Shorty Hickory Molle

[dwardo]

Artwork that little beast. Great design and execution.

[ErictheViking]

Sweet work man!

[Ambow]

I've never commented on these boards nor have I ever built a bow.  Just been lurking and trying to learn as much as possible before I start.  But this bow is absolutely amazing!  I hope to have half the skill/artistry that it took to create this bow one day.

-Ryan

[rps3]

Great looking bow. How do you keep those ultra thin tips from bending sideways? Do the string and limbs need to be in perfect alignment to avoid that problem?

[Adam]

Wow! I'm very impressed. That's one great looking bow!

[mikekeswick]

Good tiller and nicely executed design. I would say though that you could remove about 1/3 of the thickness of the tips and really help to speed it up. I've made lots of these bows and you might be surprised by how little 'extra' thickness you need. Remember that if you increase thickness by only 1/8th you double the draw weight.

[k-hat]

That is one amazing piece of hickry!  Love the simple finish and the natural beauty of the wood.

Did you use a board for this or a decrowned stave?  Never tried a molly, but that makes me want to!

[blackhawk]

Good tiller and nicely executed design. I would say though that you could remove about 1/3 of the thickness of the tips and really help to speed it up. I've made lots of these bows and you might be surprised by how little 'extra' thickness you need. Remember that if you increase thickness by only 1/8th you double the draw weight.

Ditto what mike said....ive made a bunch too and its only normal to make them either too wide or too deep(or both) your first go along with the lever bows....i went thru a progression with them just to see how far(thin,narrow,n shallow depth)i can go with them,and just by sight of pictures alone you could easily reduce depth of thickness from them without costing any durability issues,and only gain better performance than it already is.....the lever bows are addicting to me because of exactly what you stated in its smooth to draw and release yet hits hard....make another one ....and maybe play with your working limb to lever ratio and go longer on the levers like 50/50 ....thats as far as i have gone and soon ill be trying even more like 60/40....it looks like yours is about 30/70(meaning a third of your limb is a lever).....im sure it still shoots well as is tho

[country]

NICE.... definately a piece of art

[Slackbunny]

Very very cool. That is one nice bow.

[Ifrit617]

very nice bow!

Jon

[beetlebailey1977]

That is a very nice looking bow.  I like it a lot.

[4est Trekker]

Thanks again for all the kind comments, gents   I built a few bows with brush nocks (see pic below for reference) and invariably get the same question about hand shock with those bows as I have with this one.  You would be very surprised with the performance of this bow...I know I was.  Those levers may fool you (just as brush nocks often fool people) into assuming there must be bone-jarring shock upon release.  IF I use a proper arrow (i.e. not too light) and a properly aligned draw/release, it's as smooth as butter.  I found that when I go below 8 gpp in arrow weight, hand shock suddenly appeared.  I found the same when I got tired and lazy, letting my alignment go to pot.  However, the latter two scenarios happen on almost all of my bows.   

As I was constructing it, I did some geometric calculations and found that the levers contain LESS wood than if I had finished the bow along a traditional pyramid side and back profile.  That one got me thinking!   Could they be thinner?  Absolutely yes!  But man, are they narrow!  As such, I left some meat there just in case I have one of those "oops" moments in the woods 

Oh, and as a secret...this one started with a 60/40 ratio between the limbs and levers...until the accident.     We won't talk about that, though!   

Thanks again for the comments and critique, all. 

[4est Trekker]

rps3:  Sorry...forgot to answer your question.  The levers are trapezoidal in cross section.  That keeps them rigid enough to avoid bending sideways.  Regarding string alignment, I found this bow (next to my first few English style longbows) to be the hardest to maintain proper alignment.  Whether it was this particular design or the specific piece of wood I was using, it seemed that none of my tricks would work.  In the end, I think I just got lucky, 'cause I certainly couldn't figure it out!    But to answer your question, string alignment is very important, not only at brace, but throughout the draw.

[blackhawk]

Oh, and as a secret...this one started with a 60/40 ratio between the limbs and levers...until the accident.     We won't talk about that, though!   

Oh please do