Starting a hickory board bow

[cantshoot]

So after two bow attempts with red oak boards I have one successful but probably overbuilt bow, and the makings for a set of lovely salad lifters from the second one.

So I thought I'd take a break from oak and try something else. My pal Tony who is a pretty skilled woodworker recommended a sawmill outlet called Bauman in Wallenstein Ontario, pretty close to where I live. They have awesome friendly staff who are totally happy to lift down stacks of wood and unband them for a hobbyist who's just picking through for a single plank. Awesome I've been meaning to check them out for a while but had to wait for a day off because of their hours.

So since I had booked yesterday off anyway because the wife and I were at a Blind Guardian concert on Monday night and weren't going to be good for much the next day I dragged myself out of bed and made the drive out there to check it out.

Ended up getting 6 bdft of hickory for a pretty good price, I figured I can make three bows out of it and it cost about what I paid for the home depot oak I used for my first bow.

So here's the first piece I ripped off. The grain looked straight enough that I just cut straight up the board. It's 2" wide and 5/4 thick by 74" long. With the ring orientation I was thinking about reducing the back to a single ring, but I'm not sure if I want to risk attempting it. How much benefit would there be?

Also, what dimensions should I roughly target for a bow around 40# at 28"?

Thanks for the help as always folks.

[bubby]

http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,35312.0.html



These demensions will get you in the ballpark

[cantshoot]

http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,35312.0.html



These demensions will get you in the ballpark

Awesome! Exactly what I was looking for.

66" is pretty short, my oak bow that survived is 72" long.

Hickory should stand up to significantly greater strain than oak though right?

[Lumberman]

You are in for a treat as long as it is dry. I am yet to break a piece of hickory even though I can break all the others pretty quick

[Knoll]

Given your draw wt/length specs, 66-68 will do ya fine. Good luck!

[cantshoot]

Sounds good guys, thanks for the encouragement

So I cut it down to 70" long and laid out the bow. The board was rough milled so I started planing down the face that will be the back of the bow. At first I thought it was just really deep saw marks but once I got it smooth I noticed that the hickory is curly. Not very severe or tight curl, but a noticeable undulating iridescence. Cool! I hope it doesn't adversely effect the bow. I am going to try to keep it the full 69" ntn to hopefully compensate a bit for the nonstandard grain.

Even if it's marginal wood, marginal hickory should be better than good red oak right?

[Sissomd]

I'm about to start a hickory self bow myself.  How did yours turn out?  Did the unique grain make for a beautiful bow or did it bust out?