54 Mollegabet & 49" Seneca double curve (not bom) thx ken75 /n2huntin

[half eye]

About a year ago Ken (ken75) sent some nice quartersawn hickory wood. So I thought you might like a look at the two bows from that wood.
Bow 1: 49" (47 ntn) 60# @ 26" unbacked hickory made from a picture sent to me by n2huntin from the bowyers bible. The original stick had about 1-1/2" of deflex and I curved the last 6" of the tips to form the double curve "bow - A" on page 61 BB-II There is no extra adornment except for colored tips (like in the drawing)   for your information also the BB II says this bow was also hickory and supposedly 5/8" thick.....mine is under a 1/2 inch and pulls a lot of weight...so the original owner must have been one really strong dude!!!!
Bow 2: 56 Mollegabet (54" ntn) 52# @ 27", because the hickory was so strong I made the working limbs only 1-3/8" wide and the levers are 1/2" at the fades tapering to 3/8" inch at the pin knocks. This bow has no extra adornments. and is not backed.

Pics in two posts:  hope ya like 'em and many thanks to Ken75 for the wood and n2huntin for the ideas on the Seneca double curve, it's much appreciated fellas.
Rich

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[half eye]

second set of pics

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[rileyconcrete]

Nice job Rich.

What do you use to color the hickory?

Tell

[ken75]

excellent job rich , just a lil more info ,these boards came from a 24in log that i hand split and planed into boards using the split face of the log. after all that work im glad to see some purty bows come out of it, and rich you were just the one to make it happen . thanks for all the info and inspiration !

[half eye]

Tell,
      The Seneca bow is covered with a concoction I made from crisco and spruce pitch.....turns out if you boil the ends in it they turn green....the natural hickory color is the same stuff but I get it boiling and hub it on with a rag.
      The Mollegabet is dark green liquid rit dye that had a small amount of dark brown in it....it comes out like the wood was carbonized....then I sand it out lightly and give it 2-3 rub downs with the fat-pitch solution.
       Nothing complicated, and it is totally waterproof, and doesn't have to be redone very often... ps: use a glove with that stuff it is WAY hot and will stay hot a long time....feels kind of like gettin burned with hot anti-freeze.
Rich

[n2huntn]

Awesome.... as usual !!

[Hrothgar]

Rich, Good looking bows; interesting finishes, I may have to it sometime.

[PaulN/KS]

Those are two very good looking bows... Form and function with a touch of simple decoration = Elegance
Nice job Rich.

[AncientArcher76]

Good work Rich nice job with the decoration.  I am in desperate need to make an Iroquios bow for the big Pow wow coming up.  I better get on it.  As always I like ur work good job.

Russ

[ricktrojanowski]

Nice work, I really enjoy looking at your bows.

[KenH]

Beautiful work as always Rich.  Interesting dyes too!

[dragonman]

Nice bows Rich, that first one must be the shortest unbacked, 60lb wood  bow I've seen !!! must be some good hickory you got there.and some good skill to pull it off. The Mollegabet looks cool too, also pretty short, must be fast??

[half eye]

Thanks for the kind words fella's.
Dragonman, I don't get much hickory this far north....but that stuff that Ken sent me was some tuff stuff for sure....but that's what the originals were made from. (although nobody said what kind of hickory and I understand there are significant differences between the species) By using these split out "quartersawn" boards the bows are pretty straight forward to make. Basically once you have them shaped they are bows, period. I tiller them under tension mostly to get them to weight. I cant shoot 60# comfortably anymore but as I started to weigh the bow and that hickory just kept bending....and that's what it came out at.
      Think all the credit should go to Ken for the quality wood he sent me.....and that Seneca double curve design that Jeff forwarded, is a killer also. Them NA's knew how to build bows!!!!
Thank's again
Rich

[aero86]

so which one you wanna give to me?  hehe

[ken75]

rich im good with a chainsaw and splitting wedges, but your outstanding at making a bow come alive , i havent got brave enough to try the short bows or scalloped either . but you nailed em !