Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: superdav95 on January 30, 2023, 04:48:18 pm
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Making a hickory bow for a friend on a trade. Just roughed it out. It was a nice clean straight stave. It will be a approx 65” ttt and shooting for 45-50lbs at 28”. Going to flip the tips and heat treat this bow. Going to do a special leather wrap for the handle with horn arrow pass and tip overlays. I decided to post this build here for kicks and to give the recipient a progress series of build pics. I know it’s a rather boring build but figured why not. Thanks for following along. Cheers
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Looking forward to seeing what you do with this one... :OK
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Me to Bob.
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Will be watching also.
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Looks like a nice stave. I’ll be watching this one also.
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Cool.
I think I found a couple of Hickory trees the other day. I need to cut one down.
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Yeah, excited to see how it comes out
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Looking forward to seeing it finished up, Don't make many Hickory anymore but use to use it a lot, it makes a fine bow for sure. :)
Pappy
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Looks like the bow I'm working on Dave. Looking forward to seeing the outcome. :OK
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Looking good. I like hickory, too. But it does not like moisture. Jawge
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Here’s some pics of the gentle recurves put in with my trusty old kettle used to boil the tips. I boil them for 30 mins. You can see my form in the background of my messy shop. I keep them pretty stout about 5/8” thick at the tips. This gives me some wiggle room for error if I lift a splinter on the belly of recurve. I’ve done them previously after I’ve pretty well got it floor tillered and at brace but I’m leaving this one and doing them early on in the process to get moisture down again before I get to heat treatment. You can’t put in recurves after heat treatment is done. When you heat treat whitewoods there’s no going back to change or tweak anything after that. What you got is what you got as they say. This is why I’ve done the recurves little earlier on this one. Thanks for watching along.
Cheers.
Dave
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I really like your style, Dave.
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Looking really nice so far Dave.
I like that shape for recurves.
Do you use a metal backer on the belly side when you bend your recurves? I use a thin one and it really helps keep from lifting splinters.
Bjrogg
PS one thing I would like to say. Have everything ready so you don’t waste time when you pull it out of the kettle. Every second counts
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I really like your style, Dave.
Thanks pearl drums!
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Looking really nice so far Dave.
I like that shape for recurves.
Do you use a metal backer on the belly side when you bend your recurves? I use a thin one and it really helps keep from lifting splinters.
Bjrogg
PS one thing I would like to say. Have everything ready so you don’t waste time when you pull it out of the kettle. Every second counts
Thanks bjrogg! I do sometimes use a metal strip also (actually it’s an old metal ruler). I didn’t for this one as it was plenty thick enough and didn’t give me any issues. Your right though every second counts when it comes to getting those recurves done.
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That is looking really good. Beautiful curves. ;)
Pappy
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Looking great as usual Dave.. I might have to try and do a little recurve on my next one. I’ve still got the hickory stave I got from you and it’s screaming for some attention.. I’m definitely following this build with much interest..
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Looking real good Dave! Those recurves going to be static or working?
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Wow...it looks amazing already. With curves like that it will be fast for sure. :OK
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Looking real good Dave! Those recurves going to be static or working?
Thanks Arvin. I think they’ll be static recurves.
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Looking great as usual Dave.. I might have to try and do a little recurve on my next one. I’ve still got the hickory stave I got from you and it’s screaming for some attention.. I’m definitely following this build with much interest..
Thanks mike. Yes lots of possibilities with that piece of wood.
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That is looking really good. Beautiful curves. ;)
Pappy
Thanks pappy!
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Wow...it looks amazing already. With curves like that it will be fast for sure. :OK
Thanks bob. I’m hoping so.
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Looking forward to seeing what you get out of that stick. Going to follow along. Thx for posting!
Mike
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Those are some nice curves.
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Quick update with this bow build. I thinned down the limbs a bit to just under 6mm thick. I also slightly radius belly. I think it should give it a nice grain display on the belly. Also made my form for when I do the heat treatment that on this bow incorporates the recurves. Another day in the house and I think I’ll be good for mc. I’d like to get it close to 8% before I do heat treatment. Thanks for following along!
Cheers.
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I thinned down the limbs a bit to just under 6mm thick.
That's quite thin for a ~45lb bow, how wide are the limbs?
I'm also enjoying the ride, keep up the pictures and updates.
Mark
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The limbs are 1 3/4” at widest point running parallel out to about 14” then tapered to 1 1/2” then the tips currently at an inch wide. These will be 1/2” or less in the end. Still lots of thickness to remove yet but will do that after heat treatment. The heat treatment will add a lot of poundage in the end. I’m also adding a little reflex into the limbs about an inch or so.
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Looks great, Dave. I really like the profile and the recurves. I like your attention to detail. By the way, what kind of hickory is it?
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Thanks Will! This is shagbark hickory that’s been seasoning for about 2yrs.
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Dave I like the curves. Cool bow !
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Just did the heat treatment today. It’s still little dark but will scrape a lot of this away yet. Got a good deep bake on this bow. Let’s hope it survives the tiller. If it does it will be a screamer! Got lots of thickness to take off yet and trim up the tips. Thanks for following along.
The last pic got all twisted up but you get the idea. You can see the depth of the cook goes about little over half way through to the back. Should be good.
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Looks great Dave.
That’s how I do my HHB to. I like when I have a little black tint left from the deep heat treatment after I’m done tillering. I’d rather not have to remove all the heat treatment. Just the char.
Bjrogg
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Thanks bjorgg. I’m hoping to keep some of the caremel Color after the tiller. It took the shape of my form really well. The clamps practically fell off when I was done with heat treatment which is a good sign. Hhb does work well for heat treatment also yes it’s great stuff if you can get straight piece.
Cheers.
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That turned out really nice, Dave. Good luck with the tiller. Should be a nice bow when your finished with it.
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Thanks Will. Not much to update. I thinned down some with card scrapers a bit but still lots to go to get to target. I ended earlier then I wanted today as I got sidetracked with something more pressing. I also narrowed up the tips some too.
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Been busy here but got little more tillering done on this bow. Added my horn tip overlays. Will shape them up better later when I do the string grooves. Still got more scraping to do but will wait till I get to brace. It bends good so far. I’m keeping the handle rather large yet till I get past brace. I’ve also started dishing out the fades a bit too as seen in the pics. Thanks for looking and following along.
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Coming along nicely Dave. Really like how it’s looking so far.
Bjrogg
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Very cool bow, Dave. That should be a screamer. :OK
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Really looking great so far Dave. Can’t wait to see some progress photos. Someday I hope to try something along those lines, but not sure I’m ready yet.
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Looks great! I am glad you are using a moisture meter. I like my hickory 6-8%.
That 8.5 reading you got is a surface reading and it is probably higher as you go closer to finish.
I suggest you keep checking and stop when you get a reading higher than 8% and let it dry.
Jawge
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great work,, :)
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Looks really good, Dave. I’ll be watching to see how much reflex your bow holds after you get it tillered. Thanks for letting us watch your build.
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A quick update on this bow. I got it to low brace and it’s shaping up nicely. I’ve decided to put a layer or two of sinew on this bow. The moisture content of this bow after heat treat was not even registering a reading on my meter. My concern is the dry climate it will be going to and think a little insurance would be a good thing. The bend at brace looks good and to my eye it would be a great candidate for sinew. I’m slow cooking a bunch of scrap sinew chunks and pieces for some glue as I’m running low. Here’s a few pics of it at low brace. Thanks for following along.
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:OK That looks great. I'm looking forward to the tillering, full draw, and finished pictures more than ever now. Great job!
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Really like the way it’s looking so far Dave.
I’m with Bob. Looking forward to seeing the tillering, full draw and finish.
Bjrogg
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Looking good Dave. Might be a flight bow there.
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That baby is looking really good, very nice work so far. :)
Pappy
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She sure is pretty! Looks nice at brace height. Jawge
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Thanks fellas. Takin my time with this one.
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Thanks fellas. Takin my time with this one.
It looks great so far Dave and you are definitely to the point where it pays to slow down.
Bjrogg
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She's looking real good, Dave. Sinew on the back should give her a lot of pop. :OK
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Thanks guys! Just a quick update on this bow… I’ve had interruptions that prevented me getting as much done on this bow as I wanted. Buy that is the way it goes sometimes. Back at today. Got it bending real good just past brace height looking good and getting it all sized up with 8 coats of very thin hide glue mixed with sturgeon glue. I typically use a 20tpi blade to mark my grooves on the back prior to sizing. By the eighth coat it remained nice a shiny and ready to go for tomorrow when I start laying first layer of sinew. The first course will be about 45-50 grams. I like to lay it all out is little Tupperware tubs of water to keep good and wet. I weight out my sinew dry then separated into bundles for each limb. This is the system I find works for me to keep organized. It’s a sticky mess otherwise I find. It’s so important to get the good base layer of servers thin coats of glue to get it to adhere well. Thanks for following along!
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Is that buffalo tip overlays I see? Can’t wait to see this one done!
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Looking sweet Dave.
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Is that buffalo tip overlays I see? Can’t wait to see this one done!
Yes Arvin. They are. I’ll slim them down a bit more on final sand and shaping after sinew
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Here’s a quick little video I did today to show how I prepare my sinew for laying down. If it’s any use to guys out there thinking of doin sinew or Leary of trying it. It’s not too bad of a job if you get organized and get everything set up before hand. Also a couple pics of how I pound out my sinew. I use a piece of muscle wood and a stump. Wood on wood. Anyway hope it helps someone out there.
Cheers
Dave
The video link…
https://photos.app.goo.gl/ekXepC4wwWCUhVSC8
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I need you to show me how to do that.
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Here is the first layer on the bow. About 40-45 grams. I layed this first layer down in three bundles. One pre measured bundle for each limb and then a cap bundle over lapping the limb bundles on the handle. Just like most things devil is in the details and prep work ahead of time. Here’s a couple pics and a short video clip of me laying the sinew.
Cheers.
Dave
Video link
https://photos.app.goo.gl/MxHFBtTK6SL2n9DHA
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I need you to show me how to do that.
The sinew laying or the prep stuff?
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I guess coming to Tx and showing me is not an option.🤠🤠I like the video though.
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I guess coming to Tx and showing me is not an option.🤠🤠I like the video though.
Haha. You send me a plane ticket I’m there! I’d love to come to Texas! 😆
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Looking great can’t wait to hear the stats on this one.
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Looking great can’t wait to hear the stats on this one.
Thanks Matt. Me too!
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The next day. There’s a nice amber Color going on…. I’ll wait a week and see how it looks and start my second layer. Thanks for following along.
Dave
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I just added a couple more inches of reflex with More to come! I’m getting excited about this bow!
Ps don’t mind my messy table.
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That’s looking awesome Dave. I’m getting excited too.
Bjrogg
PS what messy table?
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That’s serious reflex and recurve. I’m watching.
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Looks great. Should be a nice shooter. Jawge
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with that profile that has to be a high performance bow. Nice.
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Question does that string get slack after the sinew is dry.
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Arvin, Not usually but it will keep a good amount of the reflex induced. I did a bow similar to this one last year that had about 10.5-11” of induced reflex tied off while applied sinew and kept about 6-7” after shooting in. Every bow is different. We shall see what this one does but it should be a screamer. I’ve still got more reflex to put into it with final layer of sinew as well. I’ve got more thinning and reducing of tip weight mass yet to do I’m hopeful it’s gonna perform well.
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Still following along. Looking great. Really looking forward to seeing how it turns out.
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Still following along. Looking great. Really looking forward to seeing how it turns out.
Thanks bentstick. I’ll wait till mid next week to do final layer and then give it a good couple weeks of drying before I touch it again. I’ll do mc checks as I get close to 2 weeks and monitor it. Thanks for following along.
Dave
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Update on this sinew backed hickory bow. I put last layer of sinew on this bow this am. It was the longest bundles saved for final coat. 16-17 grams each bundle. Went on nicely. 80-90 grams total. This matched with equivalent weight in glue so approx 170-180grams. I didn’t weight the bow prior to applying the sinew. I guess I should have done that but got eager to get going on it and it was too late. I have to remove some mass anyway from the tips and the handle area yet anyway so it may not have been reflective of actual final finish mass. As it is now I’ve pulled into 10-11” reflex forced into the back strung tension with the string. I suspect it will keep 6-7” of this. Hopefully 7”. I’m hoping it will be close to 190-195 fps with hunting weight arrow. This may seem overly ambitious for this bow but we shall see. The person this will go to will test it out for flight no doubt so I’m very curious on the potential result. I know that a lot of flight depends on the arrow too but hoping for good things with this bow. So just to recap… this bow was just bent to low brace then 3 layers of sinew with progressive increased back tension string applied to 10-11”. I believe this will give good results and not over stress the wood belly fibres and allow the wood and sinew combination to thrive as a new glorious thing altogether. We shall see. Now we wait. 2 weeks before I do anything more. I’ll keep y’all posted. Thanks for following along!
Cheers.
Dave
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Looks great Dave. Sounds like it’s going to a good home. :)
Bjrogg
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Can’t wait to see this bow finished. That looks like a screamer.
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Great build along. The sinew looks really nice! Should be interesting stringing it initially with all that reflex. Thanks for taking us along with the photos, video and description.
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Great build along. The sinew looks really nice! Should be interesting stringing it initially with all that reflex. Thanks for taking us along with the photos, video and description.
Thanks guys. Lookin forward to getting this bending and tillered up. It will need a stringer for sure I think. I’ve strung them up with push pull method before but it wasn’t pretty. I’ll see about getting a stringer made up to go with it if the bow retains 7” or more of it reflex. It may not be too bad. I may also use string bridges at the general area of the apex of the recurves. This will help with getting it strung up I think and not slipping the string so easily. I’ll post updates in a week or so. Thanks for following along.
Cheers.
Dave
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Here’s some pic updates next day after dried up a bit. Color looks really good and solid. I saved the longest bundles for one continuous layer on each limb. Hard to tell from the pics but it layed down nice. I ended the sinew pretty well right at the bend.
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Good tip alignment too. That’s always the worry with these sinewed bows is keeping the tips in line. I got luck here. I put a straight board across the bend at the tips to keep them straight while drying up sinew. Works pretty good.
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Here’s where I suspect I’ll cut in the shelf and how I’ll shape the handle up. My recipient likes this style handle so why not give him what he likes! I will likley leave the shelf bare for him to dress how he wishes. It will be rounded as shown in pencil.
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Here’s where I plan to put the string bridges if I go that route. I’ll cover with leather too. Here’s a few pics of what they will be similar to.
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Looking very good. I really appreciate neat and clean workmanship. Ever considered the Grumley Deerslayer style bridges?
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I've built just over 80 bows - no glass - staves all natural and some flat sawn with bamboo or other backings. They were all pretty good serviceable bows. Had 2 break and made replacements of course. Now, upon seeing the amount of technique's you've implemented to move this stave into a rocket launcher puts me in 3rd grade at the hands of a college professor!
I'm in awe after being "out of the loop" for some time now, how the art of bow building has advanced. I'd sure love to be able to actually put my hands on this one after you have it finished to simply nock an arrow and let it fly. Amazing, and Pearldrums is spot on, the meticulous attention to detail is evident and reflected in the bow. Wow!
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Looking very good. I really appreciate neat and clean workmanship. Ever considered the Grumley Deerslayer style bridges?
Thankyou pearl drums.! I’ve seen some pics of these Grumley deer slayer bridges. They are gorgeous actually. I may have to try them on another build. For this build I’m thinking more of keeping mass at a minimum for speed. Thanks for following along
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I've built just over 80 bows - no glass - staves all natural and some flat sawn with bamboo or other backings. They were all pretty good serviceable bows. Had 2 break and made replacements of course. Now, upon seeing the amount of technique's you've implemented to move this stave into a rocket launcher puts me in 3rd grade at the hands of a college professor!
I'm in awe after being "out of the loop" for some time now, how the art of bow building has advanced. I'd sure love to be able to actually put my hands on this one after you have it finished to simply nock an arrow and let it fly. Amazing, and Pearldrums is spot on, the meticulous attention to detail is evident and reflected in the bow. Wow!
Wow! What a great compliment. Thankyou very much. It’s very nice of you to say this. I’m sure hopeful this bow performs well. I’d say you are doing well to only break 2 bows. I’ve broken several unfortunately. Mostly for testing purposes to push to the limits. Natural materials often get a bad wrap as far as performance is concerned. Many on here have proved and continue to prove that natural material bows are every bit as fast and high performers as the fg bows out there. I’ve had the bug for a bit now and love experimenting with natural bows. This bow will likley be tested for speed as a flight bow if I can get it to the specs requested. Fingers crossed. Thanks for following along. Cheers.
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Yes still watching this close. It’s beauty also. Heck I’d like to test one of your bows!
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Yes still watching this close. It’s beauty also. Heck I’d like to test one of your bows!
Thanks Arvin. You may indeed be testing this one if it survives tiller. I’ll speed test it on my own here before I send it out.
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That is a beauty, coming along very nice. :)
Pappy
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Beautiful bow, Dave and great build. I can imagine that bow being a screamer. :OK
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I have to clarify that I've only had 2 bows break that were in the new owner's hands. I've personally had enough failures to qualify for the "if you ain't breakin' you ain't makin' !!!
I will say that for me plain old staves have been better survivors than backed bows. Like I said, being away from archery in general for a bit and seeing how it has evolved is pretty amazing.
It is great to see that it is getting passed on and being kept alive by so many talented folks.
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Thanks guys. Lookin forward to bending it and getting braced again with the sinew on it.
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Update on this bow build. I have been checking the mc over the last week and been watching the mc drop every day. It was at 6.5 in most places. Seeing this I decided to proceed. I sanded the back down smooth with 100 grit paper in prep for my hog gut backing cover for the sinew. I decided to go this route as my intent is to keep the mass down for this bow. The 2 strips of hog gut backing are under 10 grams including the glue. They come pre glued. I applied my home made sinew glue. They went on very easy. They offer a measure of protection and weight far less then rawhide. This hog gut I used is 4 layers variety all pre glued together on one strip which I cut lengthwise to fit on both limbs. I also decided to cut in my shelf and shaped the pistol style grip. It’s comfortable in the hand.
When I pulled the string off the bow holding it in reflex to my amazement it didn’t loose anything. Still at 11”. The string almost fell off. That’s a good sign I figure. Here some pics. Probably too many pics. Thanks for following along
Cheers.
Dave
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More pics…
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More pics…
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Here’s my new glue pot warmer. It was 50$ good old Amazon. I had to mess around with the dial to get it to regulate at 60 degrees for my glue. Used this to heat my glue for the backing on this bow. Worked well.
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That’s looking like another bad a$$ bow Dave. Must be something about those crazy Canucks.
Do you know if the hog gut is made with hog casings like for making sausage?
Bjrogg
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:OK
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That’s looking like another bad a$$ bow Dave. Must be something about those crazy Canucks.
Do you know if the hog gut is made with hog casings like for making sausage?
Bjrogg
Thankyou sir. Yes it is real natural hog casings cut lengthwise to whatever length wanted then glued in layers to number of layers wanted. In my case 4 layers was sufficient. They have to be cleaned well and degreased and then dried. It’s a much lighter covering for sinew then rawhide.
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That is looking good,beautiful so far. :) I save the casing that split or blow out when I do brats, stretch and dry them out and use them for wraps and other projects, never though about backing a bow with them, good idea. ???
Pappy
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Thanks Pappy! You can buy these from a guy in the states there all ready to go as a kit. He calls them super hog gut bow backing. They are also easy to make if you’ve got the casings too.
Cheers
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Very cool build, Dave. How much reflex do you thing she'll hold after shooting her in?
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Great looking bow Dave. That thing is starting to look like a half moon with all that reflex in it. I need to get working on a bow or two after watching this build..
Can’t wait to see how fast it is..
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Dave that’s a proper hold your arrow in one place handle. I like it. Wow that’s reflex!!! Looking good . I like the hog gut backing.
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Nice bow Dave! Looking forward to seeing how much reflex this bow holds after tillering. Just curious, would snakeskins be less or more weight than hog casings?
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when will you brace it, :)
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Thanks will. These hog gut backings are lighter I would presume. I’m hoping to get it braced up next week when dried enough.
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looking forward to seeing it braced,, :)
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That is really an outstanding beginning, Dave. You have talent. Thanks for sharing! Jawge
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Thanks guys! I’m eager to get it bending this week
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Very cool build, Dave. How much reflex do you thing she'll hold after shooting her in?
Pat. I’m hoping to keep about 7” or more if lucky after shooting it in. Heck I’d take 6” if it shoots well and would just make it easier to string. We shall see this week. I’m gonna do some tillering on it this week.
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Quick update.
So something weird but explainable happened when tillering this bow. I gained reflex! About 1/2” or so. I went from 10.5” after removing the string holding it in backset while everything dried to now about 11.25-11.5”. Only explanation I can see is that by removing belly wood scraping with card scraper I’ve essentially removed some of the resistance on the tension side being the sinew thereby giving more reflex. Just a bit mins you but that’s a first for me. By removing belly wood resistance against the sinew pulling the opposite direction it pulled more reflex if that makes sense. Does this makes sense to anyone else out there or am I losing it??? ;). Anyway here a couple pics. It’s getting to about 1:1 ratio of wood to sinew thickness in bending parts so it should be a screamer! It’s still got lots of weight to scrape off yet too. Also had to make a new set of leather boots for a new stringer for this highly reflexed monster as my old set are not stable enough with this bow. Have a look. I got this idea from bowed actually and I think it should work better. Thanks for following along
Cheers.
Dave
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Couple more
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wow! Put on a hardhat and some safety glasses... :OK I think they make a jig for stringing bows like that...and do it in several steps...
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I really hope this one turns out as good as I think it’s going to.
Bjrogg
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Makes perfect sense to me Dave. That's exactly what I was thinking when you mentioned gaining reflex. Looking great.
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I agree we just learned about moving the neutral plane in the limbs. Cool.
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I agree we just learned about moving the neutral plane in the limbs. Cool.
Yes! that’s the phrase I was lost for words on. Thanks Arvin.
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Here’s some pics of the string saddles added. I kept them slim and slight for weight. Made of white oak.
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I like the string saddles... It reminds me of many years ago when Marc started making his crazy fast bows... he was the first person that I knew who did that. I hope he is watching this thread. :) I really hope it holds together and makes some crazy fast numbers through your Crony. :OK
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Thanks Bob. I’ve seen some of Marc’s bows and they are very very nice bows. It’s guys like Marc that have paved the way for a lot of us on here. I did not realize he did saddles but it makes sense he would as I think there is merit to them for highly reflexed bows for sure. Thanks for watching.
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Dave, Marc made me a bow called "White Lightning" that shot a solid 195fps with 10gpp arrows. It was the fastest bow that I ever shot, but I let it go to someone that could pull the weight when I couldn't. It had moose hide for the bridges...I think? Marc? (http://)
It seems to me that you are heading in the right direction. You and Marc are both way above my pay grade... Congrats!
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Wow that is so cool! I’ll have to go see him up north one of these days. I’m sure we could find a few things to talk about for sure. I’ve never seen this bow before but there are so similarities for sure. What’s interesting is that I’ve named some of my bow lightning or bolt around the same theme too. My web page still under development is called “lightning bows”. Very cool. Thanks for posting that
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Dave are you sure the sinew is completely dry? I know nothing about sinew. Regardless the two different natural materials are moving the neutral plane. How close are you on hitting your draw weight. This might be approaching the point of belly failure. With all the recurve. Interesting for sure.
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Thanks Bob. I’ve seen some of Marc’s bows and they are very very nice bows. It’s guys like Marc that have paved the way for a lot of us on here. I did not realize he did saddles but it makes sense he would as I think there is merit to them for highly reflexed bows for sure. Thanks for watching.
As someone said previously. Crazy Canucks.lol I just hope being close neighbors will rub off on me
Bob that a beauty
Bjrogg
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Dave are you sure the sinew is completely dry? I know nothing about sinew. Regardless the two different natural materials are moving the neutral plane. How close are you on hitting your draw weight. This might be approaching the point of belly failure. With all the recurve. Interesting for sure.
Arvin. Yes the sinew is definitely dry. I made sure to wait the recommended time and then some. It’s been dry in the house here too. There are three layers of sinew. With a couple weeks in between each layer for dry time. This is a good rule of thumb when applying separate courses of thin layers of sinew as opposed to one heavy layer. This allows the dry time to be much shorter 6 weeks as opposed to 4-6 months. Adam K covers this in his book thankfully. It’s what I incorporated here. For reference the First layer was about 30-35grams. Second layer was 30grs. Last layer was about 35grams. Total about 95-100 grams. Now I always comb it out well and remove little bits as I go with each course so that may account for about 5 grams give or take. I would say 90-95 grams of actual sinew laid down. I laid it out with a plan for best coverage and emphasis on critical bending parts of the limbs. No sinew out towards the tips. The concern with belly failure is my concern too with a bow like this. It’s pretty extreme build. The sinew was an appropriate amount for a bow this length and style. Any less sinew would lessen the benefits of the added sinew in my opinion. I do realize it’s a fine line there too with adding weight that impedes cast but my previous builds have me around 80-95 grams for bows of this style. This reflex does make this build a challenge and we shall see if my efforts pay off. Here’s what I know so far… I know that at low brace the bend looked decent and I knew the bow wood was solid dimensions looked good. I purposely left it heavy knowing I’d remove more belly wood. I normally don’t do it this way but wanted to test out my theory of increased performance with keeping belly wood as unstressed as possible. My theory is that it will. We shall see. As far as neutral plane I believe it will be fine. I may yet remove more belly wood at the fades as you suggest to even and spread out the bend. I think a 1:1 ratio is ok with this build as this wood is very hard as it’s been heat treated as well. My experience with heat treatment of hickory that it leaves the limbs quite thin relatively then untreated wood. I realize that I’m pushing the envelope here with some aspects of this build but I blame guys like you Arvin. ;). You put that bug in my ear to make a flight bow actually which I’m stoked about. It’s a cool build that I’m enjoying regardless if it breaks or explodes. It may just all work out and be a screamer and contender for flight. Fingers crossed 🤞
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We’re all routing for you Dave. I know I’d be nervous tackling one that was that close to the edge and posting it as I went.
Might make a good name for her. “Living on the Edge”
Always kinda liked that saying “If you’re not living the edge, your taking up to much space “
Bjrogg
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We’re all routing for you Dave. I know I’d be nervous tackling one that was that close to the edge and posting it as I went.
Might make a good name for her. “Living on the Edge”
Always kinda liked that saying “If you’re not living the edge, your taking up to much space “
Bjrogg
Thanks bj. So true. Life is too short and too precious to waist it all just cruising along on easy street. ;).
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Yeah, this has been a fun build to watch take shape, looking forward to next phase.
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Ok Dave I have no experience with this kind of build. So I’m watching and hopefully learn from it.
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Got this low braced again since the sinew. Doesn’t look too bad. Got some spots to even out but good enough to throw up on the tiller rig. The tips aren’t perfectly lined up. The bottom limb tip is good and straight but the top one is off a little to one side. Not a performance issue I don’t think but a pet peave of mine. The sinew may have pulled it off too maybe. Should still be fine. I’ll get to bending more and post some results. More updates to come this week. I think I’ll have to move my string saddles further towards the tips a bit from the looks of things. I’ll keep and eye on this as I go. Here’s some pics.
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You're almost there... I think that between your tip design and the large string loops that cradle the last couple of inches of the limb...it'll be just fine. Looking forward to the finish... :OK
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Looking good Dave . How was it to string?
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Looking good Dave . How was it to string?
You got a scary part done.
I still always pucker a little first brace and that one would have a higher pucker factor
Bjrogg
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Looking good Dave . How was it to string?
Thanks Arvin! It’s not too bad to string now. I had to make a new stringer for it as it’s still maintaining 10” of reflex which is surprising. I’ll send the stringer with the bow.
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Looking good Dave . How was it to string?
You got a scary part done.
I still always pucker a little first brace and that one would have a higher pucker factor
Bjrogg
That’s for sure bj. I’m glad it’s braced and bending now. Little stiff in spots but I’ve been up to my neck dealing with maple syrup that I can only do little here and there.
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Here’s a quick little update on the bending of this bow. Bend doesn’t look too bad but still need to work it out a bit to be the bend that I’m looking for. Little more inner bend on the top (right) limb I think from looks of things. I’ll do a another 20-30 pulls to 23-24” and see how it looks tomorrow. I’m neck deep in sap to boil right now so if I get another chance tonight to bend it a bit more tonight. Here’s a short video clip of preliminary bending to 23-24”. It’s at about 41-42lbs so far. Thanks for looking and following along on this adventure of pushing the extremes.
Also to my surprise I have kept 10” immediately after stringing and pulling for a while maybe an hour or so while I run back and forth to boiling sap! After about 10-15mims it creeps back to just under 11” reflex! We shall see if this translates into performance or not.
Vid clip
https://photos.app.goo.gl/NTgGNBJpgtBaD8Q59
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Few more pics… I made the grip little smaller too. Cheers
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Very impressive build, Dave. Waiting patiently for the chrono results.
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What PaSteve said. Looks really good on the tree. Good luck with it the rest of the way. Thanks for the photos and video.
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8) )W( :BB )P( :-D Very Nice
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Wow. Quite the extremes indeed. Very fun to watch. Thanks for taking us along.
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Good new and bad news on this build. The good news is that it didn’t explode! The bad news it’s not stable. I got to 40lbs at 25” draw today after about 50 pulls. And slowly developed a start of a hinge on the outer of the top limb. Tried to even it out and carefully scrape strategically to balance the limbs out. Got it looking good at 27”-28” at 44 lbs on the tree. Went out and put few dozen shots through it and it shot ok. Not at all what I was hoping for with the reflex I worked into this bow. I fired 400 grain arrows and was drawing it to 28” and seemed to get warmed up and shoot little better. If I were to guess around 170-180fps. Nothing spectacular but decent. Upon inspecting the bow I noticed the top limb inners start to bend out of balance. Not a hinge per se but a pronounced bend on the inners compared to The bottom limb. After leaving it rest at brace it balanced out again and looked ok. Here’s what I think happened…. I had purposely left lots of belly wood to tiller down after the sinew in hopes to not stress the belly fibers for enhanced performance to balance with the sinew. This would normally have been fine but I was getting so thin trying to get within the 45-48lbs window that I ended up with the sinew doing the bulk of the work which is not stable. Every time I unstrung the bow to rest it and restrung it there seemed to be some corrections that needed to be made to balance. I realize that this is the nature of sinew and that it needs to be “warmed up” so to speak and work the limbs and physical balancing that needs to occur but even after an hour of this and getting it balanced eventually it was not as stable as I hoped. It shot well though and true just not stable enough to send out this way. The sinew is doing the bulk of the work and pretty amazing really that it comes right back to 10-11” reflex almost right away after shooting. It’s pretty much a sinew bow with a little wood added in it current state. I would have been better off to leave this heavy at say 60-65lbs draw for a well behaved bow. Too much sinew in relation to the dense heat treated wood.
So here’s my options as far as I see it.
1. put a horn belly lam on the bow to add some stability
2. Add a boo lamination on belly.
3. Leave it the way it is at 40lbs at 27” for mediocre performance.
4. Call it a failure and move on.
What do you guys think???
You can see from the pics how thin the wood got in relation to the sinew.
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Well I can't give you advise in how to fix it but can say option 4 is out of the question, that is no failure!
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Thankyou buck skinner!
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Dave as I was reading about your problem I was thinking all the while this would be a good candidate for horn.
I’m going to vote for #1 not that I have any experience with it but I think it would work.
I was watching how thin your wood was getting in the latter stages of this build. I think you are right it would probably have made a good 55 or 60 lb bow
Bjrogg
PS of course I know that is by far the most work and I hope that they don’t move this one to the horn bow section
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What does the bow weigh right now? I’m curious.
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Shoot it thru the crono. For giggles
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Will the bow go 29”?
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Tough problem, but not unlikely with sinew and hickory. Both are tension monsters. That poor belly is in for a battle, I would think. I vote for a boo belly. Horn is nice, but heavy and will probably not help the mediocre performance you speak of.
That's my .0314287 cents :)
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Arvin I’ll weigh it and let you know. Ive started prepping for the horn already but prior to that it weight about 690grams. The tips and handle could be slimmed down a bit yet I think too. I would say finished out it would have been around 650grams. Now with the horn it’ll be closer to 750-800grams. The bow I did last year similar to this build was around there for weight. It shot around 195-197 at 10gpp. So close! I had some readings at 203fps with 400grain carbon arrow.
Bj I think I’m gonna go with the horn laminate on the belly. I’ll get it set up today and post some pics.
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Tough problem, but not unlikely with sinew and hickory. Both are tension monsters. That poor belly is in for a battle, I would think. I vote for a boo belly. Horn is nice, but heavy and will probably not help the mediocre performance you speak of.
That's my .0314287 cents :)
That’s funny PD. I was up late last night debating this and cut and prepped a set of boo slats as well as horn slats. Trying to decide I figured I would decide this am. I am gonna go horn as I know I can still scrape a bit to fine tune tiller. The boo I’ve done too with great results but it is trickier to get tiller right with belly lam. I hate scraping too much of the power fibers off to fine tune. Yes the weight increase with horn is an issue but it’s pretty elastic and tough. Horns is a known match mate with sinew and wood core. I literally just decided this before seeing your post.
Thanks for your input.
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Good thought. Boo would limit the tweaking you are able to do. Maybe the compression strength of the horn will add enough performance that the extra mass it adds is negated? You could very well end up with a rocket ship :) Hope you do!
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Good thought. Boo would limit the tweaking you are able to do. Maybe the compression strength of the horn will add enough performance that the extra mass it adds is negated? You could very well end up with a rocket ship :) Hope you do!
Well you two both know way more about this than I do. Don’t let my vote make you go against your better judgement.
I have never done anything with sinew backing or horn belly but I do know it is a very durable combination and you have experience with it.
I’m thinking that the horn would probably be pretty thin yet? Are you going to try for a heavier draw weight?
Bjrogg
PS I’m still thinking it’s going to be a rocket launcher too. Still routing for you. And have my respect for sharing the details of this build as it goes
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Just curious Dave. I'm assuming you would use fish bladder or hide glue for the horn belly? Also, how thick would the initial horn lam be and much draw weight do you think it will add? I have zero experience with horn. Just trying to learn.
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Hey guys. I glued up the horn belly lam this afternoon. They are drying. I used ea 40 smooth on for this glue up. I’m hoping it will give a little more stability and be less susceptible to moisture using hide or sturgeon blend glue. I’ve had good results with both really. The sturgeon glue is quite a bit trickier to pull off and I wasn’t in the mood for today. The ea 40 is great glue for horn to wood. I just do a wipe down with acetone on both surfaces prior to glue up. It’s a gooey sticky mess but it works well. Here’s a couple pics of the mess of clamps and inner tube wrap. I made sure to pre heat bend the horn as much as I can so that the sinew isn’t fighting it. I do a quick dry run and then glued it up.
Hard to see what’s going on here with the mess of clamps but there is a bow in there. The stick at the bottom is to keep the tips aligned while drying.
I didn’t measure the slats but they are approx 1/8” thick and taper some towards the tips.
Thanks for following along
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The build along that keeps on giving.
I’m surprised you got the horn ready so fast Dave. I was expecting it to take weeks. I’m assuming you already had slats prepared? Or can you buy them that way?
We’re going to get a good education from this build.
Bjrogg
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Very interesting for sure.
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Dave, you are very persistent. I hope it works out for you. Jawge
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The build along that keeps on giving.
I’m surprised you got the horn ready so fast Dave. I was expecting it to take weeks. I’m assuming you already had slats prepared? Or can you buy them that way?
We’re going to get a good education from this build.
Bjrogg
Bj. Ya. I have slats that I bought last year but they need to be shaped into consistent thickness. They come pretty rough and uneven. I like to pre Bend with a little heat and do a dry fit for good measure. For this build I hadn’t intended to use horn and for a bow with sinew and horn on wood laminate I would glue up horn first and may be inclined to use fish glue. I wouldn’t be concerned with the heat interfering with the sinew if done in right order. So normally horn first then sinew. So the ea 40 was the way to go.
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Dave, you are very persistent. I hope it works out for you. Jawge
Thanks jawge. It’s that or stubbornness;)
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Thanks for the explanation Dave. Makes sense
This certainly has become a good lesson in problem solving.
I still think this one is going to be worth the effort
Bjrogg
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Wha kind of horn you s it? I have used gemsbok and water buffalo. Horn does tiller good.
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Wha kind of horn you s it? I have used gemsbok and water buffalo. Horn does tiller good.
Arvin. It’s water Buffalo horn.
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Cool you had some big ones
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Arvin. Ya I had some that worked good. 22.5” long. Glue up went well. I rasped off some of the glue lines and all looks good. I had enough clamps I guess. With the weight of all the hardware and clamps in place I gained a few more inches of reflex. It’s now at 14.5”. Not too concerned about this as I am sure the horn is good for it. The top limb tip got very slightly twisted to the left. Luckily with horn it’s possible to make minor low heat corrections. I’ll see if it’s necessary to do when I get to that point. Glue lines seem pretty good as far I can tell right now. Here’s some pics. Thanks for looking
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Couple more…
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Nice!! That’s serious reflex. And horn tools so nicely. Could you have trapped the back before when you ran low on belly wood? Just curious.
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Nice!! That’s serious reflex. And horn tools so nicely. Could you have trapped the back before when you ran low on belly wood? Just curious.
Thanks Arvin. I don’t think so. To do so I would have had to do that before the sinew and hog gut covering over the sinew. The back has a slight crown on it with the addition of the sinew. To do a trap of back now may violate the carefully laid sinew. I guess it could be done in theory but the sinew held so strong and should be a good balance with the horn. We shall see anyway. I’m hoping for it to be around 800 grams in weight which is similar to my build from last year and it’s a screamer.
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Things are looking good again (-P
Bjrogg
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Things are looking good again (-P
Bjrogg
Yup. I think it will bow. Will get back at it Monday.
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Nice!! That’s serious reflex. And horn tools so nicely. Could you have trapped the back before when you ran low on belly wood? Just curious.
Thanks Arvin. I don’t think so. To do so I would have had to do that before the sinew and hog gut covering over the sinew. The back has a slight crown on it with the addition of the sinew. To do a trap of back now may violate the carefully laid sinew. I guess it could be done in theory but the sinew held so strong and should be a good balance with the horn. We shall see anyway. I’m hoping for it to be around 800 grams in weight which is similar to my build from last year and it’s a screamer.
I was speaking of trapping before the hickory got to thin. But thanks for the explanation.
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Nice!! That’s serious reflex. And horn tools so nicely. Could you have trapped the back before when you ran low on belly wood? Just curious.
Thanks Arvin. I don’t think so. To do so I would have had to do that before the sinew and hog gut covering over the sinew. The back has a slight crown on it with the addition of the sinew. To do a trap of back now may violate the carefully laid sinew. I guess it could be done in theory but the sinew held so strong and should be a good balance with the horn. We shall see anyway. I’m hoping for it to be around 800 grams in weight which is similar to my build from last year and it’s a screamer.
I was speaking of trapping before the hickory got to thin. But thanks for the explanation.
Ah yes. Gotcha. Ya I never expected it to get so thin. That may have been an option to consider. Oh well it will get sorted now with the horn I think.
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That bow is coming along really nicely.
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Looking good, Dave. How much weight do you think the horn belly will add?
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That bow is coming along really nicely.
Thanks Gordon.
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Looking good, Dave. How much weight do you think the horn belly will add?
Thanks Pat. If I were to guess right now it’s somewhere above 70#. Likley close to 80. This is ok as I’m not going to force it this time. I had put it into my vise sideways and was measuring each limb separately to get an idea of where some removal needs to occur and measured each limb around 45lbs not even to very low brace height. Still got some scraping to do to get bend looking good but I’m not shooting for 45-48lbs final draw. Sometimes we have an idea in our heads of what We want and the bow tells us different. I was trying to fit a square into a round peg with this one and learned a lesson that I may not be able to impose my will on this guy. It let me know it too. Sometimes listening is not my best quality even if it’s inanimate objects ;).
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Did some shaping of the horn on this bow. It’s still a little heavy and will be taking it carefully on reducing weight. I will be getting the bend looking good and letting the bow tell me what it wants to be for draw weight. I had also added some hood wedges at the bends near the tips to beef up this area to take the strain of added weight. There is a good ratio of sinew/wood/horn now but still heavier then my initial target draw weight. About 1/3 for each wood sinew and horn. Have a look. Here’s some pics.
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Really have enjoyed watching this, I think your persistence and skill will pay off sooner or later ;) :) :) you said you wasn't forcing your will but you kind of are , it wasn't going to be the bow you wanted it to be so now you are forcing it to be. Hope it finely given in and listens. :) I am rooting for ya.
Pappy
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I’m enjoying following this build. That horn belly looks really nice! Looks like you got a great glue line between the wood/horn interface. Look forward to seeing what weight you end up with and how it shoots for you. Good luck
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It may not be the bow you set out for it to be, but you sure have it looking nice at this point. I certainly admire your determination and hope it pays off.
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Thanks fellas. Now that I’m done with maple syrup I can get back to it. ;)
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Thanks fellas. Now that I’m done with maple syrup I can get back to it. ;)
I was wondering how the maple syrup was going. I know all about those priorities and how important timeliness is in doing them. Curious though. Are you finished with syrup or just caught up to sap? I haven’t talked to my buddy lately. I think he just tapped his trees last week.
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Thanks fellas. Now that I’m done with maple syrup I can get back to it. ;)
I was wondering how the maple syrup was going. I know all about those priorities and how important timeliness is in doing them. Curious though. Are you finished with syrup or just caught up to sap? I haven’t talked to my buddy lately. I think he just tapped his trees last week.
We are a small operation here. We tapped our trees in February when we had that week or two of mild weather. That first couple weeks are what give the best syrup in my opinion. It’s a beautiful light golden Color and the taste is very good. This last week we’ve noticed that the Color got darker and decided to shut it down. Still tastes good but just personal preference. Sap is still flowing here and guys I talk to are still full steam ahead. We’ve had enough this year and got lots. Just boiled up my last gallon of syrup last night. It’s a fun hobby until it’s too much like work. It was also getting in the way of my preferred hobby/fetish! ;)
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My buddy does the same as you. They start early and finish early.
They make some that’s almost as clear as moonshine. Quit as soon as it starts to darken. I haven’t seen him lately so I’m guessing he is still in the woods. From my understanding as soon as the buds start swelling up the color goes.
I asked him about that and he said the same. It’s really just a preference of his but he thinks it’s the best syrup.
Bjrogg
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What a wild project. Really enjoying watching it unfold for sure. Thank you.
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What a wild project. Really enjoying watching it unfold for sure. Thank you.
Thanks Matt. It’s a wild one for sure. Pushing some limits here and hope it pays off.
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Started working this bow down and bending a bit more the other day and developed a crack in the upper portion of the top limb near the string saddle. At first I thought it was just the normal cracks and creeks of sinew and glue. However upon closer inspection and further bending of that limb I found the issue was a bad section of wood in the area just down from from the string saddle for about 3-4”
Long. I figured this may be it for this bow but figured one last ditch effort attempt. I proceeded to remove the entire hog gut backing cover I had put on top of the sinew which was not happy with anyway on this bow. After I scraped it all off I began scoping out what I was gonna do about the split in the wood under the sinew… I decided to leave the sinew intact as it had held beautifully and was clear that the wood underneath had failed under the pressure at that point on the limb. The transition area has a lot of stress focused and may have been partly to blame. The bottom limb is just fine and bending nicely. Both limbs were looking good actually but when the crack occurred I decided to take measures of a more permanent nature then to squeeze thin ca glue down into the area. I didn’t take pictures prior to doing the repair but here are a few after the fix. I did put a little patch of sinew on the top to give little more security too. I’ll add a little to the bottom limb too to balance it out later. After resting it a few days and letting sinew dry I did some bending and all seems good for now. I will carry on with the build. I’m gonna rename this project the “accidental horn bow”. Both limbs bend good now I think I’ll put equal amount on the same area of bottom limb for good measure. Here’s some pics. Thanks for watching. The section outlined in red is where the new splice of fresh wood went in underneath the sinew.
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It has been a good learning experience for us Dave.
Maybe like Bob Ross. A happy little accident
Bjrogg
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Little Update on this build. I had been waiting on new rawhide for this bow. The stuff I had on hand was not long enough. Here’s some pics of it on the bow. I’ll wait a few days for this to dry now and start bending it again. Thanks for following along.
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Couple more…
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I think you should call it the sammich bow because of all the layers it has.. wood, sinew, horn and rawhide. Not to mention some mayo glue in there.. I obviously don’t have the talent to make a bow like that but damn. All kidding aside that’s pretty impressive Dave. I’m still trying to figure out how to make a decent looking nock )W(
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Lol. Thanks mike. I’ve seen some of your latest bows. Your not fooling anybody. I think you got the nocks and then some figured out.
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Watching glue dry. All part of it.🤠
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Ok so went to work on this today and got it as close as I date go. It’s at 46lbs at 28” on my scale. It feels more stable doing several pulls on the tiller rig. 50 pulls to 28”. 20 at 29”. Feels good so far. Proof will be in the shooting tomorrow if weather is good. The horn stabilized the bow I think and hope it will be a good shooter. Here’s some full draw pics. Tiller on the top limb on the right side towards the tip transition is little stiffer then I want but that’s due to the splice repair that was done there. Looks good otherwise and the bend is where I want it. After doing several pulls on this thing it came right back to its highly reflexed profile. It settled in at around 13” reflex right after unstringing and letting it rest for about 5-10 mins. Gotta be happy with that. I’ll try and get a chance to shoot this again tomorrow. Here’s some pics. The third pic shows the splice repair. Seems to be holding. Thanks for looking and following along on this crazy build.
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Looks fast to me!
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I gotta second Arvin’s notion.
It does look fast.
Thanks for sharing this build with us Dave. I know it was a challenging one and it threw you a curve ball or three. I think it was a good opportunity for us to step a little closer to the edge and even look over it. Great learning experience.
One like this is on my bucket list. I’m not sure I will have the nerve to post it as I go through.
Well done
Bjrogg
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Hope it works out for you. Looks speedy for sure.
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WOW , that turned out nice. :)
Pappy
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Thanks guys! It’s been a journey for sure. So I tried to do some shooting today and get some speed readings but they were all over the place and never consistent. I’m not sure if the very sunny windy weather had something to do with it or just one of those things today. The bow settled into around 45lbs at 27-28” draw. I had readings all over ranging from 50fps to 298fps. I couldn’t seem to get consistency at all with my chrono today. I’ll have to try it again some other day with new battery maybe I don’t know. I eventually had some readings around the 170-180fps range at about 10gpp but can’t rely on these till I retest. Just shooting it today it seems very nice and would be surprised if it’s faster then 180fps at 10gpp. Comparing the feel of it though it seems moderately speedy and smooth. Not my fastest bow though. Very little handshock which was to be expected. There is a bit of tip twist that I couldn’t resolve in the end but did t seem to affect it much. Much more stable now with the horn. I left it strung up for a few hours today messing around with it and shot close to 160 arrows through it at around 27-28” draw. It’s smooth and pleasant to shoot. It seems to like my stiffer 300’s at about 450grains. They were about 31” long. It also shot well with lighter 350 spine arrows too but had little more side kick out and shot less straight out of the bow. It’s hard to tell in the video posted here cause of the light shining but the stiffer arrows shot the straightest of the ones tested. This could be how I’m shooting vs others too. The recipient of the bow will get some good shooting out of it I hope and has been observing the build hurdles on this one. After shooting today I unstrung it and it went back to 11” immediately and then settled back to approx 13” reflex. Here’s a couple links to video clips. Sorry for the lighting here the sun was making it hard to see the arrow flight. I’ll see if I can get better lighting and try again another day.
Couple short vids
https://photos.app.goo.gl/vSDhUjJ1FnjwTrLJA
https://photos.app.goo.gl/jxCpaBX3i1TzBSHX8
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Sure looks smooth in the videos. You definitely have more perseverance than I do. Great job of sticking with it and coming out with a great bow through all the challenges.
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Sure looks smooth in the videos. You definitely have more perseverance than I do. Great job of sticking with it and coming out with a great bow through all the challenges.
Thanks bentstick It tested my patients for sure but ended up with a bow in the end. Lessons learned on this one with many more lessons awaiting for me I’m sure. Accidental horn bow crept into the non horn bow pages. Oh well nobody seemed to mind anyway. More traction here anyway. I think less sinew would have been better and would have allowed me to keep more wood thickness on the belly instead of chasing weight. Either that or just let the bow be heavy at around 60-70. Anyway it worked out in the end.
Thanks again
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Did some more shooting with this bow this am and got more consistent readings. I’m questing that the overcast weather had something to do with it. It shoots consistently around 180,182,183. Shooting a 450grain arrow. The bow pulls 45lbs and at 28” draw got more consistent readings today. Not too bad. Had no one around to take video for me unfortunately but feel little better about it now. Now I just need to figure out how to finish this up. Do I put a stain job on it then seal it up or just seal it up the way it is. Right now it’s just got the rawhide covering. Thoughts???
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Here’s a video of me stringing up this bow. My old stringer for my long bows was not gonna work for this highly reflexed bow. I made a new stringer for it and figured I’d post a short clip of me using the stringer. The recipient has opted to have this bow the way it is with no stains on the back. I’ll put some sealer on it and send it out with a natural look. I’ll post pics when done.
Video clip
https://photos.app.goo.gl/xnzKuTZ52EBGbNrz6
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Really enjoied following this build. Glad it turned out as nice as it did even through all it challenges along the way.
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Great build along. Lots of good information on the build and the solutions for the problems that could be encountered. Thanks for taking the time. Final product looks great, all around. Just a plain WOW kinda project. Fella getting this piece is getting something good.
Mike
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Great build along. Lots of good information on the build and the solutions for the problems that could be encountered. Thanks for taking the time. Final product looks great, all around. Just a plain WOW kinda project. Fella getting this piece is getting something good.
Mike
Thanks mike. It was a learning curve for me this one. I’m happy with it in the end and hope the recipient will be too.
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Really enjoied following this build. Glad it turned out as nice as it did even through all it challenges along the way.
Thanks Aaron. I actually enjoyed the challenge of this accidental horn bow as well. My intent initially making this bow for my friend was not to post it as a build along but it did put me on the spot to put out and overcome. I think it’s an important lesson for us Boyers to realize that these kind of challenges are just part of bow building. It’s rare when we get the perfect pieces of wood to work with but more often then not we need to find solutions to overcome with less the perfect pieces. This piece has taught me a few lessons I will not forget. Each bow can teach us something. It’s easy to fall into the trap of doing the same bows and not expanding the comfort zone of builds. That’s what I love about this craft. Lots of guys on here and elsewhere that are great builders know the importance of raising their bar. A lot of guys And gals that I look up to and aspire to be like are challenging themselves in their builds. Glad to be part of this community.
Thanks again guys for all the kind words and following along.
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Ok so I put several coats of tru oil on after sanding it all down. The recipient as I mentioned before wanted the natural look so I honoured this and named this bow “The Natural”. Seemed fitting. Put some basic stats on the belly of bottom limb and called it done. The horn really shows the grain nice in the sun. Thanks for following along on this one.
Dave.
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Couple more…
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That is a beauty! Bow of the month? Could be. I liked the build along. And yes Dave I’ll stop building when the challenge stops happening!
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That is a beauty! Bow of the month? Could be. I liked the build along. And yes Dave I’ll stop building when the challenge stops happening!
Haha. Thanks Arvin. I already submitted a different bow. I’ll submit this one next month. Your right it’s about pushing the limits of our capabilities and testing the limits of the materials. This bow was made with mostly “natural” materials and bows like this can throw us for a loop sometimes and tell us what it wants to be or not be. We just need to be willing to listen. Sometimes I can be a little hard of hearing and my stubbornness takes over. ;)
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Well I know I said I was done this bow but just couldn’t send it out without a leather wrap. Had a nice piece a black leather the worked out nice. Suits it well I think and looks more complete now. Sending it out tomorrow
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so...what's the "rest of the story" on this bow? Arvin? I applaud you Dave because you never gave up. :OK
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Beautiful work.