Author Topic: starting a hickory bow,,  (Read 4868 times)

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Offline bradsmith2010

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starting a hickory bow,,
« on: November 21, 2020, 11:52:13 am »
  Got a really nice piece of hickory from Allyn,, going to see what I can do,, I was agressive and split into 4 pieces,,for some sinew bows,, I hope,, the last peace is a bit small but I think will make a shorter bow,,
the other ones are 60 inches,, and gonna work on that today and rough out to floor tiller and then heat bend the whole bow into reflex,,
and go from there, I probably not gonna use a caul on this,, just tiller it backwards and heat it, and see what it does,,gonna put 3 layers bout of sinew, and then fast cure it,,just for fun,, and see how it does through the chrono,,at 60 inches I will just tiller out till it starts to shoot good,, guessing it will be ok at 28 or maybe a little more but will just test it as I go,,and see when it starts shooting hard,,well thats my plan ,, but will see how it goes,,,
   Im not going for a specific draw weight,, or draw length,,as I tiller it out, when it starts shooting hard and is bending even I will stop,, and take whatever the poundage is,at that draw,, , unless its too heavy for me to draw, and I will tame it down a bit,, :)
« Last Edit: November 21, 2020, 12:02:03 pm by bradsmith2010 »

Offline Hawkdancer

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Re: starting a hickory bow,,
« Reply #1 on: November 21, 2020, 12:04:58 pm »
Have fun! Make shaving, and pat pic! :BB (SH)
Hawkdancer
Life is far too serious to be taken that way!
Jerry

Offline bradsmith2010

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Re: starting a hickory bow,,
« Reply #2 on: November 21, 2020, 12:57:56 pm »
ok I gonna post pics later,,  :)
ok got it going a bit,, will finish taking off bark and shape the bow rough, hopefully today or first thing morning,,
« Last Edit: November 21, 2020, 02:20:58 pm by bradsmith2010 »

Offline simson

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Re: starting a hickory bow,,
« Reply #3 on: November 22, 2020, 02:10:11 am »
Nice looking staves there, Brad.
I'm curious what you will doing with them.
Simon
Bavaria, Germany

Offline PaSteve

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Re: starting a hickory bow,,
« Reply #4 on: November 22, 2020, 07:09:12 am »
Sounds like a neat experiment Brad. Looking forward to seeing the results. When you say fast cure the sinew... What time frame are you expecting? Also, how much more weight do you think it will gain when the sinew is "fully" cured? Good luck.
"It seems so much more obvious with bows than with other matters, that we are the guardians of the prize we seek." Dean Torges

Offline bradsmith2010

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Re: starting a hickory bow,,
« Reply #5 on: November 22, 2020, 11:25:05 am »
   its so dry here in Sant fe,, that the sinew drys pretty quick and then doesnt gain much weight after curing for a more conventional time frame,,if I start tillering the bow in one or two weeks  with two layers of sinew,, on thicker layer I try to wait a bit longer,, ,  I tried to string one too soon and cant describe it but it felt mushy, so I just let it cure more,,when I go back and weigh the bow weeks or months later,, its the same, now that being said,, when I made some bows in Texas 20 years ago with high humidity,, the bows would pic up weight as the sinew cured,, here they seem to stabalize and pretty much stay the same,, they stop pulling reflex and gaining weight after tillered and shot in,,
   Sometimes I think if I was more patient,, the bow might perform better if I let it cure longer,, and it might,, but shooting through the chrono,, I get a positive result,, and I realize I may have compromised the performance a little, but it does not seem to have much negative effect,,,
   if I string the bow, and it seems to tiller well, I feel the sinew is ok,, and even if it did pick up some weight I would be ok with that,, even Laubin in his book says a couple of weeks is ok,, to start one,,,,usually takes me a week or two to tiller, so its drying then too,,
    I have just been experienting to see what I can do, I made a kids bow from Juniper and just waited 1 or 2 days and started shooting it,, just to see,, it only had one layer,, I saw no negative effect,, I didnt weigh it, just tillered it and shot it,,
    most the time Im working with osage,, so when I put the sinew on the hickory, the short cure time may not work,,but it will be fun to see what it does, and if it picks up weight or if it will shoot hard with a fast cure time,,
     I am just working on a bow now, that has two layers, I did wait over two weeks,,not much,, it will shoot a 468 grain arrow 175 fps  it is 56##26 inches,, the arrow is lighter that 10 gpp,, but I consisder it a hunting weight arrow,, the bow is 62 inches long,, and the 26 inch draw would he condidered short for that length sinew bow,, at 28 or 29 would probably be more effecient,,that was tested with b55 ,, I think with fast flight it would be to 180 with the 8.36 gpp,,,and at the longer draw maybe a little better,, so if the fast cure is hurting the performance Im not sure,, the sinew can cure in the state it is in now I think, I dont think I damaged it,,
     since I always think of the bow as a hunting bow,, once they get to a point of being able to take a deer I am pretty happy,, I have  just enjoyed pushing the time frame a bit to see what happens with no expectaion,, I am just not patient,, these are just simple bows, I am sure with more complicated designs cure time would be an important factor,,
      I plan on letting the hickory dry for a week and then string it and see how it feels, if it feels mushy or not stable, well I learn something and wait longer on that one or,,, the next one ,,,if I ruin it somehow,, bending a hing or something,,
   I wanted to add the stave is at 8% moisture the best I can tell, I am sure it will pick up some moisture when I put the sinew on,, I will paint the belly to hopefully keep it from checking when I put the sinew on,,
   I have had good success with that,, some put tape and I think that works well too,,
« Last Edit: November 22, 2020, 01:05:00 pm by bradsmith2010 »

Offline PaSteve

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Re: starting a hickory bow,,
« Reply #6 on: November 22, 2020, 11:41:39 am »
Thanks for sharing that info Brad. Interesting.
"It seems so much more obvious with bows than with other matters, that we are the guardians of the prize we seek." Dean Torges

Offline Bob Barnes

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Re: starting a hickory bow,,
« Reply #7 on: November 22, 2020, 11:50:03 am »
thanks for doing this ... I'm watching and enjoying the information...  :OK
Seems like common sense isn't very common any more...

Offline bradsmith2010

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Re: starting a hickory bow,,
« Reply #8 on: November 22, 2020, 12:21:52 pm »
ok sorry for the long post,,
Simson, just a straight D bow with 2 or three layers of sinew,,
with a gentle reflex in the whole bow,
no built up handle just slightly bend in handle,,
very rough roughed out pics,,
will go to draw knife and rasp and get it to bend,,

you can see it has a bit of character,, it just split out that way, I didnt try to make it straight,, by cutting it,,
just let it flow with the grain like it wants,,  :)
« Last Edit: November 22, 2020, 01:01:24 pm by bradsmith2010 »

Offline willie

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Re: starting a hickory bow,,
« Reply #9 on: November 22, 2020, 01:16:22 pm »
Quote
I plan on letting the hickory dry for a week and then string it and see how it feels, if it feels mushy or not stable, well I learn something

Have you thought to use a grain scale to monitor the moisture loss after applying the sinew? Perhaps you can accelerate the drying process with heat/sunshine/breeze once the initial bulk of the moisture is gone?

Offline bradsmith2010

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Re: starting a hickory bow,,
« Reply #10 on: November 22, 2020, 01:56:10 pm »
good point I need to try that,, I do put a small fan on it,, but I need a scale for sure

Offline Allyn T

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Re: starting a hickory bow,,
« Reply #11 on: November 22, 2020, 05:47:09 pm »
I'd bet dollars to donuts you get 3 bows done before mine lol. I hope it makes some good shooting bows
In the woods I find my peace

Offline bradsmith2010

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Re: starting a hickory bow,,
« Reply #12 on: November 22, 2020, 06:19:32 pm »
im gonna slow down so you can catch up,,  (W

Offline Allyn T

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Re: starting a hickory bow,,
« Reply #13 on: November 22, 2020, 06:25:15 pm »
I didnt know slow was in your vocabulary  8)
In the woods I find my peace

Offline bradsmith2010

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Re: starting a hickory bow,,
« Reply #14 on: November 22, 2020, 06:57:59 pm »
well yes, just put it on a long string and post here,, it will motivate you to make some progress..finish at your convenience,,  :) however long it takes just enjoy the process,,,