Leaf Backing? Tillering check.

[bubbles]

Hey Guys, 

Building a bow for the girlfriend,  Just though I'd ask all of your opinions on the tiller.  It's going to be 25# @26", 64" ntn and 1 1/2" wide at the fade. Maple heat treated -  Pyramid style.  I have the last 1/4 of the limb non-bending.  I have it backed with linen.  I have it to 25#@ 22" right now.   

I thought the linen was a little ugly so I had the idea to do a leaf pattern on the back, purely for decoration/camo.    Has anyone done this before?  It was a bit of a pain in the ass.  I used leaves that had been sitting on the ground all winter, as that's all i have on hand right now.   I soaked them to make then more pliable, but that ended up being a bad idea, as it just made the glue watery and non-sticky.  I eventually got them to stay, with a ton of glue.  I'm thinking the best way may be to use hide glue, and apply the leaves like sinew.  Soak the leaf in the hide glue, squeeze the excess off and apply to bow.   Let me know if you have any advice. 

[rossfactor]

Neat bow!

Never seen it done that way, but others have used leaves to decorate back of a bow... I especially liked Keenans Service Berry bow:

http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,9894.0.html

As for the tiller I think it looks pretty good.  It might be a hair stiff about 2/3rds of the way out on the bottom limb.

Gabe

[PEARL DRUMS]

What stops the leaves from decomposing? Looks cool for now.

[Onebowonder]

I'd drop that thing on the forest floor and NEVER see it again!!!............

OneBow

[Squirrelslayer]

Great Idea! SS

[ionicmuffin]

pearl. I think you would need to cook the leaves to kill all the bacteria before you apply to make sure nothing will decompose it.

[mwosborn]

Like the idea of the leaves!  As long as they don't get wet they will not decompose - and if sealed with something I would think they would last.

[Squirrelslayer]

I may try this on one of my bows. I would dry out the leaves for two days. Kind of like seasoning leaves SS

[bubbles]

Turns out my glue job wasn't very good and the sides didn't glue down very well.  I'm gonna scrape it all off and try round 2.    This time - I've boiled the leaves and they are now being pressed and dried between two cutting boards with a 15 lb weight on top.  Hopefully they'll all dry nice and flat.  Then I'm going to glue a bunch down, leaving a space between each leaf and wrap with cord.  Then, when that's dry, I'll go back and glue another layer on and fill in all the spaces/overlap the leaves. Hopefully it will work better.   

If there leaves are dry, there should be no worries about decomposition.  What keeps rawhide and sinew from decomposing on the back of a bow or any other natural material?

[tattoo dave]

Tiller looks good to me, and that backing looks sweet!!! I hope round 2 works out for ya.

Tattoo Dave

[burchett.donald]

 Absolutely tillered...Good job

[Pappy]

Looks good to me ,bottom may be a little stiff mid limb but not bad.Rawhide and sinew ant the same as leaves.    Looks cool if you can make it work. 
   Pappy

[Eric Krewson]

Your tiller looks off to me, the problem is, if I squint and look at it I see different things at different places and can't make up my mind what to go after first. Run a tillering gizmo up your limbs and see what it tells you, there are going to be a bunch of pencil marks.

A friend did the same thing with a pheasant tail feather as you tried with leaves, came out pretty nice.

[dwardo]

Tiller looks good and very interested in the leaf backing please keep us updated.
The feather backing is also very nice. I did try this on a scrap bit of wood with a pheasant feather but it came out horrible. Was the vein removed first and how did you do it?

Sorry for the thread hijack. 

[k-hat]

remember with pyramid you're going for a circular tiller.  there's not a LOT of width taper so it may come out a little more elliptical.  Like Eric said, get a gizmo after it.

What about wetting fresh leaves in different colors of paint and laying the paint on in a similar pattern, so you won't have to worry about the actual leaves?  You could do autumn colors if that's what you're going for, and the edges will be less of a problem.  Something i've been considering but haven't gotten around to.