hic/BL/mesquite trilam

[snedeker]

61" ntn, 50#/27".  Hickory backing at 1/8" (provided by Matt Simpson), 1/4" strip of b. locust core, tapered to 1/8 thick in outer foot of limbs, spliced 1/2" (under handle) texas mesquite belly.  1 3/8" wide at fades.  Brown osage and hickory handle elements, brown osgae tip overlayes, lower limb 2" shorter than upper limb.

Mesquite is usually pretty expensive, but I got two half lengths boards of high quality for $25 on ebay.  Talked to Ed from Owl bows in the SW who does a lot of sinew backed mesquite stave bows.  He said it was srong in compresson and weak in tension.  I tried to set up two 34" pieces for 2 way lam with box joint splice, ran into knotty area and lost a lot of length from split out.    Had enough left to get a 61" bow with a butt joint, so I found a BL strip lying around and went for it.  Kind of a cool match-up, with the BL in the middle, with its compression problems.  Shoots very nicely. 

Glued in 1 1/2 inch reflex in each of the two glue-ups for a total of 3", settled in at 1.5 inch relfex.  Walnut stain on hickory, truoil overall.  Wood really comes up pretty.

Will try a bamboo back this spring.

Dave

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[snedeker]

mesquite closer up

my son helps with my pics.  Looks like he needs a little work with his focusing. 

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[DanaM]

Looks pretty darn nice Dave, interesting combination ow woods.

[Ryano]

That turned out nice for ya Dave. I still cant get used to looking at them shorter lower limb bows, 2" shorter seems pretty extreme doesn't it?

[snedeker]

Yeah.  THe limb lengths were determined solely by the length of the pieces I had to splice to get the joint well supported under the handle.

It a lot thinner than it looks in the full draw shot because of the angle of the shot. I'm impressed with the energy storage capabilities of mesquite - could have been a much heavier bow with a ttouch more thickness. 

[Pappy]

Beautiful bow Dave,bet it is a sweet shooter.
   Pappy

[OldBow]

Congratulations on a really nice laminant, Dave.  Quite the challenge but fun, though, huh?!
Gotcha bookmarked under Laminant Bow of the Month, too for January 2008!

[Justin Snyder]

Great bow Dave.  I'm with Ryan in how odd the uneven limb length looks.  I don't entirely understand the tiller on them.  Justin

[cowboy]

Good lookin bow! That's kinda funny that mesquite is expensive , there's so much around here. Will try it some time I imagine...

[Woodland Roamer]

Nice bow Dave.

Alan

[snedeker]

Thanks.  About the appearance of the tiller and the lower limb, I wonder if photo angles have anything to do with it.  Notice I am not quite an a right angle to the camera lens, showing the belly of the lower limb, and my boy is 5" taller than me and shooting downwards, thus showing the back of the top limb and perhaps exetnuating the shortness of the bottom.    I thought it looked less marked on the tillering stand.

[huntersim]

The bow looks good Dave....tiller looks to be squared away. I wonder what those dimensions would do with 60 lbs?

[mamba]

Like the color of that wood Dave,and another fine looking bow.

[koan]

I like, now I need to get some mesquite. ....Brian

[Rich Saffold]

Tiller looks good, bow looks real good, and  its an interesting combination of woods. You get a star , and a slat of  bamboo if you show up at the front door...

Rich