Is this acceptable for a hickory selfbow ??

[shaun748]

I played around with making hickory selfbows when I was younger but I broke down and decided to buy a hickory selfbow from and online dealer....

obviously it is overbuilt, but the bow has very good tiller to my eyes,seems well made and has been working great for the last 2 weeks.. Even after being shot a lot with my buddies longer draw it still only shows 1 1/4 inch follow and both limbs are within an 1/8th inch with this set.

 Due to the finish I just assumed the back of the bow followed a growth ring, but last night I discovered the growth rings atually run at about a 75% angle thru the limbs..I know hickory can be more forgiving of violating growth rings, but it seems weird to see the grain run-out at that angle thru the limbs,,mabye I am wrong, but I swear I remembered you should always use one ring for the back....

Will this cause any issues??  I have enough broken and badly tillered  self made bows to prove I don't have much skill at this so I would appreciarte others opinions regarding this..Thanks for any knowledge..

[xin]

You have a quarter sawn board board bow. This is a typpe of edge ring bow which should be almost as strong as a bow in which a single growth ring has been followed.  If the growth rings run out the side badly this ,could weaken the bow.  You did not indicate this to be the case with your bow.  Even if a few rings run off, hickory is very forgiving.  You, in all probability, have a good bow.  Go out and shoot it and have fun. Oh, and stop worrying.

[tom sawyer]

I agree, if the fibers run pretty much the length of the back then it doesn't matter if they are from one growth ring.  Its a little harder to tell on quartersawn wood, you kind of have to look at the little flecks that run wwith the grain.  Look at them on hte side of the bow, they will show whether the grain is oriented properly.

All in all, it sounds like you have a pretty good bow there.

[Justin Snyder]

Xin is right, you are probably OK.  If you could post a few pictures we could give you a better idea of the quality of the bow.  I don't imagine it is overbuilt if it is taking that kind of set.  Where are you located. Humidity can be the #1 enemy with hickory.  You can keep your bow good longer if you make sure you keep the wood from absorbing to much humidity.  A hot box can really help with that problem. 

Now that you have found PA's website, its time to try making your own again.  There are so many exceptional bowyers on this site that are willing to walk you through the process and give pointers along the way.  Try your luck again, you wont be sorry. Justin

[shaun748]

Hey,,thanks for the quick replies and experiance..Sure makes me feel better, especially since I have finally got the arrows spined right and the bow has been shooting great....I never was much of a woodworker and only remembered the "follow the ring" thing from when I was younger..

Thanks for the info..

I got a whole lotta respect for you guys with your skills..I used to try to building em but I no longer have the patiance or time and figured this would be a good way to get another selfbow..

The bow has been great and performes very well..

I do live near the ocean and we have been running around 70% humidity so I have been keeping the bow in a "temporary hot box" to keep it down, since I do know that can affect hickory..

Speed is "kinda" irrelevant to me ( I shoot 14 gr per # with my other glass longbow and even used to shoot 11 gr with my barebow compound) so it has been performing well though I don't know if the humididty has affected it at this point.  At least I havent noticed it and the weight has stayed abouth the same.. 

I gotta say as far as the bow itself I have been veery impressed with it so far and it will be my hunting bow this year..My glass longbow just feels so  plastic/toy-like after going back to a selfbow( of course I still like shooting my aluminums, since I can weight them up pretty heavy)..

[Badger]

Sounds like a nice bow, hickory is pretty tough and will tolerate a little bit of grain runoff. Steve