Decrowning

[Dustinhill]

Hi, I'm new to bow making and would appreciate some advice. After making one bow where I had a blank and cut the profile, nocks and tillered it., I'm trying to work with what I could find in the woods behind my house.  I have a 50" hickory branch that I've got bending a few inches. I layed it out so most of the knots are on the back. If it's 2" wide at the widest point, should I decrown it and sinew back it? Or just carefully remove the bark? I don't want to be wasteful of the wood I've taken,  and am wondering if I should decrown sinew back it because of the high crown, short length and knots. Thanks, your help is much appreciated.
- Dustin

[bradsmith2010]

I would suggest remove the bark leaving the knots in tact,,,hickory is a great wood,,,
if you are successful,, next time try sinew backing,, but you dont have to decrown to sinew back,,you can ,, but is not necessary,,B

[bowandarrow473]

Hickory is one of my favorite woods for its ability to take the high crown that I like to have on my bows and still have plenty of tension left over in case the humidity takes a sharp turn downward or someone who is holding the bow overdraws. Seriously, the stuff is mega in tension, a bow from a two inch sapling would probably be a good balance of the two forces so no need to sinew back or decrown.

[Jim Davis]

I think that at 50" you are looking at a short draw bow, even if you let it bend in the handle. It's possible to get a 28" draw out of a hickory stave that short, but it takes very good tillering to do it. Tim Baker shows a 48" full draw hickory in the Traditioinal Bowyer's Bible, Vol. I. He recurved the tips to keep the string angle workable. I think that bow was a rigid handle. I'm too lazy to go look.

Jim Davis

[Dustinhill]

Wow thanks for all the quick responses. Lots of information! I'm planning drawing between 20-24" hopefully around #40 I'm not hunting anything, this is more of a test to see if I can make a bow from a less than ideal piece of wood. For the bow design I'm doing a bendy handle tapering to 3/4 tips maybe 6 inches from the end. Do you think that that design is least likely to break? I figured that longer it stays wider the better right? Also I was planning on not flattening the sides (just rounding over) until I taper to maximize width. Is that ok?
Thanks for all the help,
Dustin

[Jim Davis]

For every piece of wood, there is a radius to which a given thickness can bend without damage. I do think you can get your 40 pounds out of your stave at the draw length you are aiming for. Just make sure all the bow is bending and no part bending too much.

That may be a bit of a tall order, since most of knowing what is too much is learned by having something bend too much--and then it's too  late for that stave 8<(

Just don't pull any farther than enough to see if all parts are bending. Anytime part is not bending as much, stop pulling and scrape down that part.

Jim

[Dustinhill]

Thanks, I might shoot for a little lower weight to play it safe. Do you think my design is ok? As in, do I need a rectangular profile  for the whole length? I was hoping only to have that for the last 6 in to keep it wider. As long as my design is ok, I'll post some pictures in December once it's done seasoning! Thanks for all the input

[bowandarrow473]

No need to wait until December. Strip the bark off and rough to near bow deminsions and it could be dry this time in October. I would go down to 1/2 in tips and I think 2in is a bit wide for a short bendy, you would do well to bring it down to the 1 1/2in range.

[Dustinhill]

Thanks, bowandarrow473. I'll hopefully cut the profile out tomorrow. When doing that is it ok the leave the parts of the bow that are already 1 1/2" alone? Or do I need to square out the profile? Right now it looks like a half circle.

[bowandarrow473]

If the sapling is only 1 1/2in diameter in some places then it is okay to leave it a a half circle, but be mindful that when you tiller you not only reduce the thickness of that part of the limb but also the width. Also, when you rough the profile be sure to strap or clamp the bow to a board or another straight object for a few weeks to ensure that it cannot warp or twist.

[Jodocus]

Most woods make better bows with a rather high crown. Just my opinion, but it's tested.  Flat backs usually should combined with trapped Profile (wider belly than back).

To decrown and sinew a bow, you must layout the bow accordingly from the beginning, and not every wood will be good for that, must be either very compression tolerant or very hard, hickory is neither.

[Dustinhill]

Thanks for all the help! I really appreciate it. I'm pretty busy right now but I'll rough it out soon, post some pictures and update once I'm done (or it breaks) in a few months!
- Dustin