My First Perry Reflexed bow!

[Rufledt]

A perry reflexed longbow was on my list for a long time, and I finally made one!



When I glued it up I screwed up the clamping and one limb ended up with a slight tip deflex in addition to the reflex mid-inner limb.  The other limb took most of the reflex in the inner half of the limb.  It was reflexed about 1.5", maybe a bit more, and now has a just unbraced reflex of about 1".  I'm surprized how little set it took since my recent bows (of oak, btw) took lots.  The bottom limb in the pic it twisted a bit (it is also the more reflexed limb) and bends about 1/2" more than the other one.  From the other side it looks more out of balance.  What else could I fix on the tiller for the next one?  I would guess step 1 would be to glue in equal reflex/shape on both limbs!  Before shooting it in, that limb was actually a little stiffer.  It takes most of the set, too.  When it is just unbraced, it looks like the other limb with reflex in the inner limb and a little deflex in the outer limb, but after a day it takes pretty much all of it's reflex back. 

It is 71" ntn, 55# @ 28", trapped back, and I made the handle fitted to my hand:



I love the look of the walnut, too



Finish is 2 coats of Tried and True brand linseed oil, and 2 coats of Crystal Clear Paste Wax.



Tip overlays are cherry, and there is some cherry in the handle, too



I don't have a strike plate or handle wrap because I haven't acquired the materials I want to use.  Ideally, I want to make a handle from brain tanned leather, but I haven't looked into getting any yet.  That's still on my to-do list, right before acquiring some non-board staves.  I was thinking of making a handle out of denim from a ripped pair of jeans, and then using it as a pattern for when I get the leather.  Has anyone tried that?

More pics:

[Shiloh]

Whoooo, that's a looker. I am humbled in the presence of the master.   

[Adam]

Wow!  That turned out great.  I really like the look of the walnut too.

[missilemaster]

Thats a nice looking bow!

[Sasquatch]

Nice bow, I like the look. It reminds me of granola ......Dude your bow is sooo Granola.......

[lesken2011]

That bow looks sharp and the walnut does look sweet!

[Cameroo]

Nice looking bow, and nice pictures too.  But they showed us everything except the perry reflex  

[Rufledt]

I always forget something!  I'll get some posted tomorrow.  Then you'll see how uneven it is!

Thanks for the compliments!  I wouldn't consider myself a master just yet.  I have far too few bows under my belt.  I think excluding the bows i made before taking a break from archery (of which there were only a half dozen unimpressive bows or so) this one is number 5?  I am very lucky, though!

[Slackbunny]

Nice work. The contrast in that bow is just beautiful.

[mwosborn]

Nice looking bow!  Looking forward to the reflex pics.

[Roy]

Love the walnut too,  very sweet bow.

[Rufledt]

Ok some reflex pics!

Here's the limb with more reflex:



And the other one:

 

You can see how that one has tip deflex.  That was from my faulty clamping job when gluing it up.  The other limb looks exactly like this one when unstrung, though I did have to do some tiller adjustments today.  The more reflexed limb was taking on more bend and I just balanced out the other one.  In fact, the other one bends about 1/8" farther now.  I would expect it to bend farther if it is equally stressed, since the limb doesn't have as far to go with the tip deflex.  What do you guys think?  In a photo it really doesn't look any different at draw or i'd post another one, but the measurements line up better.

Here's the whole bow in profile:



And the leaning with both tips touching a straight 6' board stave:



It lost a little bit of weight but not a ton.  My draw length is 29 1/2" so if it was 55# @28 before I would bet it's almost that at 29 1/2" now.  My scale and stick are currently on loan to a friend of mine who is making another perry reflexed walnut/hickory bow (out of the same walnut board, actually) so I can't get an exact weight right now.  It's a lot heavier than my 40# red oak bow, I can say that for sure.

[soy]

Very impressive! !! I would have had fear the Hickory Would be too much for the walnut, But it looks as though it work nicely...sharp!

[Rufledt]

I took this opportunity to do my first leather handle:



The lacing up process didn't go very smoothly.  It's goat-or-lamb hide from the local fabric store's discount table and artificial sinew.  I'll have to do a bit better next time.  Any tips?  I have the rest of this goat-or-lamb to use up and I intend to do so.

[Dictionary]

sweet looking bow. Tiller looks fine to me.