Capt's 2nd Bow, Osage recurved tips (now with money shot)

[Capt]

Ok, another 6 hours straight making a work bench then Draw knifing, rasping and sanding until i got dizzy... literally i was so dehydrated that i nearly passed out a couple of times.....

But putting in the elbow grease was worth it 

I got the stave worked down to my dimensions some progress with the handle and thinned the limbs down to 9/16" give or take a thou of an inch...

It's starting to bend against the floor and i feel ready for the recurve bends tomorrow... Got to make a bloody frame to bend it over first unless i can find anything around the house with a nice radius that i can clamp to..... (BTW what is the best radius for a 33 degree bend of the last 6 1/2" of limb)??

Please check the pics and feel free to comment....

[twisted hickory]

before you cut that arrow rest in it you can send it to me. It just is not worthy of your nice work.
I will treat it nice and drop a deer with it. LOL
It's looking good
Greg

[adb]

My thoughts exactly. Forget the arrow shelf. Not necessary and it just weakens the bow. With properly matched arrows, it will be plenty accurate. The only other thing I'd do is make the back profile taper continuous. Forget the 5" straight bit out of the fades. Make what you have labelled  as your 'working section' a continuous taper.

What you have so far looks fantastic. Flip those tips, and get it tillered!

The radius and length of your bend will depend on what you want... from a working recurve to a static tip.

[twisted hickory]

My thoughts exactly. Forget the arrow shelf. Not necessary and it just weakens the bow. With properly matched arrows, it will be plenty accurate. The only other thing I'd do is make the back profile taper continuous. Forget the 5" straight bit out of the fades. Make what you have labelled  as your 'working section' a continuous taper.

What you have so far looks fantastic. Flip those tips, and get it tillered!

The radius and length of your bend will depend on what you want... from a working recurve to a static tip.

+1
I made a couple of bows w arrow passes till I realized that a bow w matched arrows is just as accuate as a bow w a shelf and matched arrows. Now I prefer to not have a arrow shelf. I like em real simple.

[Bryce]

I like the 5" width I do that on alot of my bows.
Everything looks good.....minus that cut in shelf 

[Joec123able]

Hey cut the rest in I don't understand why a lot of guys on here a have a problem with them but if you want an arrow rest cut it I would.

[Capt]

I like the 5" width I do that on alot of my bows.
Everything looks good.....minus that cut in shelf 

Arrow shelf discrimination

I knew it... i drew that shelf on there with big black pen knowing it would provoke debate on here..... i agree if you match the arrows it won't matter 'much' but it does matter some.....

With a shelf you can shoot a wider range of arrows.... And achieve more impact power due to limiting or reducing archers paradox by having stiffer arrows.

granted when you have a flexy arrow it will bend around the handle and then go into an archers paradox kind of movement and eventually straighten out but all this results in loss of force...

Besides i like the look of a sexy curved ergonomic arrow shelf... it adds technicality and is an extra challenge for me to do it right.. i.e. not loose strength in the handle...

(i have compensated for the removal of wood in the shelf area by having a deeper handle at this point and wider on the opposite side rather than a standard symmetrical  flared handle style.. Even with the arrow-shelf cut to near center there is still 1" of width at this point in the handle)

If you want to hear more on this subject there is a real interesting  You Tube video by some guy from Sweeden or Finland.... He rants on quite a bit but he has some really good videos and i think an awesome calm happy attitude... This video is the most stressed he ever seems going on about the discrimination of the arrow-shelf... 

http://youtu.be/0LlzQyx6zAk

if the link doesn't work look for 'discrimination of traditional archers' on you-tube

 

[4dog]

I believe that stave really wants to come to Texas, my house specifically! Looks good..but i agree with the others, lose the shelf,, you really wont miss it at all, but what do i know ive only got 2 bows under my belt..lol

[Capt]

I believe that stave really wants to come to Texas, my house specifically! Looks good..but i agree with the others, lose the shelf,, you really wont miss it at all, but what do i know ive only got 2 bows under my belt..lol

Not just a stave any more.. Almost a Bow...

[blackhawk]

As long as you have more than 1 3/4" of depth to your handle area you'll have enough to cut a shelf without compromising the strength of your bow(if done right) ...cutting a shelf doesn't weaken your bow if correctly carried out...I've done it oodles of times with no issue....don't listen to the nay sayers...its just a personal preference thing and that's it...and nothing wrong with it if that's your cup of tea...if I cut a shelf I make sure I have 1 7/8" to start out with on rough out to make sure I'll still have enough minimal depth to cut one out....and wait till you know which side the string favors the handle to cut it out(I do mine after full draw is achieved on the tree and its ready to start shooting) ....if you'd like some examples of mine I can post some links to mine for reference if you'd like?

[Pappy]

Looking good so far, still looks pretty thick to bend,9/16 is pretty think unless you plan on building a really heavy bow.At 63 inches long it has to be 80 or 90 lbs right now. the closer to bow dimensions the easier they bend without problems.
   Pappy

[Josh B]

I've made plenty with a shelf myself.  Like Chris says, it don't hurt nothing if properly done.  It looks like your coming right along with your project.  Nice work so far!  Josh

[adb]

OK, OK... I admit it.  The arrow shelf thing is a preference. I just don't like the way it looks. I prefer the clean lines of an uncut handle. Senor Blackhawk is right... if done correctly, it's fine. Just make sure your handle has enough thickness.

[Tom Leemans]

As with anything made of wood, whatever you do to weaken an area (in this case, an arrow pass) you need to make up in some other way to get the strength back. The handle/riser needs to be a bit deeper, or you do some fancy laminating or I-beam voodoo. It'll be interesting to see how it turns out. That looks like a primo stave!

[Capt]

Morning All,

I got my straightening done last night and am really liking the shape as is. 

I think i may want to forget about the recurved tips all together... i had my fun with the heat just removing the twist and straightening out some kinks in the limbs.... I'm on such a learning curve and really want this bow to come out as nice as possible... i don't want to bite off more than i should be chewing and mess something up.... with the handle design... applying tips, snakeskin, working on my tillering skills and making target weight i will have more than enough to contend with....

Down to a couple of questions... i want to glue on some Tzalam hardwood tips and was thinking i should do this before putting on a tillering string and starting to tiller.. is that the best way to go? Also what kind of glue should i use to put on the tip wood? i have access to tire bond II will that do the job or should i be using some other type of adhesive?

Another question, during the heating which was to temper and straighten a few minuscule cracks that go with the grain seem to have appeared on the back of one limb.. they are really faint and hardly noticeable not sure if you can even make them out in the pic? Should i worry about this? if so what should i do? wold painting on tite bond II before tillering be a good a good idea? i was going to seal the back with TBII or TB hyde glue before putting on the snake skin anyway?

Please Any tips or advice on proceeding from here much appreciated....

Bests to all, Capt