FINISHED PICS ON PAGE 2This is my second successful bow, and my first pyramid design. I am happy to post it as I have been glued to this site for the past year, trying to learn whatever I can and admiring the works of all of you.
Here is the story…
My Grandfather is a tremendous woodworker. When he heard I was starting to build bows, he brought me to his barn and showed me a pile of black locust someone had given him. Three boards caught my eye after sifting through it awhile. They were fairly wide, enabling me to trim around the major imperfections with a table saw. Still, I wasn’t sure they would make a bow.
I botched the first, attempting to make a narrow longbow, and it came in far too light. After reading Volume 1 of the TBB, I thought a pyramid style would work the best. The limbs taper from 3” to ˝” with 6” of handle. I was originally going for a bendy handle, but at 66” long I decided an elliptical tiller made more sense. The top limb is a bit weaker, but the bow shoots smoothly and accurately as it sits, and has little set (about 1-1.5”) at both limbs.
I backed with a gray silk shirt I found at Goodwill and Titebond III. I dyed the shirt with Fiebings to camouflage the limbs a bit as this will be a hunting bow. I dyed the tips black for fun..wanted them to look tempered. I finished with 5 coats of wipe-on polyurethane on the belly and a spray waterproof matte on the back. The shelf is a tapered wood dowel that sits 1” above center. I bulked the handle with leather and wrapped with twine.
It pulls 60# @ 30” and really whips a heavy 65/70 cedar with heavy tip.
I’ve named it “Grandpa John” after my Grandfather and hope to show it to him at Thanksgiving.
Thank you for looking!
