My 1st bow--Critique & Advice Please & Knots

[SLIMBOB]

It could yes.  It probably wont.  My suggestion is just meant to give you the best odds of finishing the bow, so you make the call either way.  Why not just start tillering now and leave the shelf decision for later?

[RedBear1313]

most likely thats what I was going to do.   

[PEARL DRUMS]

If your handle is at least 1.25" wide by 1.5" deep at the pass, you can cut a 3/8" deep shelf in with no problems structurally. I understand your want, any and all bows I hunt with have a shelf of some sort. Generally I cut a VERY shallow shelf (1/8"-1/4") in then build the rest out with latigo.

[RedBear1313]

for the shelf that I have drawn in there I extend that corner out by 1/8" and pushed the fade in 1/8".

the handle is 1" wide as of right now.

[RedBear1313]

Progress

[PEARL DRUMS]

Looking good so far.

[RedBear1313]

Yikes! unfortunately I ripped a bit up while I was roughing out the handle this morning.

Just take it down another ring or wrap it with sinew? anything else I could do to fix it?

[DarkSoul]

That's nothing. For one, it's in the fade and should hence not be flexing. But most of all, you still need to round the edges. All edges of any bow must be rounded to about the radius of a small pea. If rounding the edge does not completely remove the splinter, then round the edge to the radius of a chickpea...
It is truly a lovely stave you've got there. I see no reason why this shouldn't make a great bow. The thick coat of oil (or what is it?) on the back just bothers me a bit. There is no need to coat the wood in a layer of oil at this stage. It may interfere with your finish and may clog your tools.

[RedBear1313]

the "shiny" is just polyurethane.   I put on several thin layers.

although I did rub some oil on it, let it soak a little, and then rubbed it off before the poly.

and you answered my next question, about how much to round the edges.

[RedBear1313]

how much bend do you want when you are floor tillering?   

that is where I am at with this but it also has some bend and twist I need to remove, I'm assuming after/during floor tillering is when I should straighten it out and put in any recurve?

[BowSlayer]

If this is your first bow i would keep it simple. once you finished it and have it nicely tillered, then on your next one you can add some more fancy things like recurves and shelfs.  ive made over 10 working bows so far and still havn't done a recurve from a stave, although that hazel I got today is tempting. Sorry of topic there. my advice is keep this first one simple and maybe even practice tillering on a red oak bow and come back to it, but it's your stave so it's up to you  what ever you do good luck,

Oh and i think i noticed a bug in your wood, if it bites you, you will be addicted to bow making forever 

[SLIMBOB]

Flipping the tips is easy and low risk in my opinion.  Get it bending evenly on both limbs 3-4 inches or so.  Too much and you may miss your weight so be conservative with it.  Then, straighten whatever needs straightening, bend the tips a little if you want and temper all at once.  With a good caul is easiest, but a few clamps and a shaped 2x4 is easy as well. 

[RedBear1313]

what is caul?

and I guess I shouldn't have said recurve, I think I meant slightly reflexed tips, bending the outter tips outward by just a couple inches.

and while you are floor tillering, are you trying to get each limb to bend evenly or just get them both to bend enough to put on a tiller tree?

[SLIMBOB]

A caul is a form made of wood that is used to shape the wood that is your bow.  While it is hot and plasticized you use clamps to pull the bow into the shape of the caul.  Once it has cooled it will retain that shape.

Yes, just slightly reflexing the tips is what I was referring to.  I would not go for any kind of radical bend as you may lose it doing so.

Both bending evenly as much as possible.  That is the essence of this whole craft.  Keep the 2 limbs balanced with each other and begin doing that as early as possible.  Once on the tree you wont have radical adjustments to contend with on just one limb.  They will be close to the same strength from the get go.  Get it as close as you can gauge it, but don't sweat the difference.

[RedBear1313]

When you temper, you temper only the belly correct?