Sycamore Bow Staves (finished bow full draw on page 3 toward bottom)

[Coo-wah-chobee]

                  Lookin good Yankee as a matter of fact lookin' very good. Some feedback fer yer consideration. Maybe take a few and I mean a few more swipes with a very sharp scraper on the right limb from outside the fade to about 10 " from the tip. Like Hillbilly said its a "longie " fer a west coast paddle bow but what the "hay ! " Like Pat said maybe shoot 100 arrras through it before ya finish it. The tiller might change a bit and ya can work it out. When finished I would heat treat the belly not to hot er long but just some. Let it rehydrate  ifn ya do that fer 2 er 3 days. Then yer finish. Very nice work Yankee I likes it a lot ! .....bob

[El Destructo]

Thanks Bob....Why Heat Treat the Belly..... Is Sycamore bad in Compression...or will this just help the Bow out Structurally??

I went out and shot it in....I put 200 arrows through it....shot it at 28 inch Draw....my Length....Unstrung it....it had about 1/2" of Follow....which disappeared in less than 20 minutes....so I think I have a Keeper here.....I just got done gluing the Snake Skins down....decided against the 8 hours of Painting....Skins are faster!!!

What do you think of the Skin?

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[Coo-wah-chobee]

   Yes Yankee, heat treating the belly would structurally help out the bow however, since ya put the skins on I would forget that. By the way ths skins look very nice. Nice bow,. nice craftsmanship,  whats draw # @ 28 " ?...bob

[El Destructo]

Bob....I took your Advise ...even not knowing for sure why!!!! I did Heat the Belly with my Heat Gun.....I heated till you could not touch it anymore....let it cool....and Snaked Her out....oh before I Heat Treated it ....it was 45 pounds at 28.....after it was 48.....sound about right? Will I get to keep this extra poundage....or will it go away when it draws in Moisture for the Snake Skin Backing??? I hope that Rawhiding and Snake Skinning isn't too much overkill!!

[mullet]

  You'll keep most of it if you seal it after heat treating it.

[Coo-wah-chobee]

 Like Eddie said Yankee ! Damm nice bow !...bob

[El Destructo]

Thanks Guys....it's been a while since I had the time to work on one....been working nearly 7 days a week for 9 months.....gets old fast too!!

[cowboy]

Beauty! That turned out real nice!!

[Rich Saffold]

Very nice Yankeemongiat. I made bows out of sycamore about 10 years ago when part of a big tree with a split trunks two houses  fell during a storm, and part of it ended up on our driveway.. I took the chainsaw out and cut myself some nice clean staves..

If this storm brings the rest down I will get some of it..

It's good to see your bow since sycamore isn't really known as a bow wood, and its mass can be borderline, but you did it right by keeping it wide and long enough..

Rich

[El Destructo]

Thanks Rich and Paul....I appreciate the compliments....and I really liked working with the Sycamore too....it works as easy as Hickory does....and looks like it too...

[Badger]

I think you just created a demand for sycamore, great looking bow and not much set, really held the profile well. I will be looking for some, I think it might work well as an elb. Steve

[El Destructo]

Thanks again.....well there is plenty of it down South....I am sure that there are many people here on this site that could get their hands on some.... I cant beleive nobody has asked me what kind of Snake it is that I backed this with.....

[DanaM]

yankee she's a beauty, when I was in NJ last summer I kept looking at all the big, pipe straight sycamore
wondering if they were any good for bows. Guess so eh, at least with the proper design. As you well know
being a fellow Yooper there aren't any up here along with most of the common bow woods.
One question you said you heat treated the back? bob suggested heating the belly. I believe its generally a bad thing to heat treat
the back of a bow.

[Minuteman]

 Great bow! Hope it gives you years of faithful service.I would like to see a long thin bow made from Sycamore too.
Hey, what kinda snake is that skin from anyway?

[El Destructo]

Dana......My Bad!!! Meant Belly    Sorry for the Confusion....and as for the Snake....It.s Python