pyramid bows questions

[kinkfeather]

68" long,8"riser,4"handle by 1"thick by1 1/2"wide,riser tapers 2",from riser fade to 1/2"tip.now with all that said my question.ken did you say no fade on belly just straight from riser to tip on belly.this question is for any my primitive buddies.i shot my first home made self bow today.i love it an it shoots good too.it is definitely a special,special,self bow to me.kink

[Rain Man]

A pyramid selfbow has a consistant thickness throughout the length of the limb.  The tiller comes from its profile

[kinkfeather]

rain man can you tell me what profile means.kink

[Rain Man]

in other words, the tiller naturally comes from its pyramid shape.  The belly shouldnt get tapered.

Here's a picture of my red oak pyramid bow that I finished a few weeks ago.  This is called its "profile"

[kinkfeather]

rain man do you cut or work down the thickness of the limbs before you glue on the riser.is 1/2 thickness on limbs about wright or shound i leave a little longer for a 50 pound bow.kink

[Rain Man]

If you want to, I guess you could work down the thickness of the board before you glue on the handle.  I didn't do that.  Gluing on the handle was the very first thing I did.  The bows draw weight is about 40#.  The limb thickness is 7/16" and its 70" nock to nock.  I really wanted the bow to be heavier (50 pounds).  So I think with a 68" length and 1/2" thick limbs, you will be close to having a 50# draw weight.

[JW_Halverson]

I have done a few board bows and I have found that the handles sometimes pop off when you resaw the board to thickness before glueing on the handles.  I thought I was saving time by sawing down to the thickness and just adding enough extra thickness to the handle to keep it from bending.  Wrong.

All the bows that held together thru thick and thin were those that the "fade out" area was taken from the full thickness of the lumber.  I think trying to build up a fadeout to stop the bending stresses is too difficult for the glue joint.

I tried glueing freshly sawn edges together, sanding with coarse paper prior to glue up, using a toothing comb to increase the mechanical bond, and cleaning the glue surfaces with acetone prior to glue up and none of it really worked well.   

[kinkfeather]

i went on an glued the handle on i did that on my first bow.do you think using a draw knife to cut the fades in.my bandsaw is not working wright now or using my plane to cut the fades in.decisions,decisions,decisions.thats why this is so much fun.what about backing the bow with camo linen or does that all poundage to the bow.do you think the length of the riser makes stiffer limbs.i hear about handles poping off.i wonder if you dowel pinned your riser on when you glued it if that would stop it.so many things you can do to make your bow different.kink

[JW_Halverson]

I've always avoided using dowel pins to hold a bow handle together because anything that violates the grain of the back of a bow (board bow or stave bow) makes me nervous.

I use my spokeshave and my rasps to shape the fadeouts. 

[kinkfeather]

jw i believe you are wright. why take the chance.i need to make more bows before i start playing around.kink

[JW_Halverson]

And if you are making board bows and have a good source of boards, why NOT take chances.  It's one thing to blow up an $8 1x2 from Menards, quite another for an $80 stave. 

Also, every successful bow teaches you a little, but every busted bow is a post graduate level course!

[kinkfeather]

my 1x2 cost 5.49 at lowes.well 6.25 after taxes.need to go to bed got to get up early an take care of grandkids.i am going to work on bow tomorow.strat cutting in fades.ketch ya latter.kink

[Rain Man]

Kink, forget those dimensions that I told you earlier.  That was for my 1 x 3.  You probably need different dimensions for your 1 x 2.  Maybe someone else can give you some directions.  I never did a pyramid out of a 1 x 2.

[ken75]

joe if u havent cut it yet shorten grip to four inches and fade length to 1 inch that'll give you a lil more workin limb. constant thickness out of fade to the tips . your gonna get a lot of tip movement out of this design just make sure inner limbs bend just enough to not take set. good luck with this one .pyramids are addicting so be careful . ken

[kinkfeather]

i have all ready glued riser on. can i cut the riser shorter.kink