Author Topic: Marc St. Louis bow question (with progress pics)  (Read 9762 times)

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Offline Marc St Louis

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Re: Marc St. Louis bow question
« Reply #30 on: May 24, 2018, 06:59:04 am »
If the wood bends easily with dry heat and tends to keep it after tillering then it is a good candidate for a deflex recurve, as long as it doesn't chrysal easily

I used to have a build along Marc did for his bow but it's gone now. Would love to see that one again.

Which particular bow was that?
Home of heat-treating, Corbeil, On.  Canada

Marc@Ironwoodbowyer.com

Offline Nasr

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Re: Marc St. Louis bow question
« Reply #31 on: May 24, 2018, 08:04:20 am »
 So here are some progress pics i should have mentioned that this will be a board bow. I dont have any staves dry yet and the ones i do have are red oak so i wouldnt be able to use it for this project anyway. Still pretty long so when i cut it to its final length it will have 2 inches of deflex then i will recurve the limbs and more at the tips. i went with a v splice and added a back piece and now i will be adding the riser block in after i finish sanding it down. i also kept it pretty wide (1.75"). After i add the riser block i will shape the limbs and reflex them and heat treat them (i will take pics). I am aiming for 50-55 #@28" for this bow. 60 to 62 '' ntn.

Offline Bayou Ben

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Re: Marc St. Louis bow question (with progress pics)
« Reply #32 on: May 24, 2018, 08:28:57 am »
Good start.  You are getting after it.  So you have 2" deflex measuring how much the tips lift the belly in the middle? 


Offline Nasr

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Re: Marc St. Louis bow question (with progress pics)
« Reply #33 on: May 24, 2018, 08:37:02 am »
 not in the middle. I put it against a flat surface and measured the distance of where the tips will be from back of bow to the flat surface. If you want i can take pics to better illustrate what i am saying.

Offline Bayou Ben

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Re: Marc St. Louis bow question (with progress pics)
« Reply #34 on: May 24, 2018, 09:05:49 am »
Okay gotcha.  I'm trying to think about how much you will be left with after you add reflex....

Offline Nasr

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Re: Marc St. Louis bow question (with progress pics)
« Reply #35 on: May 24, 2018, 09:14:46 am »
 Well i am going to attempt to reflex the whole limb to 3 inches past handle and i probably might end up with no reflex at all so it might be straight with the handle. but to be honest i have no clue as i never attempted this design before. tbh my main issue that i am trying to figure out right now is if i should trap the back. I have had good luck with trapping the back on white oak but in those bows I've also heat treated the belly so i am not sure if it was the trapped back or the heat treatment that helped with low set or maybe both.

Offline Bayou Ben

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Re: Marc St. Louis bow question (with progress pics)
« Reply #36 on: May 24, 2018, 09:23:00 am »
I haven't worked with white oak so I don't have anything specific to add there, but I would stick with what worked for you before.  Those other bows you posted looked like they came out nice.

Offline Nasr

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Re: Marc St. Louis bow question (with progress pics)
« Reply #37 on: May 24, 2018, 03:10:36 pm »
added the riser piece now to shape the limbs to rough dimensions then get them reflexed.

Offline PatM

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Re: Marc St. Louis bow question (with progress pics)
« Reply #38 on: May 24, 2018, 05:16:02 pm »
You'll need to be careful heating and reflexing anywhere near the fades. That glue joint will pop apart if you're not careful.

Offline Nasr

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Re: Marc St. Louis bow question (with progress pics)
« Reply #39 on: May 26, 2018, 11:40:58 am »
more pics the white oak limbs at this point are still more than a half inch thick.


Offline Nasr

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Re: Marc St. Louis bow question (with progress pics)
« Reply #40 on: May 29, 2018, 01:42:30 pm »
worked on handle and removed some wood from the belly. Not to happy with how the bends came out my jig need to be worked on so i can get more even bends

Offline Bayou Ben

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Re: Marc St. Louis bow question (with progress pics)
« Reply #41 on: May 29, 2018, 01:59:48 pm »
It looks good to me.  How much reflex did it retain after you took it off the form?  Looks like the white oak bends nicely. 

Offline Nasr

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Re: Marc St. Louis bow question (with progress pics)
« Reply #42 on: May 29, 2018, 02:46:06 pm »
it is so easy to bend white oak i could of reflexed it a lot more the issue was the form that i made. once i get it tillered to 20" or more i am gonna heat treat it again and i might add more reflex at the tips we will see i want to see how it holds its reflex once it starts bending ill go from there