First Stave - Elm (BROKEN)

[Crogacht]

I have brought it back all the way to where it needed to be to line up the string, then maybe another 3/4 of an inch or so past that.

A crack has developed on the side of the bow on the belly side of the handle. It was in a spot that I wasn't applying much heat/oil to, as I thought it was too far away to be bending, but I think I was wrong. I'm not sure if I bent it too quickly, or if the lack of heat and oil applied at that spot caused it to crack instead of bend.

The bow will not be doing much bending/work in that spot so I'm wondering if it will be OK as it is. If not, any suggestions what I can do about it? I don't really want to cut the thickness down and glue on a new riser.

The handle is still quite thick, so I'm wondering if I thin it a little, then I could get rid of most or all of that crack anyway. I was planning on making the handle work a little bit more than it's currently designed to do anyway.

Thoughts?

[Crogacht]

Alright, it's had a couple of hours to cool down in the vice, so I slowly took it out. The tip came back towards centre by about 3/4 of an inch So it's nearly perfectly aligned with the centre of the handle.

It's a bit of a shame about that crack, but I think I can find a solution.

The pulley for my tiller tree arrived too, so I've got all the bits I need to build it... except maybe some long screws or bolts, I'll have to go and get more of those. I guess I should let the bow rehydrate for awhile before I start bending it too much.

[Blaflair2]

Fille the crack with super glue and saw dust. It should be fun

[Crogacht]

Ok, I was thinking of either doing that, or removing handle thickness until the cracked wood is sawdust on the floor. The handle would be much thinner (slightly over 1 inch thick but still more than the limb thickness), and it would become a bendy handle rather than a stiff handle.

Those are my two options I think.

[Crogacht]

Floortillering has begun and the tips are moving about an 1-1.5 inches.

Pretty happy with where it's at now, apart from that crack... but it's not looking so bad, it's half filled up with sawdust now anyway so I'll probably just pump some glue into it tomorrow and leave it at that.

Tomorrow is Tiller Tree building day, should be fun. I'm still waiting on my B50, but it should be here on Monday... then I have to figure out how to make a couple of strings.

Last photos for the day. Looks waaaaay better now the tips are lined up.

[mikekeswick]

Just beware that it checked like that because it isn't dry enough yet. Keep it somwhere dry inside or in a hotbox all the time you aren't actually working on it.
Good luck!

[burchett.donald]

 What final dimensions you shooting for? Are you planning to sinew the back? I can't tell by the pics but it looks pretty short for stiff handle...
                                                    Don
                                                                                                                 

[Crogacht]

It's about 2 inches wide at the fades, tapering straight to the tips. I'm only looking for about 40# @ 26-27 inches or thereabouts. Stave is 60 inches long. I'm pretty sure I could thin the handle down and get it bending slightly, and it may be a good idea.

[Crogacht]

Right. I've spent the last 2 weekends harvesting black locust so haven't had much time for my elm (hoarding is pretty important though  ), but tonight I managed to make my first flemish bow string (tillering string)

I'm pretty sure the jig I made is designed for the type of string where you reverse twist one end into a loop and reverse twist the other end for a timber hitch then just give the whole thing a few turns for good measure/length adjustment. But I wanted to do a full length flemish twist for my first string, so I set the peg at 70 inches and did a 14 thread string in two colours and the final length ended up about 60-61 inches. This should work out pretty well as the bow is about 58 inches ntn, so I figure once the string stretches a bit it should be about the right length for a tillering string... I hope.

I couldn't stop there, so I got one set of nocks done and the wee loop fits nice and snug, so tomorrow I will deal with the other end and hopefully get the long string on... phew.

[Josh B]

Looks like it is coming along quite nicely!  Especially if you consider what you started with.  Josh

[Crogacht]

Yeah, I'm happy so far, even if it doesn't make it, I learnt heaps.

I know a bowstring is probably about as exciting as watching grass grow and paint dry at the same time for some of you guys  , but it was the first bow related thing I've made and finished so far, so I was quite excited, hehe.

[Josh B]

Knowing how to make a bowstring is no small thing.  Without it your bow is just a funny lookin' stick! . Josh

[Crogacht]

Hehe, I was "packing myself" as we say over here before I made it, but I got the hang of it about 1/4 of the way in and then by half way you can almost do it with your eyes closed. It did take me a good hour and a half though, 70 inches is a lot of string  to reverse twist

Yeah I got quite excited when I made the nocks and the loop fit reasonably well. It really does just look like a shapely stick before, but when the nocks are cut man it starts looking awesome 

[Don Case]

70 inches is a lot of string  to reverse twist

If you're not sure if you have arthritis in your hands you will definitely know after that. It takes me a day to get over a long twist so I just do the ends now.

[wizardgoat]

No need to twist the while thing! Just do the ends, then twist the whole string in that same direction, easy as that. A string takes me 10 min tops like this