Author Topic: Hinge in the side of the bow from straightening process  (Read 1329 times)

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Offline Sababa

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Hinge in the side of the bow from straightening process
« on: January 29, 2012, 01:47:42 pm »
Hi everybody, this is the first time I write here, but I lurked the forum for months! English is not my first language, so please forgive me if my writing isn't always clear  :P

I'm working on my first bow from September, two hour this week, half an hour that week, in a very erratic way. It's a flatbow made from a small diameter elm sapling, I've used mainly a Mora knife and a Fiskar hatchet on it, so it's very rough, but now I've bought a small Surform (this http://www.toppotsupplies.co.uk/ekmps/shops/toppotsupplies/images/surform01.jpg) and I've plenty of 40 grit sandpaper, so with enough sweat I can make it right!  :D

The problem was that one limb bent while drying, so the string was misaligned in a very strong way (the string was off the handle). I've streamed the final portion of the limb for half an hour on a water pot, but with pour results, so today I've streamed the limb for one hour and a half, and that was better, because the tip now seems aligned with the other one and the handle... but in my hurry I made a mistake: I've used the banister of my stairs, who was too hard and narrow, to straigthen the limb, and now there's a big hinge in the side of the bow...

The bow is 170 cm ntn, so I thought I can shorten it to 160 cm and work on the sides like I show in the pic with the red lines. Do you think I can save it, or it's firewood?





Offline Sababa

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Re: Hinge in the side of the bow from straightening process
« Reply #1 on: January 29, 2012, 01:52:32 pm »
Ok, I uploaded the pics on a host site, but it seems they don't appeare, I'll use the attachment option!

Offline Pat B

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Re: Hinge in the side of the bow from straightening process
« Reply #2 on: January 29, 2012, 02:42:00 pm »
Sababa, is the "dog leg" the hinge you are talking about or the small indentation at the "elbow" the problem? You might be able to remove most or some of the small indentation with steam. That will "puff" up the wood fibers some.
  I would leave the stave as is and tiller to first brace. Then you can see how the string tracks and decide from there. Even if you shorten that limb an inch or 2 it will reduce the amount of offset.
  Also, you may have not steamed the wood long enough to get full penetration of heat to allow the wood to bend.
Make the most of all that comes and the least of all that goes!    Pat Brennan  Brevard, NC