My first bow

[Rivin1]

Hello all. First time poster here. I just finished a local class on bow building and I finally completed my first bow. It is a hickory bow with bamboo backing and osage risers.
Now its not the best built but it shoots good and I have fun with it. My main problem though is that it turned out lighter than I meant it to. The draw is about 40 to 45 pounds. My question is, is there a way to straighten it or even put in some reflex and would that up the draw weight? If not ill definitely still use it, I was just hoping for something a little more.



Also I noticed some of my arrows getting a bit of curve, can I easily fix that as well?

sorry I cant seem to get the pictures it attach to my post

[Weylin]

Hey, welcome to PA. I look forward to seeing your bow. I'm not sure what you are doing to get the pictures on but I can tell you what I do. I use photobucket.com so that my pictures have a URL. then it is a simple matter of clicking on the little 'insert image' icon and copying the URL. See if that works for you.

In regards to your bow, my advice is to be extremely pleased with yourself that your first bow shoots arrows. I would keep that as a nice target weight bow and start a new one.

[half eye]

Rivin1,
     w/o pics it's pretty hard to say with any accuracy, but if you made a laminated bow your pretty much stuck with it's shape.....short of delaminating and startin over. Maybe the best way to go about adding weight would be to shorten @ limb......assuming you have plenty of extra draw length now. I believe ya can get 4/5 pounds for @ inch ya shorten the limbs.......might be wrong on the amount but the weight will go up some for every inch ya take off. hope that helps a little (aint a darned thing wrong with a 45# bow anyways....)
rich
Ya know the addiction is only gonna get worse....dont ya?

[Rivin1]

lets see if this works, I was also asking about adding curve into the bow because from these pics, you can see it developed a strong string fallow and I was hoping to get rid of some of it.

and half eye, your right im also most of the way done with my second bow.

[gstoneberg]

Welcome!  Actually 40-45lbs is very respectable for your first bow.  My first one was more like 30lbs.  If I were you I'd shoot this one until your next one is done, then retire this one.  I wish I still had my first bow,   Rich is right, piking (shortening) the limbs will raise the draw weight.  However it will also put more stress on the limbs.  If it weren't laminated, heat treating the belly would be an option, though I don't know how well hickory heat treats.  Sadly, once a bow is glued up it isn't really a candidate for heat treating as heat makes most glues release.

To answer your bend question, string follow means your bow limbs were overstressed and the belly has sustained some minor damage.  Hickory is tough and it'll probably shoot for a good long while.  The amount of set your bow took is not a big deal, I wouldn't worry about it on this bow.  But, for your next bow, concentrate on getting more of the limb working for you.  With this one, the riser is quite long and the inboard sections of the limbs are too stiff making the outer third of the limb do more than it should.  Having said that, the limbs are nicely balanced and the tips are beautifully flipped so I'm sure it shoots well.

Good work,
George

[Rivin1]

Ok thank you everyone for your input. Ill stop worrying about the bend and draw and just have fun with it.

Ill also post some pictures of my new one when its a little more complete.

[Postman]

welcome, great first effort - Tips look cool. Good luck on #2!

[Pat B]

Welcome to PA, Rivin.   Even though I'm an advocate of moving on to the next one you can remedy your problems with this bow. You can add belly lams of a compression strong wood like osage or ipe that will not only give you the chance at the weight you want but also reverse the string follow by glueing it up in reflex.
  The tiller on this bow looks very good. If it shoots well as it is I'd leave it alone...but you do have the option to make a different bow out of it if that is what you want.

[Rivin1]

Thank you Pat B. Unfortunately I dont have access to the equipment necessary to flatten the belly enough to glue on lams, but everyone here has convinced me to just
leave it alone and enjoy it as it is. But I will remember your info for future endeavors.

[soy]

Welcome!and congratulations!!a bow that has not exploded and shoots is a great feat for your first.you learn somthing from every one ...success or failure ...look forward to seeing your next

[gstoneberg]

Hey Rivin, I just looked at a gorgeous osage bow by blackhawk that has that same tiller and his has no set.  I'm thinkin I might have been too critical of your bow.  Just wondered how humid it was while you were tillering that bow.  Hickory likes to be dry and will take some set when it isn't dry enough.  Anyway, what you made is a great first bow.  Merry Christmas.

George

[Rivin1]

Hey Rivin, I just looked at a gorgeous osage bow by blackhawk that has that same tiller and his has no set.  I'm thinkin I might have been too critical of your bow.  Just wondered how humid it was while you were tillering that bow.  Hickory likes to be dry and will take some set when it isn't dry enough.  Anyway, what you made is a great first bow.  Merry Christmas.

George

While it definitely was humid were I am, I believe you were right at first and I did overstress the limbs while building the thing. You were talking before about the not enough of the limbs bending, and while its good now, when I working on it there was much less bending and I probably over stressed it then trying to get it to pull all the way.

[criveraville]

Welcome Rivin. Shoot that bow and leave it as it is.

Cipriano

[Rivin1]

[/quote]

While it definitely was humid were I am, I believe you were right at first and I did overstress the limbs while building the thing. You were talking before about the not enough of the limbs bending, and while its good now, when I working on it there was much less bending and I probably over stressed it then trying to get it to pull all the way.
[/quote]

Wow I just read this sentence again and it is absolutely terrible.

[gmc]

I agree, great effort and very nice bow.

Time to start the next one.