Author Topic: Syringa character bow (updated) (Read 53571 times)

DanaM · « **Reply #45 on:** January 30, 2008, 10:09:31 pm »

Thanks ryano, I think it was on PP I saw someone had posted a lilac bow and said it was an awesome wood.
I trimmed my lilac tree last year and kept some pieces that were 4-5" in diameter and they checked overnight,
but the wood is extremely hard, dense and tight ringed. Should make an awesome bow Keenan.

Gordon · « **Reply #46 on:** January 30, 2008, 10:23:54 pm »

Woohoo! You got her to brace without any major issues. Looking good Keenan!

juniper junkie · « **Reply #47 on:** January 31, 2008, 12:18:10 am »

Keenan, that bow is so ugly its cute

, if it holds together you can name it "frankenstien". Dana, the Syringa we are using is of the lilac family, but not the same as the regular lilac, it has a small white flower, you can see what it looks like if you google search and look at the pics of the Idaho state flower.

DanaM · « **Reply #48 on:** January 31, 2008, 06:53:21 am »

Did a bit of research, your Syringa is not lilac, but I believe they share some similarities.

Radon · « **Reply #49 on:** January 31, 2008, 08:30:40 am »

Hey all,

according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syringa and my own experience (syringa grows in lots of gardens over here) the flower can be white, lilac or even boreaux coloured.

Keenan: great project! Good luck for finishing it!

Stefan

Pappy · « **Reply #50 on:** January 31, 2008, 11:34:39 am »

Brace is a big step and I have to say it looks pretty good.I have seen a lot worse at first brace.
You might just get a shooter out of that yet.I love the anticipation when working on something like that,it's like a roller coaster ride ,sometimes your up and in the next instance your are down,
and then up again,Ye Ha !!!!!

Pappy

Keenan · « **Reply #51 on:** January 31, 2008, 12:13:24 pm »

Thanks for the votes of confidence everyone, Believe me they are needed on this one.

Pappy, I agree, anticipation is a great driving force and you are so right about the roller coaster ride of great hopes and then major challenges.

JJ, I take that as a great compliment,

"that bow is so ugly it's cute" Maby we should all have an ugly bow contest sometime

Keenan

Hillbilly · « **Reply #52 on:** January 31, 2008, 02:21:22 pm »

Keenan, I'm amazed that you've got that crookedy stick braced now-you da man. Very interesting build-along so far, looking forward to the next installment. We've got a couple species of Philadelphus that grow here, but ours are a lot smaller and shrubbier.

Keenan · « **Reply #53 on:** January 31, 2008, 08:23:44 pm »

Thanks Hillbilly, But considering the amount of highly skilled craftsman on this site (yourself included), at times I still think of myself as a rooky with lots to learn.

Here it is braced again after taking some more wood off at mid limb on the straighter limb. Although the brace looks better and more even the limbs are still way to stiff at mid limb. This part can be tricky on the tiller because the reflex starts about the outer third of the limb and you have to keep in mind the original profile while unbraced. Though they look straight as though not bending at all, they have bent a fair aamount from the natural profile.
The third pic shows a lack of patience and relaxed judgement on my part. I was excercising the limb and trying to get a pic to show the places that are stiff and went just a hair to far and held a second to long. Splinter popped up right on the crown of the stiff side.
I think it's repairable. Just another challenge to overcome.

Now that I look at the pics I'm convinced that I'm either in denile or an extream optimist,,,,,,Keenan

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Keenan · « **Reply #54 on:** January 31, 2008, 09:52:50 pm »

I heated the limb fairly warm and very gently lift one side of the splinter and poured in some super glue while holding the bow vertical to get the glue all the way down in the splinter. Then clamped that side down and after it was dry I flip the bow vertically and did the same with the other side of the splinter. After allowing a little while to dry did a few wraps with sinew.
At this point I will wait and see how the rest of the tillering comes together befor trying to figure out how to blend things cosmeticaly.
The splinter lifted on the right limb right at the third grid line from the post. You can see here that after the repair the brace still looks close to the same.
And a few shots showing 12", 14" and 16" of draw. Still have alot of fine tuning to do on the tiller. Still looking stiff from mid limbs to the tips.
Last pic of the string aliagnment. Shows very well why this will be a bow for a lefty. Keenan

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DanaM · « **Reply #55 on:** January 31, 2008, 09:57:17 pm »

Persverence Keenan. She's coming together. Great build along.

El Destructo · « **Reply #56 on:** February 01, 2008, 01:31:29 am »

Real Sinew.....I like to see that!!! If anyone can coax the Bow from this enchanted piece of Growth....it is you Keenan.....you have my total respect for even attempting this one!!

Keenan · « **Reply #57 on:** February 01, 2008, 04:16:16 am »

Dana thanks, Perseverence and obsession are very similar. My wife would say it's an obsession.

Yankee, Thanks I like to use the sinew when I can. It's truely is amazingly strong stuff. "Enchanted piece of wood" I like that.

I like to do things primitive but sometimes todays tools can really aid. If your not sure what your eyes are telling you. Just take a pic and use your photo program to draw in an equlipes. Kind of like this.
In the brace possision the limbs match fairly well, but as you can see in the second pic the left limb needs to catch up a little. If I were to just look at where to tips are I would not notice the difference. Keenan

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Keenan · « **Reply #58 on:** February 01, 2008, 03:48:09 pm »

One thing I have noticed is that I see alot of bows clamped to the tillering post. I think this can sometimes give false readings. If your bow is clamped solid and not alowed to pivot where it is held then there is the possibilty that you can be pulling more on one limb then the other.
Also I think it's important to have the bow supported right where the crotch of your thumb /forfinger would be. I know that in the past I've tillered bows that looked fine on the tillering tree but were slightly different when pulling to full draw.
Not sure if my thoughts and logic are sound but it led me to making my tillering set up like this.
It's a strap that is just nailed the the post, allowing the bow to ballance out and pivot. Seems to work good but it might not work as well if the limbs are unballanced. Keenan

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Justin Snyder · « **Reply #59 on:** February 01, 2008, 04:20:51 pm »

Keenan, looking good. Problems always occur. Endeavor to persevere.

Just to set things straight, Syringa is the family that lilac belongs to. It can be anything form common lilac (Syringa vulgaris) to Japanese lilac tree (Syringa reticulata) and even a bunch of hybrids. All I have ever seen have hard wood and should be good.

Ryan, you moms mock orange is of the family Philadelphus. Justin

Primitive Archer