Yew selfbow ELB

[JW_Halverson]

Mmm, that's pretty, I like it a lot!  Like you said, this takes a great deal more skill to pull off than a lam.  Glad you dug deep and stuck with it. 

[adb]

Lam bows are still plenty challenging, but in a much different way. Your glue lines are important and wood selection is vital, but tillering seems a bit more straight forward. No knots, or crazy grain to deal with. I find myself thinking less outside the box when making lam bows. I still like to make a challenging selfbow every once in a while, just to keep this sport fresh! I also think it's important to grow as a bow maker to not pigeon-hole yourself into making the same type of bow over and over.

[Gordon]

That one is a beauty!

[mikekeswick]

Lovely bow. Well done.
I hear what you are saying about lam bows / selfbows. Most peole here in England only want a laminated elb...thats it. They can get a little boring after a while, a bit like bow making by numbers!

[Del the cat]

Yup, very nice job on a tricky stave.
I'd leave that knot as it is.
I'd probably have cleaned it out and filled it while it was a stave, but it would have just ended up as a tiny patch of clean Yew, whereas you've got a conversation piece with that one.
I think it's swings and roundabouts, too much cleaning out can disturb the way the wood has grown round it, too little and you have a hidden pocket of rot.
With that one you can see what you've got.
You can tell the compounders that it was where you were struck by lightning at full draw or it's where the devil himself tried to snatch the bow from you, but you just spat in his eye and grabbed it back

I got an E-mail yesterday from a guy I made one for over a year ago, its had a crack/big splinter lifting on a knot (first shoot afer having been put away over winter). Luckilly it was spotted so it's an easy repair job. My heart sank at first.
That's the prob with wood, it never stops moving, even stuff 30 years old still shifts.
Great tiller on that one...
Only thing wrong with it... it's not mine
Del

[adb]

Thanks, Del! Good enough... I'll just leave it alone. I had to work around several knots when laying out this stave, and that knot seemed the lesser of two evils. I initially thought it would end up more in the middle of the limb, but perhaps it's better that it didn't. Done deal... finish and shoot! I think I'll just keep this one!

[Del the cat]

Keep an eye on it of course!
I just had 'Bonkers' in for a repair from the blacksmith I'd given it to, he'd been checking it over every time he shot and spotted a crack/splinter running up near the hole in the back, where the bow is rather skinny and already patched on the belly. I did another!!! patch on the side 
I E-mailed the hole over to JW who polished it up for me while the glue on the patch was curing. Once doe the hole was a nice press fit back into the bow.
See pic attached... I've shown where the crack was.
So it pays to watch out... a stitch in time can save the bow.
Del

[Jmilbrandt]

That is beautiful, I love the full draw on elbs. Amazing work!

[Onebowonder]

JW - Did you use the double aught steel wool for polishing the hole up or was it more of a soft buffing wheel job?

OneBow

[Josh B]

Beautiful bow, just flat out beautiful!  But uh....I couldn't help noticing that you had to pike it due to tiller mistakes.  Or something along those lines.  It seems to me, I suggested piking a bow to a young fella who had made a mistake in his tiller and someone (you) went on a little tirade about how piking bows was bad practice and something about piking does not solve the initial problem.     Now, I'm just curious as to why it worked for you, but wouldn't have worked for him? . Ok, I admit it.  I'm just needling you.  But you have to admit that was such a low hanging fruit, I just had to grab it!  Seriously though, that is a beautiful bow!  Josh

[adb]

Glad you noticed. I didn't pike this bow because I made a mistake in tillering or because I came in under weight and wanted to increase the draw weight. I still do not advocate piking a bow for those reasons.
I piked this bow because the bottom tip had so much natural reflex (just beyond a grain swirl), that I couldn't make the tiller even. It seemed like the only reasonable alternative. I was lucky. I had extra length, and the problem was at the tip. I've been making bows for 10 years, and this is only the second bow I've ever piked. I'm not a big fan of doing it, especially to correct the mistake of coming in under weight. New bow makers are much better served if they learn to correct why they made the initial mistake. If you start out thinking: ''ahhh, I'll just pike it if I come up light'' is not a good way to think IMHO. You might not learn why you came in under weight, which would be much more valuable. Start every bow build with a goal in mind, and stick to it.

Did I really go on a tirade? Sorry if it seemed like it. I'm willing to express my opinion, and sometimes I do with passion. I often find myself unable to remain quiet when someone offers bad advice. I'll work on it! 

[Josh B]

Lol! Like i said, I was just needling you.  For the most part I agree, piking is bad practice and not something I usually advise or practice.  That other bow was the rare exception because the whip tiller was at the extreme outer limbs.  An inch and a half would of made a huge difference on reducing the whip on each end.  Sure he didn't have much if any length to spare, but I believe he could have gotten another ten pounds of draw by doing it.  The risk of additional set would obviously have to be considered as to wether the ten pounds would've been a net gain or not.  Like I said for the most part, I agree with you.  I just happen to believe that particular situation was the rare one that it might have been a good idea.  As far as giving bad advice, I certainly don't do it intentionally.  I give the best I can based on my own experience.  My experience, not someone else's that I've read or heard.  That's an all too important distinction these days as I'm sure you well know.  Once again, that bow is beautiful!  Josh

[JW_Halverson]

JW - Did you use the double aught steel wool for polishing the hole up or was it more of a soft buffing wheel job?

OneBow

The polishing work I do on Del's custom holes is far more complex a job than can be described on a thread like this.  Let's just say that it leads to the thinnest, lightest weight holes in the industry.  It's all proprietary. 

[adb]

 

[simson]

you have made a beauty!
I would leave it as it is