Author Topic: Something for the kids  (Read 3247 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Brokestick

  • Guest
Something for the kids
« on: November 19, 2007, 09:46:37 pm »
The post by Pappy of his hickory recurve got me thinking about how durable hickory is.  I posted that I slapped together a kid's bow out of scraps I had laying around, and that I had tillered it out to my draw length with no string follow.  Well, that's not true.  I checked it again, and it took 1/4" of follow after I pulled it to 28".  I think it springs back to zero over time.  I think I also said it was a three foot bow.  Wrong again, it's 51" nock to nock.  Guess my memory is going in my old age, sorry.  I figured I'd post a few pics though, mostly to illustrate what you can get away with on hickory.  The limbs are slats that I ripped off the belly of my first hickory bow.  The rings are violated up and down the back.  I butt spliced the limbs and applied a patch over the splice for safety, but it probably wasn't necessary.  The handle, splice patch and tip overlays are of birch I had leftover from my birch bow attempts.   One limb is stiffer than the other, so I chose that for the bottom.  I might scrape the sides off that one down to even it out, but it seems to shoot OK the way it is.  It was a quicky after all.  It was glued up with Titebond II, and finished with linseed oil and wax.  The pics are of the bow braced at 5", drawn 18", drawn 28", and unbraced right after the 28" pic.  There is also a pic of the back, showing all the ring violations.  What set it has, it took as I was taking the overdrawn pic, and it is entirely near the handle.  I think I'll take it back out with a little heat, and just never draw it back that far again.  By the way, It draws 8# at 18".

Julian

[attachment deleted by admin]

Brokestick

  • Guest
Re: Something for the kids
« Reply #1 on: November 19, 2007, 09:49:46 pm »
Here are some pics of the hndle and the tip overlays.

[attachment deleted by admin]

Offline OldBow

  • Member
  • Posts: 2,216
  • I'm just an old retired biology teacher.
Re: Something for the kids
« Reply #2 on: November 19, 2007, 11:39:05 pm »
Wow, you've really got that full draw cranked back.  A good testimonial for the durability of Hickory as you say. Got it bookmarked for Nov Self Bow of the Month, too.
When you're retired, every day is Saturday

Offline Gordon

  • Member
  • Posts: 3,299
Re: Something for the kids
« Reply #3 on: November 20, 2007, 02:45:46 am »
That 28" draw pic is simply amazing!
Gordon

Brokestick

  • Guest
Re: Something for the kids
« Reply #4 on: November 20, 2007, 08:30:43 am »
I was pretty surprised at what it could handle.  I overdrew it as I was making it to make sure that it wouldn't blow up on the kids.  I was playing with it in the garage, missed the target, and punched a hole through the first layer of my steel door with youth arrows for a 35# bow.  At that time it was pulling 10# at 18", and I was probably drawing it to 20"-22".  It lost a couple pounds after I finish sanded it, but its still pretty snappy for a toy.  I need to make some 10-15# arrows for it, and I hope I can get the draw weight back with a little heat reflexing, but that's not important.  It will eventually be for my 5yo boy, but his older brothers are using it to learn the basics while I work on bows more their size.

Brokestick

  • Guest
Re: Something for the kids
« Reply #5 on: November 21, 2007, 10:14:49 am »
I heated some reflex back into the little bow to get rid of that near handle set.  It only brought up the weight by a half pound or so.  I took it out to play yesterday, and it was sticking heavy fiberglass youth arrows an inch into a foam target, so it seems like it's efficient for it's weight.  I think I'll have to try a pyramid bow for Daddy sometime soon.

Julian