My first Molly ,KCT, tiller check please. ( new pics )

[Poggins]

Thank you Steve .

[Poggins]

Belly pics , before and after heat treating .

[bubby]

Bend is much better, shoot it in and put some lipstick on her

[blackhawk]

Looks like ya corrected your problem ....but next time don't be pulling it that far(especially with the white woods) as you did in the first set of pics if you care about performance of the bow and such....I wouldn't have pulled it further than your braced pic because it already shows a flaw,and never pull past a seen flaw in the tiller...the white woods are really prone to set when pulled past a flaw and break down much easier than forgiving woods like osage

[Poggins]

Thanks bubby , thanks Blackhawk , I know I was doing wrong pulling the bow that way . It had string fallow when unstrung after the first pics but after setting a couple of days it settled back close to where it started. That one limb gas a hump just out of the fade and it was messing with my eyes , plus my weekend was coming to an end and with the weather comming in I may not get to work on any bows for over a week . I figured if I got it tillered I could heat treat the belly and it would have a chance for the moisture to equalize in the limbs . U clamped it on my form but only at handle and tips and it will stay there for ? , they put me on the night crew this winter and it looks like we have sleet and snow till Sunday so that means I'll be working twelve hour shifts maybe longer .
Still have some work on the handle and tips , I was concentrating on the limbs first . I never pulled it past 27" and 52# while tillering , still pulling 50# at 27" even after all the wood I removed .

Thanks to everyone's help on this , and it answered a question I had a few months ago ( will KCT make a Molly ?) . Can't wait till some if my osage seasons and make a Molly with some of it .

[IdahoMatt]

Looks like you have a shooter.  That heat treat color is quite a dramatic change.  I love it.  Can't wait to see her all dolled up.

[Poggins]

Started getting the skins ready today but I have to work tonight and in the morning so I'm not sure when I'll get back to it .
Took the bow out hunting this morning but wasn't much moving with the cold south wind , thought I could jump a rabbit but no luck .
After heat treating the lower limb stiffened up more and I need to work on it , outer half not bending as much as the upper limb, it's a little wider so I'm going to try and match the limbs width up and that may be enough to get it corrected ( they are the same width at the fades to about halfway out then the lower is a little wider than the top out to the levers) .
Got the skins sanded and saved a peace of thicker skin for the striker plate .

[Danzn Bar]

  Bow................ never seen Spoonbill skins like that,  where did they come from?
DBar

[Poggins]

They are from the back , one down each side .
The bumps are from the lateral line up , the lateral line is a raised line also and the belly is smooth . I got enough from one fish to back at least three bows .
So far the hardest part of dealing with the skins has been the oil , I washed soaked them in water and Dawn dish soap the stretch them out to dry , oil still came out while while they were drying so I'm using acetone to get as much of the oil out as possible , sanded them and will use the acetone again befor soaking them and glueing them on . I'm going to use TB III to glue them on . The skin is tacked flesh side out , you can see the hole in some of the pics , it will be under the leather handle wrap when I get done .

[Danzn Bar]

  real    I've see a few spoons / paddles like that not many the bumps through me....nice fish... how was it caught ...snagging, gill net, hopfully not a cast net.  ya the oil might be an issue.  let us know how it works and looks on your bow.
DBar

[Poggins]

Snagged it on the Cemeron river about ten miles from my house . You can see a patern on their skin and feel a rough spot , the bumps come up when drying the skins . We are allowed one spoonbill a day and there are days you cannot snag for them . This is the first year I've saved skins off the fish I get , I have the skins off a thirty pound flathead in my freezer , the spoonbill weighed seventy five pounds , I'm going to try and keep more next year .

[wood_bandit 99]

Man people down here in Oklahoma catch fish that size just by "noodling" they stick their whole body in a den and hope it isn't a beaver and a catfish will bite them and they are pulled out. I have seen guys and kids with scars up there whole arms from the teeth and some people shove their whole kid in those holes. That is a nice fish and we have a few down here. Always wanted to catch one...

[DLH]

I would like to try and snag one this spring wish they would stock them more around here but the public didn't want them competing for food with the bass also hear the caviar is great and can fetch a pretty penny but that's a little illegal.

[Poggins]

Been noodling since before I could swim ,we don't take some of the chances that others do , not worth it. Personal best 54# flathead three years ago , my brother's 62# . We don't show them off much , just a way to put meat in the freezer . My family has been fishing this way for generations , my great grandfather was fishing Oklahoma befor it was even a state .

[Poggins]

I got the limbs the same width now , 1 3/4 at the fades out to nine inches then tapering down to 1 3/8 at the fades for the levers . The bow is just shy of 62" TTT and 60" NTN with a 7" stif handle .
Levers are 8" long and 19" fade to fade .
The lower limb is stiffer than the upper .
The bow pulls 54# at 28" , just heavier than what I was aiming for ( specs given were 50# at 28" ) usually I come in under what I want so I'm not sure if I want to lower the wight or not .
I got it back out on the tillering tree for another look so here is the pic.



I took it out hunting this evening but the deer were no shows , on my way back in I did get to test the bow out though . A diller was feeding at the edge of the field so I figured I'd get rid of one of them .
I shot both of my blunts at him when he was out a little over ten yards out , he wasn't jumpy even when one of the arrows went right under him . After he calmed down a little he moved a little closer and at about eight yards I put a brodhead right behind his shoulder , when he took off he ran under a blowdown and hung the arrow up allowing me to finish him off with the blunts , them things just don't want to give up .