Another Oak board bow :) my first

[nativenoobowyer86]

I went to Canadian Tire and bought a cheap spring scale, and got a mid/late 30's reading for weight.  I decided to add the maple strip.

I have just pulled off the clamps/rubber bands from the maple backing (Thanks Cameroo, for the backing help),  it seems to have gone well with no lifted spots and a decent glue line.  I had about 2 inches of reflex clamped in while gluing, and lost about half of that when i unclamped.  Im hoping it sets to dead flat.

[aaron]

you can check the weight with a bathroom scale.... and a tillering stick- hard to describe but easy to do. one end of the tiller stick goes on the scale, the other on the bow's string. then you draw the bow by pushing it towards the scale. some do this with the BOW on the stick rather than the string, but then you have less control of the bow and it may slip off the stick. just make sure you "zero" the scale with the bow and stick resting on it, THEN draw and measure. You don't even have to go to full draw, just measure it at, say, 20 inches, and we can tell you what it is at 28... good luck!

[Cameroo]

Let's see some pictures man!  The suspense is killing me!

[Autumnbear]

That's a cool bow. Nice work!!

[nativenoobowyer86]

Here is my progress,

The 3/16 maple backing added alot of weight, the limbs are bending about 5 inches at 45 lbs so I have alot of scraping to do these next couple days.  I added some moose antler tips   And im planning on reducing the limb width in the yellow circles,  how narrow can i go with the tips?

[Cameroo]

I would think it would be safe to taper to around 1/2 inch at the knocks, but to play it safe, just remove the wood slowly and check your tiller often, until you see them just starting to bend.  I keep them stiff enough to be straight for the last 8 inches.

Keep us updated with the re-tillering, now that you've added the backing. 

Did you go on your wood shopping trip yet?

[nativenoobowyer86]

Cameroo!
I got a split in the maple backing last night! I think i pulled it too hard too early, it happened at the handle area.  It is still too heavy, my cheap 50lb pull scale gets maxed out at about 7 inches of limb bend.   there is a diagonal split starting where the arrow shelf is cut in.  It's very fine and runs for about 2.5 inches, nothing lifted due to my quick freak out reaction. what do you think?  i filled it with super glue and made up a small batch of hide glue and shredded some sinew just in case it needs wrapping. 

[nativenoobowyer86]

as well, i had angled the edges on the maple giving a  slight trapped effect everywhere but the handle aread, could the rough sharp edges also be a problem?

[Cameroo]

Yikes!  I've never had to deal with something like that, and without seeing it it's hard to say, but from what you describe, I think you on the right track.  Crazy glue and then wrapping around the handle area where it's starting to split would be a good plan.  It's a little weird that it would crack there, where the backing is under the least amount of tension.

I've never cut an arrow shelf into any of the bows I've made so far.  To me it doesn't seem worth weakening the bow just to get a bit closer to being center-shot. I just glue a small piece of cork onto the side before I wrap the handle.

Another bit of advice for the future - it's never a good idea to bend wood with any rough or square edges, even when you're just starting to tiller.  Those square corners just concentrate stress and are asking for trouble.  Even if you just slightly round the corners off with 60 grit sandpaper it will help.

I hope you can save it yet.  Just be patient and don't pull too much too soon.  That's a pretty thick backing that you put on, so you're going to have to hog off quite a bit of wood to get her back down to weight.  Good luck!

[nativenoobowyer86]

Thats great Cam, thanks for the advice.  I am learning alot from this one!  3/16 maple backing = alot of weight. I will round off the corners tonite and wrap the handle area (im excited! ive never sinewed something b4) I am almost 100 percent certain that the limbs were still too thick in relation to the handle area, and produced some bend at the handle. 

I am also going to be more careful with arrow shelves in the future.  I thought the strength of the thicker wood would allow it to be narrower, but the backing added mroe mass to the wide part of the limbs than the narrow handle, shifting the bend from the limbs to the handle......i think ahaha

ill post some pics tonite hopefully

Thanks again Cameroo! you have been a giant help!

[nativenoobowyer86]

I have been too busy for a road trip, but located some ash from the local lumber mill,  $25 for a quartered 9 inch black ash log 8 ft long   i asked for pipe straight and no knots, but ill see how that works out this weekend.  i have read that getting staves from someone who doesnt make bows can backfire sometimes

[swamp yeti]

That is one nice bow.

[jimmy]

the new bow looks good. i made an oak board bow once and took Georges' tip on using burlap to back it with. it seemed to help out a lot with the structural integrity and it was easy to do. maybe something to think about. keep up the good work.

[nativenoobowyer86]

so i sinewed the handle section where the crack in the maple was, and it seems to be holdng up.  I also just invested in a spoke shave, what an awesome little scraping tool!  way better than scissor blades
I now have the bow tillered to brace height, just got one more slight hinge to work out.  My wife took her camera to the inlaws for the weekend so ill have to post pics on monday.

And jus a side note, i scored a large piece of black ash with straight grain throughout a good portion, and purchased some canvas material to back the pieces that do not have straight grain.  I think i can squeeze 3 or 4 man sized bows as well as a half dozen kids bows from billets out of it.   All for $26.  Gotta love local lumber mills and old high school hookups

[nativenoobowyer86]

so a tradgedy has occurred, i snapped her last night.  i had just put the string on at low brace height and was givin her the first pull/weight check and kaboooom! tiller was even and everything.  I think i had a inferior pice of maple for the backing, or perhaps my crappy scale stuck and i pulled more than 45 lbs. :S
good thing is, she didnt snap where i had sinewed

on to the next one