Hickory Backed Cherry Longbow Follies; Episode 2

[Minuteman]

Alright for those of you who've been following my feeble attempts lately at building a Hikree backed cherry  LB, this is my new thread. I'm gonna lay out some specifics then get everybody's take on what I oughtta do next,.
 
 Here's the perticklers:
   As I said before Hik backed cherry , 70" long tip to un nocked tip, width at handle is 1 1/4" , tips are just under 1/2" wide and 1/2" deep. Fresh off the form theres 2 1/8" of reflex . The form I used induced reflex uniformly  over the whole bow . I just cut an arc in a 2x8, squared it to the side, covered it with 1/4" luann and used it.
 The thickness of the handle is 1" right now at the  raised section that I'm going to glue a piece of curly maple to in order to get the size handle I want.The limb thickness just outside the handle is 7/8" and it tapers to the 1/2" deep tips.
 I've got the hikree on the back smoothed and sanded nicely and the edges have been rounded over a bit to prevent any lifters. Sides of the limbs have been trued up and sanded right perty.
 I'm thinking that 7/8" deep just outside the handle is too deep to start out tillerin on. Am I right? If so what do you think I oughtta take it down to? 11/16" , 3/4"?
 If I break this one I'm gonna cry like a baby girl.
 Any help would be sincerely appreciated. I hat cryin' like a baby girl!
 Chris
 

[Minuteman]

Hep Me! Where ya'll at?
 I went ahead and trued up the surface on the belly side of the handle and got one side of the curly maple piece trued as well and glued 'em together.
 Am I wearin ya'll out?

[Marc St Louis]

Chris
Even though Cherry is a low density wood it has pretty high compression strength so yes 7/8" thick is to much, unless you are looking to make a 90# bow. I assume here that you are making an ELB type bow but with a flat belly?  I would keep the draw weight down to about 50# and for that 3/4" will be enough to start tillering.

[Minuteman]

Yeah, Marc, ELB style , flat bellied. I was  looking for around 50 pounds. Thats all I care to pull anyway.
 I'm gonna glue on some curly maple tip overlays this morning and rasp the belly down to 3/4". Then give it a day or two to let everything set up and get back on it. Thanks ,Marc.
 Chris.

[Marc St Louis]

Well Chris I would hesitate to rasp anything. BC scrapes quite easily and I have found that a rasp can leave marks in the wood that can travel deep into the wood. I never use my rasps for tillering, only for roughing out

[tom sawyer]

How stiff is it when you floor tiller?  I usually let the wood tell me when its time to tiller.  Lean on it and see, if its not bending at all then bring it down a bit and try it again.  I'm not saying to sneak up on floor tiller, rasping will get you to floor tiller just fine.  I alternate between a Nicholson #49 rasp and a scraper, it gives me a reasonable rate of wood removal and I'm always close to being in a finished state.  Alternating between the two, also lets you know where you've worked and where you haven't.  When your rasping, your roughing up the smooth surface.  When you're scraping, you're smoothing up the rough surface.

[Minuteman]

You want me to use a scraper to remove 1/8?  My lifes hard enough as it is.
 I've got a real smooth kinda rasp ,Marc. Its startin' to get worn out a bit ( kinda like me)so its more like an aggressive file really.It won't touch hickory. Just barely roughs things up . Its not bendin' at all except out near the tips right now so I think I'm perty safe . I think I'm stillin the roughing out stage , technically.
 Marc, you have any pics of bows that are reflexed  throughout the limb length but not recurved? Maybe braced and full draw? I don't wanna trash this one because of lack of knowledge.
 I appreciate all the help folks.
 Chris

[NOMADIC PIRATE]

Great effort, and smart asking several times before going to far.

I can't help you any, but I'm on the sidelines cheering

Funny how Marc can give advices just by reading your numbers ( I guess he knows what's he doing ), ... when I was trying to read them they made no sense at all

[Minuteman]

Thanks for the cheerin' ,Manny. I need all the encouragement I can get. Shucks he said I was smart. He don't know me too good!
 Eeyup, Marc knows his stuff and I ain't blowin smoke.
 I went ahead and glued on the tip overlays this afternoon.They are curly maple like the handle. I'm working under the assumption that this one is gonna BE A BOW!! I also took the near handle part of the limb down to 3/4" to get ready to start floor tillerin'. Took it down  to 3/4" with the smooth rasp then scraped it smooth and flat. I'm gonna give it until tomorrow evening before I start bending it any to let the glue dry on the tips.
 The hickory backing glued down much better on this one . I think it was because I had the bow and backing roughed out for depth and width not just depth. I only roughed it out for depth back to belly on the first couple and I think they weren't getting good even pressure , or that method didn't suit my clamping technique. Not sure , but I do know this one is way better than the first two.
 I'll get back on tomorrow and see about some pics.
 Chris

[Marc St Louis]

Chris
A scraper is all I use but the scrapers I use take off material at a good rate. You know your tools better than I do though.  I have made a few BC longbows and most have been in the 70" long range but I went with a 1 1/8" width.  This is the only one I have pictures of on hand





Manny
After you've made enough bows you will get to know what is what

BC makes a sweet longbow. Its low density and good compression strength makes for a low mass bow that flings an arrow quite well

[DanaM]

Mark is that BC unbacked?
Minuteman I'm getting close to doing a glue up BC with hickory backing also, but I only have 66" to work with it will most likely be 1.5" wide tapering to 1/2" nocks.
I'm not to sure how the hickory will do as it is plain sawn. I hope it goes well as I've broke the last to bows I attempted. Keep us posted ok.

DanaM

[Minuteman]

DanaM, I've been waiting to do a hik backed bow for some time and was under the assumption that it was , well, bomb proof! I thought you had to be some kinda bowmakin' moron to break a hikree backed bow. I broke two before this one and both broke in the back! Both were caused by poor decisions I made. First backing had a little grain swirl in the tip of one limb, cracked there. Cut it down for a kids bow.Lesson learned ; use good hickory.
 The second I wasn't diligent enough in the prep work before I started bending it. I rasped the back down to meet the cherry width and some of the hik tore out . Just a little but it was too much to sand out and it had three little ragged bumps there in the side of the backing. Thats where the grim reaper got his fingernails and it tossed up a splinter first time on the long string.
 Lesson learned; get the back down close with a spoke shave then use a fine rasp or aggressive sand paper to dress the sides.
 Thanks for the pics, Marc.  Is that  a hickory backed cherry bow or a selfbow? I can't make out a backing in the picture. Yeah this puppy is LIGHT! Feels more like an arrow than a bow. I'm wonderin' how the 2 1/8" of reflex will play out. Is it gonna make the limbs too thin for the cherry to stand?
 I'm prayin' it holds up.
 Chris

[Marc St Louis]

That BC bow is backed with 1/8" lam of Ash. It had about 2" of reflex glued in. Hickory is stronger than Ash so I would round the back to make it look like it came from a small diameter tree, also the backing should not be more than 1/8" thick. This should take some of the stress from the belly.

[Minuteman]

The backing right now is just a little under 1/8". Maybe 3/32". Do you think it'll over power the belly if I don't shave it down some?
   
So I should take the edges of the backing down, kinda make a crown in the backing?  I cringe at the prospect of getting it too thin at the edges.
 I feel like I' m walking on thin ice here, like any second I'm gonna go crashing through! 

[NOMADIC PIRATE]

LOL Minutman,