I've been on this forum for a while, browsing and asking the odd question. I've only ever posted one bow so far - primarily because when looking at what the rest of you guys produce I feel like my attempts are pretty poor in comparison! I'm in awe of the works of art you all post on here, and very appreciative of everybody's patience and help when dealing with a "newbie" like myself!
That being said, the latest bow that I've completed has made me so pleased that I really wanted to share it with you guys! This is an English yew longbow/warbow hybrid (probably not even a warbow actually, for various reasons so let's call it a heavy longbow!) that came from the ugliest, most defiant stave I'd ever seen. It was heavily propeller twisted, badly deflexed and had the scariest knots and lateral bends I'd ever worked with.
I had to negotiate a nasty fork at the end of the stave which left me forced to heat-straighten right over a frightening knot, and there was also a chunky cluster of pin knots spreading onto the back of the bow, despite creating a snake around the area. This thing is so ugly it's almost beautiful to me! The fact that it survived my amateur advances, and made it back to 32" at a fairly high draw-weight is a miracle as far as I'm concerned, and has made me pretty chuffed!
I ended up heat straightening/heat treating this bow a handful of times (I've actually lost count of the number) as it just wouldn't behave itself. The deflex was removed quite a few times using both heat guns and steam, and each time it went back onto the tiller most of the deflex came straight back!
I apologise in advance for the quality of pics, and lack of full-draw photos - very hard to do on your own but I'll rope my girlfriend into doing some when she finishes work hopefully!
Here are the stats:
72" TtT
80#@28, tillered out to 32"
1 1/2" wide at the grip
12mm wide at the nocks
2" of set just off the tiller (I hate that, but considering how deflexed the stave was I'm gonna have to live with it!)
Most of the back is a single ring, the sapwood reduced from 7/8" down to 1/4" and just under/over in places, aside from where I had to play it safe around the worst knots.
Black Buffalo horn nocks (not entirely impressed with my nocks, but they're the second set I've ever made, and the first made in situ, while glued to the bow. I'll refine them later, and thin them down)
Finished with a single coat of Danish oil so far, and I'll be recoating every day for a while. Should pick up a lovely finish, judging by this first coat!
Anyway, enough nattering, here's some pics. Again, will get full draw pics as soon as I'm able.
This is the only place where the sapwood ended up too thick. I followed a single growth ring, and they spread out like mad at the center. Looks worse than it is though.
The two pics below show where the fork at one end of the stave branched off, and I had to leave this scary looking thing right through the middle of the limb.
