Hazel flatbow - 60# @ 28"

[FilipT]

I have pieces of leather, doesn't matter to me if it would wear over the age. I'll try that solution. Are you thinking about small piece, maybe 1" x 0,5", just glued on that place?

[FilipT]

Forgot to mention, I planned to heat treat the bow, but could not get access to the heat gun, so I proceeded without it. Bow shows 2" of set when unstrung, probably that would be less if it was heat treated.

[Strichev]

I like it, it's got clean, utilitarian lines - a property intrinsic to objects best described as elegant. No nonsense, it's got one purpose and that's too launch arrows and as it's a bow we're talking about one should say; it's beautiful.

I'll be honest and say that that Sadolin coat looks a bit artificial (may very well look totally different in RL than on pictures) due to its colour, but man, I like that shiny (but not too shiny) look you achieved.

Does it feel greasy due to pork fat?

[FilipT]

Actually its not so shiny in real life, this look in pictures was achieved by having sun directly behind my back. Bow is not greasy and can't be, because you use fire to make wood soak all that fat, also you don't put too much on it.

[FilipT]

I didn't want to open new thread just for this thing so here it is in this existing thread.

I abandoned my character hazel longbow project. It was supposed to be 80# at 32". It had severe kink in the upper limb and that made it impossible to tiller.
Two things happened. Because of the deflexed kink, upper limb touched 8" line (my bracing line) on my tiller almost immediately, while lower limb that had 2" of reflex couldn't get near bracing height after lot of scraping and rasping.
That resulted in loss of mass and obvious lightness on the tiller. It wasn't possible to make bow at 80#.

But here is the thing. I picked hazel sapling pictured yesterday. I think that is the upper part of sapling I used for the failed bow described above! I had to pick it up because of very interesting shape.
Shape you are looking at will be back of the bow. When looking from sides, its almost straight, so that means there shouldn't be major surprises on the tiller.

What I am asking is this. You can see red line. That is supposed position of the string and you see that if you put center in the curvature, string will not pass through it.

So I thought about should I leave it like that and use position on the curvature marked with blue arrow as some sort of arrow pass?

Will the bow twist in hand when I hold it?

Could I rotate the bow and the side you are seeing to be actual side of the bow, so the bow would have deflexed handle area?

Btw, forgot to mention. This would be 70" ntn 80 - 90# longbow. Would 32" draw length work on bow this long?

P.S. Red arrow is upper limb.

[Strichev]

I think it will twist if you leave it like this. Perhaps just bend the center so that you get the alignment right. Should be really easy to get it done.

[FilipT]

It is still wet, I will shape bow today and leave it clamped on the aluminum bar to dry. I'll try to "force" it more straight by clamps. Then after its dry I'll steam it, maybe it will not need much of a correction then.

[Del the cat]

I think 32" draw, heavy weight at that length with a big kink in the middle is asking too much of Hazel.
Del

[FilipT]

So 28" is max I should go, what about 30"?

Btw, Del, my flatbow on previous page has profile according to dimensions of your wonky hazel. If you remember, I asked you before that I like that shape and you wrote dimensions. But I left it thicker then yours.

[FilipT]

Here is bow roughed out. Just done the profile taper, not thickness taper.

[FilipT]

Done the thickness taper, clamped the bow to one end and center, other end was impossible to clamp. I used cord to make it come closer to the supposed line from tip to center.
When I steam it, should I steam all three areas of the bow, center and tips? I think steaming center would be not enough.

[Del the cat]

So 28" is max I should go, what about 30"?

Btw, Del, my flatbow on previous page has profile according to dimensions of your wonky hazel. If you remember, I asked you before that I like that shape and you wrote dimensions. But I left it thicker then yours.

I dunno, just my gut feel...
Watch out for set and quit when it starts to take some... Badgers no set method...?
Del

[randman]

Beautiful job on that first bow....love the color...I would describe it as a perfectly tillered textbook example of a Wampanoag Sudbury bow.

[sieddy]

Great job man. 60# is a good weight for a Hazel bow of 66" si hats off to you. It looks nice too! 

[FilipT]

Very interesting, I just googled that Wampanoag Sudbury bow and it really seems like it has tiller like I did. Slightly whip tillered, although I did that for a specific reason.
One of the limbs, the upper one, had hinge near the tip and I could remove only area from fade till hinge. From hinge to tip was couple of inches so I left that stiffer.
I had to make same thing on bottom limb so it bends symmetrical.