The insanity continues....2nd Pike, 2" now 46" 52#@26"

[Josh B]

Lol! I know why you left em that a way.  Instead of cutting em off, maybe you could heat em up and curve em into talons.  They'd be handy for hanging your bow up while you warmed up your hands.  If you sharpened those talons up, you could put a stop to some clown making fun of your short stick.  Just rare back and hit em where the good Lord split em.  Two inches of Osage in a butt cheek would get their attention quick! . I'm just funnin with ya.  I'll be checking to see how she turns out tomorrow.  Josh

[Badly Bent]

Still bending nicely after you piked her to 48" Rich and I'm still amazed that you can get that much draw out of it, I'm watching to see what happens next. It's an interesting experiment in pushing the limits, no doubt something to be learned from this post for a guy like me. I've got 50" bows that I won't pull past 24" so I have room for improvement.

[H Rhodes]

  I appreciate your posting this and keeping us up to date with how these bows respond to being shortened up and being full drawn. It's good to learn the possibilities of wood bows and posts like this are real food for thought, as well as a testament to what is possible with good bow wood and expert tillering skills.  These bows are real conversation starters for all sorts of reasons - they are shorter and narrower than anything you read about in our much quoted books and bibles...  I appreciate all of the innovators on this site, like Rich,  who put their findings out there for discussion.  I think better bows are being built every day because of it.  I wish I could watch you tiller a bow one time to see how you do it, because you obviously have some things figured out.  That's a helluva bend and very little set.  I was expecting well over an inch - the way I tiller a bow, it would have ended up with more than two....   Really remarkable bows brother.  What's next?   

[burchett.donald]

Enjoying this with interest...Keep it coming Rich...The amount of bend is what's awesome, I would have busted them sticks way before I got where your at bud...I love the insanity
                                                                                    Don

[wildman]

The most amazing part of this post is Rich has a pic with grass in it! I am finding all this very interesting as I have several shorter staves laying around.

[Pappy]

Nice work as usual, you guys amaze with them shorties.  We all know set is not a good thing but it is funny how all of the sudden, just in the last few years that folks have become so obsessed with it.
 Pappy

[Badger]

Nice work as usual, you guys amaze with them shorties.  We all know set is not a good thing but it is funny how all of the sudden, just in the last few years that folks have become so obsessed with it.
 Pappy

   Pappy, I think we finaly realized we have more control over set than we previously realized.

[PEARL DRUMS]

Its like tread wear on a tire, go ahead and ignore it.

My comments had ZERO to do with degree of set. I simply gave Rich a good way to measure his changes. It was misconstrued as all my Half Eye posts get. I turn into an arrogant know-it-all no matter my comments, or there helpfulness. I know better.

[half eye]

Fellas, here is the bow piked down to 46" ntn, weighs 52# @ 26" (same 4-7/8" brace height. The pics are as follows:
002  full draw
004  braced
005  unbraced after shooting
006  tip showing the amount removed
007 back of the bow
008  belly of the bow....these are to show that there has been no heat treating, steaming etc. to         make corrections.

 The full draw looks like the lower limb need to bend a little more, but not so in the brace so I'm going to kick around whether or not to fart with that. The draw is now one inch farther than my normal so I believe I will not go any further with the piking.  Also the weight is going to be about perfect after sanding down some.

Enjoy the pics, again questions and comments always welcome
rich

[Josh B]

Well done Rich!  That's impressive any way you slice it.  Oh and please disregard my talon tip suggestions.  That was a product of too many hrs in the saddle yesterday.  I didn't realize I was getting that slap happy.   Josh

[half eye]

Thanks for all the comments, I do mean ALL.

Josh, your a wicked, evil man you are
B2, depends on what your after sir, your bows look great, if they make you happy then shoot hell out
      of 'em. All this is supposed to be fun, and changes from one guy to the next
Wildman, I hear ya on the grass, hell the sunshine is what I'm tryin to figure out
Pappy, thanks I know what ya mean....thanks for your comment, means a lot
Pearl Drums, I was not offended by your post or suggestion, this is what I'm doing to satisfy MY curiosity, and my questions to myself are probably different that what interests you and Badger, Blackhawk etc. Like I said thanks for the comments
rich
Josh, I'm seriously considering the talon idea....hell man it will do my rep a lot of good

[Onebowonder]

<snip>Oh and please disregard my talon tip suggestions.  That was a product of too many hrs in the saddle yesterday.  I didn't realize I was getting that slap happy.   Josh

I kinda liked the "bend and shape them into Talons" idea.  It'd make them look fairly barbarian as well!  ...which is ALWAYS a good thing.  I mean if you've gotta be smaller than everybody else is, you should at least look meaner tougher and hard core nastier than all the rest!

OneBow

[Pappy]

Not throwing that at you Pearl,just an observation by me,you are right Steve.
Nice work Rich by the way. Sorry for the high jack.
 Pappy

[JonW]

Rich I would like to shift gears and go back to the design discussion. I am under the impression that the rectangular or square cross section was utilized by so many different native peoples for a reason. I can't wrap my puny brain around the engineering side of things but I can understand what my eyes tell me. I have the most success with taming set with that type of cross section.

[half eye]

I completely agree Jon. Since I started making whitewood bows narrower and deeper the set does not seem to be much of an issue. Sure there is gonna be some, but if ya do your part it really is not very much, not anywhere near enough to damage the bows performance. I also noticed that belly fretting (compression fractures) is non existant....maybe something to do with the limb wood being thicker (more meat between the back and belly.  There is also the part about counterflexing training for the wood but we wont go into that.

You can take this section bow and apply it to say Osage or Ironwood, or Elm and it gets crazy good
rich