Hickory board bow, ELB style, 73.5 ntn, 75 lbs @ 31", with pics

[fiddler49]

I haven't made a skinny ELB like bow out of hickory because I thought it wouldn't be dense enough but I just gave it a try with great success. Here in Alaska hickory boards from a hard wood specialty company is my best option for wood. I found a riff cut hickory board 12 ft long x 4 inches wide by 7/8" thick, cost 14 bucks. I cut out a 74 1/2" piece out of the middle of the board then ripped a 2 inch blank from it. The blank warped to the side as soon as it was cut so I tapered the opposite side to match. The handle center became 1.5 " wide and the tips were 1/2" wide. I took my Dewalt hand power planer and tapered the belly and started the floor tillering. As it started to bend I thinned down the width eventually to 1 inch. Then rounded the corners with the planer. I had the planer blade set to less than 1/64". As I thinned the bow width down the board kept warping to one side
and ended up straight on one side. Oh well, I put on a tillering string and adjusted tiller, shortened string, over and over till my brace height was 6.5 inches. Then shot a half dozen arrows in my friend Bill's garage with the bow. 2 1/2 hours so far. We didn't pull it past about twenty inches. I brought it home and sanded the corners found a small splinter on the back of the upper limb about 10 inches from the tip. Wrapped it with mason's line and a similar wrap on the lower limb. Coated the wraps with thick super glue. Also did a cord wrap around the handle area about 7 inches long. I just made side nocks, no over lays, the bow tips are now about 3/8" wide. Made a fast flite string with one loop and one bowyer's hitch.I heat treated the belly for an hour with my heat gun. Shot it about 50 times last sunday and decided to thicken up the handle with epoxy putty on the belly side with a custom 4 inch long grip! Painted the bow green and the handle black. It seemed a bit strange to see the bow string that far off to the side but I guess it's now center shot with no arrow paradox at all. The stats are 73.5 ntn, 75 lbs @ 31", one inch string follow. One inch wide handle tapering to 3/8", 7/8 inch thick at the handle with another 1 1/4" thick bit of epoxy putty on the belly.
It shoots very fast and sweet for such a skinny straight bow. Pics are coming. cheers fiddler49

[Del the cat]

That's a good illustration of why you want to start wide and only finalise the tip width/position once it's back about 20"
All wood can shift on you...
Heat tempering the belly with it clamped up in line (or slightly beyond) can sometimes help stabilise it.
Del

[fiddler49]

Most of the kiln dried boards I have used stay pretty straight after cutting but I have had a few that move around wildly after sawn. This was one of those. I started out at 2 inches wide and kept removing wood but it kept bending. Even with the bow string off set to the edge of one inch handle it shoots fine. cheers fiddler49

[fiddler49]

Here's a few pics from today of the hickory ELB. It's kind of tribal looking.The fur around the handle is caribou.
cheers fiiddler49

[fiddler49]

A few more pics cheers fiddler49

[Danzn Bar]

Nice looking bow , great shot....But that weather looks cooooooold. 
DBar

[Sidewinder]

NIce tiller Fiddler. Looks great to me. Interesting story as well. I like how you took one shot and stopped while you were ahead...lol.   Danny

[Peacebow_Coos]

Nice shot!  I like the paint work, where did it take the set? 

[fiddler49]

Thanks lads, Coo's, Before I built up the handle there was only a half inch string follow so I guess the extra half inch is just outside the handle. The bow has a few hundred shots now. Still about an inch of string follow. The built up handle has helped a lot. Very comfy to shoot even with the bow string not centered on the handle. It runs right along the edge of handle.  cheers fiddler49

[mwosborn]

Nice bend in that bow - like the caribou on the handles too!