Finished composite hickory bow/ pics

[BowEd]

Thanks Mike.....Kuddos to ya for exploring and perfecting the art of making and shooting these horn bows.What sense is there in making them really without seeing what they can do.A thumb ring I suppose relieves any finger pinch that may happen.I've never tried it yet.I'll have to get after my Turkish prospects in the future here.It's as long a dedicated road to this bow making that a person wants to be on for sure.That's the beauty of it though.Always room for improvement.I always remember a saying I read Jim Hamm write when I started.You got to be more persistent than smart sometimes making these bows or rather you can't be afraid to fail is what I get from it.
I figure to shoot this bow in quite a bit then take a fps reading on it.Breaking it in.By my naked eye shooting I'd say you were'nt too far off there.I'll see once.The old unmerciful extractor of truth reveals all.I know I won't put in the time and perfection in finishing that you did on your horn bows.
As with my coondogs I believe in calling a spade a spade in ability no matter if it's my dog or bow or someone else's as well as giving credit to where it is deserved.Trying to hide behind excuses for set or terminology to describe a design does not improve a person's construction or tillering ability to make these bows.It's very hard to hide set on an all reflexed bow.It can't be done.I realized hunting coondogs in these competition hunts that a man with excuses about his dog will never improve.A sorry man handles a sorry dog.
I notice shooting this bow like the static bow I shot that the arrow flight is not as clean consistently as less reflexed bows.Pisses me off really.Could be my crappy form a bit too.Also a person needs to check these arrow knocks occasionally too.Chances are a knock can get blown apart for a potential dry fire.That can end the fun quickly too.I'm shooting heavier arrows to drain energy using fast flight and will never go below 10gpp arrows.Suits me fine right now since I'm lucky enough here to be in a good hunting area for game and that's really my main concern anyway.

[Urufu_Shinjiro]

Yeah, thumb ring really helps with finger pinch and it also gives you a few inches more draw length.

[BowEd]

I see.I can see the advantage of it there.Especially too in that it will lower the drag and friction factor on the release compared to a finger release.All up sides I quess but still way different.

[Pat B]

Very cool bow, Ed. I have one similar in my future...if that time ever comes. 

[BowEd]

This bow is really different here compared to the others I've done in the past in that besides coming very close to my draw weight in construction it takes more what I call soft set after shooting.That turned out to be that the sinew was not fully cured yet.I started with a flat core and glued the reflexed horn onto the core which was different than the ones in the past which was a flat horn with no reflex in it onto a flat core.A pic of core after horn glued on this one.Hope I explained that properly.

I can see that one limb got more reflex after horn glue up.That was really the only adjustment I needed to make on this one losing 2.5 pounds.I put that limb as my top limb also.After bracing most times I still need to press the string on the weaker limb onto belly to strain the stronger limb for maybe 5 seconds for it to come into tiller.Then throughout the shooting  the tiller stays.This extra horn thickness on here must have something to do with that.Suppose that's normal too.I fixed that retillering.

[BowEd]

Thanks Pat.You'll do it.I've seen your work and you'd have no problem getting what you want.

[BowEd]

I should mention here after glueing horn on reflex was 5 and 3/8" from a flat core.Then the sinew and reverse bracing put it to 10"+.

[BowEd]

I should of took pics of this bow just before tillering it but it slipped my mind.Sorry.

[mullet]

Beautiful bow, Ed. I'm looking forward to seeing it finished.

If you feel like you are slighting that bow on the Draw length, you can send it to me and I'll work it out, my draw is a tad over 30" with,or without a thumb ring.;-)

[BowEd]

OK I'll remember that mullet.Did'nt realize your draw length was that long.Mine really should be longer I'd say though too.
These composites seem to take a bit more shooting than a self bow before finishing.

[Stick Bender]

Thats a beautifull & fasanating bow Ed , you got me going just bought Karpo's book Great bow !

[BowEd]

Great Ritch.....It's quite a book and an immense amount of information and testing to digest.Making a bunch of self bows first gives a person a lot better insight and understanding of info to get the best out of natural materials.
I think I'm finally through shooting this bow in and giving it the needed bracing time to see what it's going to be.I guess it's just a nice set of copperheads is about all I'm going to put on it.Too many decisions again......lol.
This bow is not even close to what a Turkish horn bow is or like although I've never actually shot an actual Turkish horn bow.This one is just my own version and theory of a lot of reflex and reduced outer limb mass weight to get a faster bow without all of the extra work that a Turkish horn bow requires.Having it hold together profile for years or even decades with proper care is definitely the goal too.

[BowEd]

These composite bows are different.With having a little more reflex I mean.Just the little extra this one has recovery time from shooting can continue for days.An intial bunch the first 2 hours then a little at a time from then on.Guess that's the revealing quality of sinew being able to stretch 8 or 10 times more or so than wood.I was thinking about doing an efficiency test[like in the TBB 4 book] but that might have different readings depending on bracing and shooting time too.
Got the skins ready.Just need the titebond 3 to come in the mail.

[BowEd]

Well it's been another 3 weeks and finally finished this bow up with the skins,stain & finish.Pulling almost 53#'s now @ 28".Finished mass weight is 17.65 ounces.Shoots pretty decent.Comfortable for me to shoot.Starting at about a 5.75" brace from the belly it has a high poundage gain the first 8" of draw of around an average of 3#'s per inch then the next 8" at around 2#'s per inch then the remaining 6" at 2.5# per inch.Releases with a kind of whispery snap.No hand shock I can detect.Gave it some copperheads I had.Cow horn overlays.Left it a bare bones handle.The stain on it ended up a light brown trying to get a coppery reddish type look to it.Hickory is kinda a hard for me to stain nice and evenly on the edge grain.Some finished pics of it.Kinda fuzzy though.Thanks for looking.
Rest

Brace

Full draw

Back

Belly

Handle

Tip

[DC]

Very cool!