Building a hackberry bow.. wanna help?

[randman]

I hope that nasty tearout I see in the handle are is on the belly side and not the back. Don't thin that handle any more until you get the rest of it bending or you'll have too much bend in the handle (since it's narrower there). Get it bending towards the tips first and gradually work the curve toward the handle getting it to bend at the handle last. Learned that one from Half-Eye (and others on here) and it really improved my tillering technique.

[Stalkingfox]

The tear out is belly side. bad thing about using a hatchet sometimes. That helps alot actually. the handle is where I want it. I cant seem to get away from short bows. I like em too much. I know i should back it with something, I was hoping to make it as basic as possible without heat treating or special treatment that I wouldnt normally do in the field. I dont see it possible and have this last.

[Dictionary]

i get tearouts all the time with a hatchet.

[Stalkingfox]

I wouldnt have if i wouldve slowed down. most of this has been done with the hatchet slowly then when i cut the handle down to prepare it to bend, I took too much.

[Pappy]

I would clean all that up with a rasp and scraper and be sure I was at my lines before I would start trying to heat and bend or even befor floor tillering. Is the wood seasoned,it still loos wet from the pictures ?
   Pappy

[toomanyknots]

i get tearouts all the time with a hatchet.

What works better is a sharp meat cleaver. It can be a little easier to cut/chop the wood instead of follow the grain of the split like a hatchet will do alot of the time. It seems easier to control too, I always rough out bows with mine. Of course it ain't super great if your stave is a big log, in which case I will use a hatchet first of course, and then switch to my meat cleaver to get it down to near dimension. Where then I will switch to a rasp. It can still tear out though, so ya gotta be careful. If you notice wavy grain or a knot, etc, you just gotta be careful and lay off as soon as you get the first signs of tear out.

[Stalkingfox]

It is seasoned but,  To say its well seasoned would be lying. I cut it in June. Where it sat in the garage in the attic where it damn near baked. And when i noticed the bark began to peel I started in on it which is why its twisted the way it did. And Im at the lines in which I drew out except the tips and of course its not tapered for the limbs.

A meat cleaver might be nice to work with! Ill have to look into finding a good old one. Good steel not the ones you find for kitchens.