question on bow design

[ken75]

my next bow i would like to try is a short flat bow , i have a bunch of hickory that i have split along the split face so the stave will be edge grained. my question is will hickory work 58 to 60in tip to tip with 2 1/2 in limbs till last 6in or so . thinking of 4in nonbending handle.maybe flip the tips too. i just finished a short pyrimid but not sure if the change in limb design will work

[woodstick]

i think it will be fine. i mainly work with osage not much hickory.

[half eye]

ken75
    Made a bow nearly identicle to what you have in mind....red elm, 58 overall 57 NTN, 2" limbs tapering to 1/2" has a 4 & 1/2" rigid handle and 5" stiff tips. draws 48# @ 28" and draws smoothly to 28" will stack after that...shot some pics just now so the lighting is off a little but hope they help
half eye

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[gmc]

I think it would be very risky for a stiff handle design at that length. Take the stiff handle part out of the equation and I say absolutely. Even a bit shorter with a narrower limb width is very doable with a semi bendy handle design even down to 1 3/8. I have only been able to achieve a 24'' draw at those dimensions using a density of .70, 25 rings per inch pignut. This is only my experience with some pretty darn good Hickory to work with at a MC 6.5%. You could hear differently but I'd be interested myself in hearing others experiences achieving less than 1'' set at that draw/ dimensions. 

[gmc]

Here's the best piece of Hickory that I've held in my hand so far and its 57'' ntn, semi bendy handle that held half of its reflex taking 1'' set. This is the best I've been able to do so far with Hickory. There was no heat treating or messing around with at the end. This is only the unbraced profile as I am nearing completion on this bow and will posting shortly. A stiff handle design would have yielded a much different result imho.

[ken75]

half eye i was hoping you would jump on this one thanks for the pics i hope my hickory will do the same as your elm ,gmc I'm gonna try a rigid handle maybe it will work i like your design for the bendy handle also so its a second option, it looks pretty narrow like just over one inch ,i haven't been able to do much with narrow hickory

[half eye]

Ken
     Forgot to mention that all my sticks have vertical grain....but that is what you should have if you split the side off of a quarter stave. I built a couple of bows from hickory that came as vertical grain "boards" and they worked well. As far as I know the hickory may be better than elm...dont know for sure but I understand it's darned tough....you may wish to champher the edges of the back some if the grain has any run-out though, and if you slightly convex the belly you can move the pressure force intowards the middle of the limbs long axis and away from the edges where the grain runout might try to lift any slivers....you didn't say about a backing but if a sliver starts and you catch it early then backing would allways be an option.
half eye

[George Tsoukalas]

ken, what's your draw length? Jawge

[El Destructo]

I make Paddle Bows from Edge Grained Hickory all the time...they are 2 1/2" wide   but are no shorter than 64 inches for a draw length of 30 inches either...unless I make them bend through the Handle

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[gmc]

I agree on the 65 inch length on a stiff handle Hickory. I have posted a 64'' bow on here not long ago with zero string follow but most likely, anything shorter stands a real good chance of being lost to set. Although a little set is not a bad thing, I don't care much for it my process and try to keep the design suitable to prevent it.

I'd love to see a picture showing the side profile of a Hickory bow 60'' or less, stiff handle, pulling 28'' inches with less than 2 inches of set. This of course would be for my own selfish reasons.

Ken, best of luck to you on your new bow. Get your Hickory good and dry before you start, Hickory likes it that way. Please keep us posted.

 

 

[El Destructo]

or this one....

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[gmc]

Alright, El Destruto, those bows look too good. Time for a few questions about them in a new topic, I will start that now as to not hijack this one.

Greg

[ken75]

thanks for everones input , El i love those bows , gmc it'll be a week before i start but ill show on here as always , jawge 28 in , thanks half eye i'll use your info and we'll see what happens