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Author Topic: My first bow- short and narrow vine maple  (Read 6136 times)

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Offline Carson (CMB)

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My first bow- short and narrow vine maple
« on: October 20, 2011, 02:50:51 am »
Started as a 69" ntn long and narrow VM bow (first pic), but I shot past my target weight (~50 @ 28) when trying to tiller unbalanced limbs.  One had some reflex while the other a little deflex both had some twist, but they offset each other in twist quite well. So I cut the tips down and ended up with a 56" ntn bow. It has some string follow.  The picture is immediately unstring from tiller rack, so it does end up relaxing a bit off of what is pictured.  The limb that was naturally reflexed seems a little worse on string follow.  It is about 45-50 at 27" and I don't think I will be drawing it any further than that for now.  Looking forward to the next one.  Thanks in advance for comments, advice, etc. Did I mention I am hooked big time? 
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"The bow is the old first lyre,
the mono chord, the initial rune of fine art
The humanities grew out from archery as a flower from a seed
No sooner did the soft, sweet note of the bow-string charm the ear of genius than music was born, and from music came poetry and painting and..." Maurice Thompso

Offline JonW

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Re: My first bow- short and narrow vine maple
« Reply #1 on: October 20, 2011, 03:16:05 am »
Ther are worse things to be hooked on :D Nice job on your first now make many more.
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Offline soy

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Re: My first bow- short and narrow vine maple
« Reply #2 on: October 20, 2011, 03:29:21 am »
Congratulations!!! And welcome  >:D now you can never leave Ha Ha ha
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Is this bow making a sickness? or the cure...

Offline randman

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Re: My first bow- short and narrow vine maple
« Reply #3 on: October 20, 2011, 04:22:02 am »
Nice job on your first bow! And you are risking serious addiction now! Gotta Love that vine maple. Are you in the NW? Oregon-Washington? If so, you have lots of woods in addition to VM that will make a good bow. Stuff to feed that new addiction you got brewing. >:D
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Offline Hrothgar

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Re: My first bow- short and narrow vine maple
« Reply #4 on: October 20, 2011, 09:31:26 am »
Your brace profile looks right on.  Nice job.
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" To be, or not to be"...decisions, decisions, decisions.

Offline George Tsoukalas

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Re: My first bow- short and narrow vine maple
« Reply #5 on: October 20, 2011, 10:03:51 am »
Very nicely done! congratulations. The tiller is right on. Jawge
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If you ain't breakin' you ain't makin!

Offline half eye

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Re: My first bow- short and narrow vine maple
« Reply #6 on: October 20, 2011, 10:06:34 am »
I think your brace profile is really well done and the full draw looks equally good. Very well done for your first bow or any bow for that matter. Your allready lookin at the second one aint ya? 8)
rich
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Offline Parnell

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Re: My first bow- short and narrow vine maple
« Reply #7 on: October 20, 2011, 10:16:16 am »
Wow, if that's your first you did a tremendous job with the tiller.  Enjoy the journey and congratulations.
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1’—>1’

Offline CherokeeKC

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Re: My first bow- short and narrow vine maple
« Reply #8 on: October 20, 2011, 10:35:21 am »
Nice first bow!  Tiller looks great to me
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Offline ErictheViking

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Re: My first bow- short and narrow vine maple
« Reply #9 on: October 20, 2011, 01:19:49 pm »
Great job! I love VM and you did it justice. really nice full draw.
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"He that but looketh on a plate of ham and eggs to lust after it hath already committed breakfast with it in his heart"  C.S. Lewis

Offline Arrowind

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Re: My first bow- short and narrow vine maple
« Reply #10 on: October 20, 2011, 01:23:50 pm »
I wish my first bow was that good! Nice job! 
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Offline Carson (CMB)

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Re: My first bow- short and narrow vine maple
« Reply #11 on: October 20, 2011, 02:46:15 pm »
Aww schucks guys.  This kind of positive feedback is only going to feed the addiction.  I am already looking ahead to the second, third, ....Right now, I have full length VM stave clamped to the wall in garage right now, as well as a couple of super straight VM billets that I am really excited about.  Some fresh cut black locust log in the garage. Also, I picked up a little craftsman bandsaw off of craigslist.  And last night, I had a dream I visited an amazing self-bow production shop in Texas with staves of all woods everywhere, and bows in various stages of development littering the place. Large caldrens of steaming bows, and forms of all shapes and sizes. I am not sure if it was Ron Hardcastles or Jim Hamm's, but it was inspiring.  Ok, I have been bitten by the bow bug bad. 

Randman: Yes, PNW here...Portland, OR to be specific.  I have a lot of potential bow trees in mind around our neighborhood, but I will save the wood quality inquiries for another thread topic.  Need to head to the hills for some yew soon too.

Question: I was thinking of trying to take out the string follow with some backing...any suggestions?
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"The bow is the old first lyre,
the mono chord, the initial rune of fine art
The humanities grew out from archery as a flower from a seed
No sooner did the soft, sweet note of the bow-string charm the ear of genius than music was born, and from music came poetry and painting and..." Maurice Thompso

Offline randman

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Re: My first bow- short and narrow vine maple
« Reply #12 on: October 20, 2011, 05:12:26 pm »
Now that you got it to this stage, heat treat a little reflex into it with a heat gun and that will do more for the string follow than any backing except sinew or a lamination of some other wood. Might give you some extra draw weight too. Vine Maple loves to be heat tempered.
I've gotten most of my staves and branches by keeping an eye out for the tree service guys in the neighborhood pruning and takin out trees. Get a great variety of woods that way and it's plenty more than I can store or rough out fast enough. I've gotten yew, maple, oak, dogwood, camellia japonica, hawthorn, calicedro (incense cedar), juniper, hazel, walnut, American Hornbeam and more that way. Vine Maple and ocean spray I just go to the woods.
Then there is Scotch Broom (one of my favorites). It makes awesome bows. Tough and almost unbreakable. It's plentiful and the city rips it out of the parks and piles it up for the chipper and I come along and pull out the choice stuff.
Careful with the yew (always use a mask) as I think I am developing an allergy to the dust where I have never had an allergy to wood in 40 years as a woodworker. May have to trade some of my yew staves for some Osage since it is THE WOOD we can't get around here (Seattle).
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Offline Parnell

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Re: My first bow- short and narrow vine maple
« Reply #13 on: October 20, 2011, 05:54:35 pm »
Was going to bring up the heat treating.  I think it's best used early in the tiller process - at 1st brace maybe repeated before final tiller.
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1’—>1’

Offline Bullitt

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Re: My first bow- short and narrow vine maple
« Reply #14 on: October 20, 2011, 06:50:37 pm »
CB, Cool Bow, for your first!

As for the dream in Texas, Dude, you live in Dream Selfbow Land! Some of the finest woods, craftsmen, and beautiful country around! :)

Look foward to your future bows.
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