My TN Classic Osage Self Bow

[luke the drifter]

pulling that much and how does the splice stay intact would be hard for me to believe.  good looking bow.  i wish i could get my stuff to turn out that nice

[dmassphoto]

Ok so I just got back from Walmart where I went to look for some Mineral Oil.  I looked all over that place, in the cooking section, in the wood-finishing section, in the Pharmacy.  I asked one lady, who went to another lady, who went to another lady and we finally found it......used as a laxative.   

It supposedly "promotes easier bowel movements by lubricating the contents of the intestinal tract."  oh, and it's a skin moisturizer too.

Hopefully it'll work for my bow and push through some heavy arrows, lol.

[Josh]

Hopefully it'll work for my bow and push through some heavy arrows, lol.

 

[El Destructo]

You may have to Grunt really loud to make it work though..... 

[dmassphoto]

Finally, here's my full-draw pic.  When we had it on the scale at the Classic, the thing looked great.     Another wierd thing, after about 15min of it being strung to take these photos, it took quite a bit of set, especially on the bottom.  Could sanding it down have caused that? 

[El Destructo]

Now mind You...I am looking at this Picture on my Cell Phone....but it looks to Me that you do not have the Arrow nocked at the proper height ....which is putting more stress on the one Limb...and this will give you an untrue full draw view....as for the unstrung string follow....is there a chance the wood is still wet?

[dmassphoto]

Another pic

[dmassphoto]

....as for the unstrung string follow....is there a chance the wood is still wet?

I hope not!  If it's still wet then I wouldn't be very happy at all.  It's already got 2 coats of oil on it and I have no tools to work the bow right now. 

When I was at the Classic, the bottom limb was looking ever-so-slightly stiffer than the top limb.  The only thing I've done to it since then was to sand it and try to finish it.  It definately didn't get wet over the weekend, although it's been pretty humid.  I sanded it with 60grit, 100grit, 150grit and 220 grit.  Burnished it with a towell as best I could, then worked 2 coats of mineral oil on it last night and this morning.

[dmassphoto]

Two more.  One at brace height and the other unstrung, to illustrate the set. 

[yazoo]

I dont think the wood would be wet,, he dont  sale      wet wood,,, in the full draw pic looks like a hinge on lower limb,,,,,how much did you sand the belly,,starting out with 60 grit is way to course,,after working the bow with a scraper you could start with 400 and finish out with 600,,grit sandpaper,,did you sand heavy with 60 and 100 grit,,,I saw the bow while you were there it looked great,, or could be one of those things,,this is not an exact science,,  the bottom limb should be alittle stiffer that top,,,string the bow mark the center of bow measure toward the center of limb 15in on both limbs and put a small pencil mark,,, measure up to the string on both limbs and tell us the measurements,,,this is done on the belly side,,I think he tillers his bows 1/8 positive on upper

[dmassphoto]

Yeah I would say I sanded not exactly heavy, but not really light either.      EDIT:  Ok, I'd say I sanded a little on the heavy side of thigs.

Ok, I think I understood what you said Yazoo, but here's what I did. 

1. I strung the bow
2.  I measured it in a straight line from nock to nock (63" exact)
3.  My arrow rest is cut exactly 1.5" above center. 
4.  I measured out from the center of the bow 15" along the curve and not in a straight line
5.  From that point, the Upper limb is 17" exact to the string
6.  From the bottom point, the Lower limb is 17" exact to the string

[Badger]

  That doesn't appear to have too much set, looks pretty normal to me. Steve

[dmassphoto]

  That doesn't appear to have too much set, looks pretty normal to me. Steve

All I know is it was pointing away from me yesterday when I had it unstrung, and today the tips are pointing towards me.  Should I measure it unstrung?

[yazoo]

you need to measure not to limb tip but up from the belly to the string,,the 15in measurement insures that you measure at same place on each limb to compare,, it will be around 6 or 7 in as you would measure brace height just around midlimb this will allow you to compare each limb,,

[dmassphoto]

So, i'm measuring from the middle of the bow out to 15", then from that point to the string along the belly.  I'm getting about 17.5" for both sides when braced.  Also, the limb on the bottom seems to be slightly twisted.  Is this a problem?

Where should I go from here?  Is it safe to shoot?