1 piece ?? interesting what's that style called ? (i just made a horse bow with Glass - i know dont mention glass here , but its mostly wood bow)
i like that idea of all one piece ??
Mark
-
Hi Simon, what are you doing with those clamps in the second picture there?
Exercising sinew. Try to soften and stretch the sinew in stiffer spots - instead and before more wood removal. I now only scraped a little inner top limb and and then clamped again for 10 min. There is an effect on the tiller, isn't there? At least the reflex is gone ;D
Mark: Not a specific design, I call it overmotivated molle
-
Globalmark: the stool is still roughed out, just made the sitting surface. I made 3 bows, a riser (you will see soon), and this stool out of this huge wild cherry tree. I burnt the rest :NN.
some progress:
braced it today! 25#@13" Lost 1" of reflex and it follows the string 0.5" hopefully I'm not too short with this one - quite some character.
The outcome of the handle makes the lower looking stiff, but it feels good balanced.
I also used don´s method for string alignment with the wire hooked on the string over the handle.
Concerns? Thoughts? Comments? You know I´m still a beginner, so please feel free to criticize !! Thank YOU!
-
String alignment and stool ???
-
Nice bows both starting to look good and stool also - keep pics coming of both STOOL and bows haha
Mark
-
Hey Martin - super clean profile on a stave with plenty character. Everything looks great. The only spot which I think is difficult to judge is the deflex after the fade top limb. If I were you I^d go on with evenly scraping from the fades till after midlimbs...and leave the reflexed part. But that's just a bloody beginners consulting ;D
I got mine on a solid 25" draw now - feels like 45# - to achieve a safe 28" draw for Martin some small corrections need to be done. Any good advice for final tillering warmly welcome. Failure is not an option with this one (--)
Thanx in advance
-
Nice progress on your bows guys. Been a fun read so far. Looking forward to the rest. (-P
Mike
-
Looking good Simon! A Pic in front of some better background would help me a lot, also if its rotated.
Couldn't make too much on your bow, too much distraction lately! but I got done a little ???
I worked on the inners as you suggested and raised draw length slowly.
Around 17 I had to give the lower outer a bit more bend because the upper outer started to get set.
The bow measures 31,5#@18", bh: 4", m:542g
-
B2W do you have a slick way of outlining the bow like that or do you just use the mouse and a steady hand?
-
Both bows are looking excellent, chaps!
Simon, once I get to the last few inches of draw I shoot it up to the final length. So, assuming the tiller is good at 25", I'll shoot maybe 30 shots at 25", then check the tiller. If it starts to lose it's shape I'll shave it where necessary. If it keeps it's shape I'll shoot another 30-40 at 25" and then check again. If it's still good, I'll give it a 15 minute rest and then start the process again at 26", and so on.
I let set be the deciding factor in my final draw length. So for example, if I'm aiming for 29" of draw, but I notice set increasing exponentially from 27", I'll leave it at that length. If it's reaching 29" without taking any set I'll normally narrow the outer tips to slowly approach that "trade off" point.
Of course, I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing, so that could all be complete nonsense ;D
-
DC: First i crop the pics, leaving more or less same space left and right the tips. Than I reduce resolution and image sice. Doing that with apple preview.
Going camping to LEGO Land with the family for 3 days! So no progress this weekend!
Gonna take my Ishi sticks with me. )P(
-
I'm talking about the black outline along the limb.
-
DC: i don´t do that with the computer. I set up a strong light on a tripod - Adjusting it in the hight allows me to make a thinner or thicker shadow of the Bow on the background. Photo taken right above the light source aligned with the centre of the bow of course.
I like to do this especially with character staves - its a bit like squeezing your eyes to get a fuzzy vision.
-
DC: i don´t do that with the computer. I set up a strong light on a tripod - Adjusting it in the hight allows me to make a thinner or thicker shadow of the Bow on the background. Photo taken right above the light source aligned with the centre of the bow of course.
I like to do this especially with character staves - its a bit like squeezing your eyes to get a fuzzy vision.
I like the result, a nice crisp line. I was hoping to do that to my full draw pictures but it would be kind of tough to set up outside with a timer and running back and forth. Thanks
-
I came underweight!!! >:(
What did I do?
Hi all!
As I recognized that it gets more and more set, I decided to temper the belly again, also I brought it back to 3" reflex - measured from the handle.
Kept on tillering - reducing the width in the outers and a bit working fades.
But again it started getting set....
So it draws 33# at 25"now - tiller looks ok now - shot some arrows. Not bad for 33#. Tips are still very clumsy so there may some more fps.
But anyway its underweight is no option, so I have 2 possibilities to carry on.
1st: Putting on a combed Flax fiber backing, where I don't have successful results. (I always used carpenter glue, I think hide glue will be the trick)
2nd:Start a new bow: I just straightened and balanced the shape of a PLP shoot. It have some slight d/r shape as well, 63"ntn, 1" wide.
what do YOU think??
The pic unbraced shows actually the string follow and reverse, ...sorry did´t pay to much attention resizing and name it
-
looks nice - i still could send you some yew laminates >:D
Edit: Do you have set in the fades too or only in the reflexed area? imho you should get a little mor bend out midlimbs? it's more the upstate but not DC style 8)
I had a similar bow which I heat the set away again and again...
-
Oh no! Did it break!
-
@SIMK: So you suggest to glue on some yew on the belly. Like Simon said - you like it the hard way...
I compared the profile with the traced profile from the beginning. Looks like most of the set happened mid limbs in the lower limb, The upper took set right after the hump behind the fade. I measured reflex this morning: 1"
I hope the r/d experts will chime in and give some advice.
I think tempering the belly again and back it with a thin layer of combed flax will gain some draw weight.
-
In theory, adding tension strength to the back could make the set worse. Sinew seems to be the only backing that can be the exception to that.
I added 3 layers of feed bag paper backing with TBIII to a bow that had set. I used a full-length strip of wood to clamp the backing under pressure while it dried in a reflex shape. The bow's draw weight increased by 3 lbs, but the set came right back after some shooting.
If I get the chance some day, I will try using a belly lam to cure set if I'm determined to keep that particular bow instead of starting over. Maybe paper just to see what happens.
-
we have summertime and I did little work on the trade bow...prior to last wood removal on the tips it was chronoed with 172fps :OK
home straight :BB
-
still wonder what martin's brewing 8)
-
...
-
Looking really good!
Now I have just to do my part.
I didn't work on the ash anymore... I guess I will heat treat once more and put on a flaxbacking.
Meanwhile I was brewing and experimenting on several bows.
A 3 piece take down which very different growth ring thickness. One limb is the belly split with just 2 rings.
A short maple recurve with silk backing, HLD .... it is a 3 piece now as well (--).
And a r/d blood plum which I shot in a bit yesterday.
Next will be a spliced r/d black locust with poor growth rings, I wanna try to reflex the limbs with dry heat.
-
Simk and me wanted to swap the bows personally, so Simon and family came around for some days. We had a nice time, and shoot a bunch of arrows. Simon liked the plum stick and kept it ( The Ash R/D I didn't work on further, I guess this will become a nice lady bow one day).
I was very sad he took the molle with him again too.... :'( Simk will let you know....)
As it isn't a real build along any more I will post the Plum Stick in an extra thread.
Thanks for watching
B2W
-
So yes, we did a spontaneous visit at Martin's place; we met very nice people there and had a very good time. Very cool when the internet becomes real ;D Apart of the fact that my trade bow broke on day 4 everything was perfect.
Finally with mixed feelings I took a nice b2w-bow with me and promised to start a new one for Martin when I get the time in autumn. So it was a classical "with a smile in one eye and a tear in the other"-event.
THE FAILURE: http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,66282.msg931371.html#msg931371 (http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,66282.msg931371.html#msg931371)
-
Oh, I had a good time there in the parkour.
No worrys, Simon, take your time, good things need it!
-
Hello Boys
I still owe a bow to Martin...It was not forgotten, but postponed.
First I had to deal with the shocking experience of the yew-failure, then finish my schooling, then other bow-projects, then I didn't know how to deal with the particular difficulties of that gnarly stave.
It's my first osage (and its from hungary). I traded some osage for yew this summer. I just found out that osage is very similar to work to yew. Like yew, the osage guides the blade very nicely along the grain - its just a little bit harder than yew. I really like working it.
It's roughed out now. For the look I left one ring of sapwood. Still not sure if I'll keep it like that; it has a few drying checks in the sapwood - if these cracks will get much worse with steaming I'll remove the sap - the heartwood has no cracks I think. Now it's steaming and correcting time. First will be reflexed levers, then I'll care about the string alignement.
My actual Q: Cracks in osage sapwood can be treated the same as cracks in heartwood? Filling them with epoxy/CA?...
Good things sometimes take some time!
Cheers
-
I hadn't seen this thread in the past. What an interesting post and exchange! The pictures and backgrounds are excellent to see and your process with each other is remarkable. I'll be watching, for sure, to see how this bow shapes up.
-
Simk: Glad you didn't forget :D
Hope you are still shooting my bow and using the cherry bark quiver as well.
Here is the link from the bow simk took with him:
http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,66276.0.html
I also wanted to let you guys know what happened with the Ash bow I planned for him first place.
I backed it with combed flax as thin as possiple but still overpowered the belly. So within, all my flax backings failed - But I will continue working with it.
As backing maybe with very dense woods only. But for stiffening, wrapings, repairs it works great.
When you look at the last FD you will know, why it let go at this spot...
-
...
-
Thanx Parnell!
B2W: Love Your quiver and use it a lot. Regarding the ash: Looks like it snapped over the back...? Interesting...? How is that possible with the flax backing?
I went on with your osage, bent some reflexed levers and chased a ring - ...left the last sapwood ring for the look.
As I have no experience with osage I would really appreciate other opinions on the following PROBLEM:
I did violate the back ring in one spot. The violation is in the most stressed part of the limb right after the fade. It's maybe 1/2" long and 1/20" deep. The ring thickness is about 1/8". I tried to get some pics of it...still hard to see.
My plan now ist the the following: Sanding and even out the violation a bit, then temporary patch it with a bit of linen or sinew for the tillering process and finally do a wrapping on the finished bow...
Does this sound like a good plan? What do you all think?
MerryXmas to everybody!
-
The flax backing overpowered the belly and it collapsed at the weakest spot. To me it looks like the ash started to collapse and then separate along a ring in the neutral zone.
To your problem:
Looks like, you still have plenty of meat. Remove the last sap wood ring, it will be easier to chase a new one in heart wood. A perfect back is the most wanted in wooden bow making. IMO.
But maybe I'm wrong as I have no experience with o.
-
Thank you b2w, adapting plans and finding the good move often takes a little thinkingtime - I put some work into it again: Shaved that ring, did some limb-shaping and 1, 2, 3 heat corrections. Got a semi-sapwood-back now and also an alignement somehow. but still some propeller in there. I will see how it behaves when bending before doing more correctional actions. Very nice wood to work with, this so called osage. Looking forward bending that thing.
I do have 3 bows with same profile in the works now. All a little inspired by bushboy (-S It really makes me wonder how oo and horn will compare performancewise.
-
...
-
(-S
-
Soooo,... we have slow progress here: tillered it on the long string and braced it for the first time today. What makes me really happy is the fact, that this snakey reflexed thing showed some perfect string alignement and no more corrections are needed. On the long string I always pulled 50-55# while tillering; when braced I wasn't that courageous and only pulled to a shy 42# @ 20" up to now - before I go further I want to study that tiller carefully; at first sight I'm quite happy.
Next will be reducing these levers and the outer fades to the max. Need a little bend and enough torque-stability. Hope this one survives (-S
-
Almost missed the progress.
Looking good!!! Getting exited!!!
-
Hey All,
...worked on this one a little every now and then and looks like it will soon be ready to hand it over to Martin.
Worked on the tiller, the grip, the levers and the tips. Shoot it again in the woods today and was very pleased with accuracy. Also handshock now mostly dissappeard after thinning the levers. Then I also chronied it with a 380gn arrow - the results with a 27-26" drawlength pleased my eyes...
Alone I once again missed target weight a little....only pulls 39# on the scale @ 25" (I cannot pull it further on the wall as it too much hurts my eye to see this wicked bend.... ;D - got traumatised from breaking bows on the tillerwall when measuring bows earlier).
It also took some set, approx 2". It's 62" ttt.
Q to you osage pros: Do you think its a good idea to heat treat and reflex a little the working limbs to get a little extra punch????
Cheers
-
...still need to pretty her up, do a handle wrapping and so on...
-
Nice work!Osage takes heat treating well,albeit I would let the moisture normalize for a few days before bracing it.ihad a Osage bow blow up in 7 pieces going straight to brace.
-
Great speed! Are the string grooves on the levers really deep or is that the camera. If they are deep maybe a picture from the tip?
-
thanks bushboy! my only concern is not to overstress and blow up a working bow that is already 97% broken (--) its my first osage. how much can i ask from it?
thanks DC!
-
Very cool :D
-
Nice pictured adventure fellas.Nice looking bow too. :)
-
Ayayayayieiii
Don't worry about drawweight. Something around 40 at 26 is just fine.
Can't wait to shoot this thing...never shot OO...that one reads and looks very promising...
-
....well, it somtimes felt like a never ending build. Really glad to bring it to an end now. Shooting her in is a real pleasure. Martin should get mail within 14 days. What did i do: Softly heated in a little reflex in the bending zone. Only retillered the lower limb a little then. Set was gone. Drawweight increased from 38# to estimated 45# pounds since last measuring. Tiller so far is stable with 3" reflex after 100 arrows. Shaped more at the levers. Plugged a laburnum core as arrowpass. sanded to 320 grit. polished and smeared with a oil/pitch/wax application. Thanks for watching (-S
-
...
-
Good looking outcome there with a lot of character to boot.Like the extra sapwood on the handle and the arrow pass too.
I'm a bit surprised by the draw weight increase of 7#'s from heat treating osage though.Good deal for you anyway.
BTW should be very happy.
-
Very nice in the end. That's a slick way to do the arrow pass, I really like how subtle it is.
Mark
-
Good work and an interesting project!
Nice idea with that arrow pass, really like it!
Grüße an euch beide!
-
Hey Ed, you were right of course - I yesterday was cheated by fatigue - the bow in fact only pulls 39# today 8) 8) 8)
Thanks Mark!
Thanks Simson - If you got those drills thïs kind of arrowpass is really easy to do (-S
Did a signature on the bow, made a fd chart and put some arrows trough the chronograph - its the average over 5 arrows. Think this is ok...
But now I must admit, I have put really everything I had into that piece of wood...never worked on a bow for so long. For me it doesn't get any better.
-
Those are some excellent numbers of speed on your bow,and it is considered a self bow.Congrats.
Some projects can go on like that time wise.Hasty problem solving decisions are'nt the way to go many times.Pretty fulfilling yet though to see it work out no matter what the time line is.
I'm currently working on a sinewed red cedar bow that I forget when I sinewed it showing some issues that I thought were too hard to overcome.I'm finding out the issues are'nt as project stopping as I thought they were.Others might come up as tillering progresses though......Ha Ha.It's been at least 5 or 6 years ago from what I can figure.
Is your arrow pass slightly raised?I use horn practically all the time like that.A 11/32" dot most times.It helps me reference it in low light in the tree stand also.Along with regular my usual grip position.I like the shaft of the arrow to ride on the very slightest 1/16" raised area.I don't want anything to be catching to affect my arrow flight be it the fletching or whatever.On softer white wood bows there's never any scratches on the wood.
Some think it makes too much noise having a hard arrow pass.I find that not to be true,at least on my bows.It's never spooked deer for me ever or as they say to jump the string.Course I won't shoot at a highly alerted overly nervous looking at me deer either.
-
I really cannot wait - looks very great. I recently also finished my first OO bow which took a while as well...
Amazing wood for sure!!
Thanks in advance - I will let you know how it shots...
-
Sorry, for posting not earlier, but time and sunshine are hard to catch lately.
I received Simons bow some weeks ago and had plenty of time shooting and having fun with it (-S
She spits arrows and due the early draw weight she feels much heavier.
This is a highly stressed bow design and hopefully my version of a mollegabet will come out that great, too.
Thank you Simon for this looker I am very happy with it.
And, not to forget, thanks for throwing in some matching arrows!!
I selected the money shots, hope you like them.
-
...
-
...
-
That's a sweetheart! :D
-
Thanks for the nice pics ;D Glad to see her in good shape - She's in good hands for sure now - have fun! hope to see her again one day!
edit: osage really is magic, but I too like yew 🤣