Questions on first bow build

[mxalex229]

Hi all, long time reader, and first time bowyer.

I have been reading up on building a bow for a while now, great guides on here. My background was building furniture so this was far from my comfort zone. I ordered a walnut stave and a piece of hickory for backing and started my first bow. Its 66" with a 28.5" draw at 40.96lbs. I built the whole thing with hand tools so i could go slow and steady, and get an appreciation for the craftsmanship of this art (it sucked and it took great resolve to not use power tools). I decided to do a smooth taper from handle to tip on both sides, with a classic "D" cross section, flattening more toward the handle for a bit more flex from the straight handle. Looking back I do see a lot of issues that I would love to fix on my next build.


So.... I have a few questions.
1.) Is this an acceptable tiller? The left side is the bottom limb so i made it slightly shorter and stiffer, hence the scale hanging more to the right, where the arrow shelf lines up/ where fingers would be.


2.)Is there a way to clean a bow string? The white looks great, and it sucked making this one, so can I bleach it, or will that ruin it?

3.)I want to do a dark stain, what do you use? I like Minwax, but I don't know how that may affect the properties of the wood and flex in the bow, since it has a hardening/sticky property as it dries.

4.)What do you use for a clear coat/ sealer?


Thanks for the help, glad to be a new member to this forum!
Attachments

[willie]

welcome to the forum

At first, it took me more than a couple of tries to make hickory boards into a bow, So I commend you on success at the first try.

Since you already see issues to fix on the next, I think you are well on the way to some nice builds in the future.

Lots of bow porn here to pick thru for inspiration.     

[Danzn Bar]

IMHO.....Right limb is too stiff in the outer 2/3 rds.......Would like to see some unstrung profiles, front and side, to help with tiller.  I have found that doing the last few inches of tillering drawing by hand is best...the tree can be a liar for final tillering.   Really like the smooth lines on the handle, usually beginners have very blocky handle designs...I like a smooth transition in the fades....the string nocks are very unique if they were just 180 deg opposite they would be very good looking brush nocks.....overall your first build is 100 times better than my first....good job!
I would really like to see a full draw pulled by hand....
DBar

[Mo_coon-catcher]

Welcome to the clan.

Looks good for a first bow. Definitely better than my first 10 or so. Interesting tips you have on there, I like em. They remind me of an axe. I seal my bows with either truoil or beeswax deer fat mix after hitting the bow with 320 paper.

For a little constructive criticism, the left limb looks pretty good to me. But the right could do some more work in the middle. It's mostly bending in just the fade. If you make the bend in the right look like the left. I think you'll get a better life from this one. You'll lose some draw weight by the time you get it evened out, but it'll help over all.

Kyle

[bubbles]

Wow, amazing work!  Those tips look sweet although a pain in the butt to string.
I would avoid bleaching a bow string, just seems like a bad idea. I have no basis for this other than my mom telling me not to use bleach as a child because it weakens fabrics.

I'm with Dbar -  would be great to see how the FD looks in the hand.

[osage outlaw]

You put a lot of detail into a first bow.  Congratulations on getting a shooter.  The tiller is a little uneven but way better than my first bow.  I'm looking forward to seeing your progress as you continue to build more bows.  You will learn something new with each one.  Why do you need to clean your bowstring?  You might try experimenting with dyes instead of stain for you bows. 

 Were you were going for a brush style nock?  Usually the built up area is on the belly side of the bow.  Here is one that DavidV posted last year.




Or were you going for more of a tip overlay like this?

[mxalex229]

Perfect, exactly the criticism I was looking for! I will work a bit on the right limb, as I do see now a straighter edge since you have mentioned it. Here is a picture of it unstrung. I'll get another of it at full draw in hand. Glad everyone likes the tips, they were a labor of love to carve with the hand tools.
I had no idea what a brush style knock was, the idea was to make a more weighted limb tip for strength around the string that follows simple properties of aerodynamics with an ornate appearance. My next one will be a bit more involved.

[Danzn Bar]

You can see that the belly of the bottom limb, just out of the fades has been damage and has colapased a bit.  The best advise I can give during tillering is never pull the bow past a bad tiller.  It needs to be a good tiller during to whole tilling process.  If you see an area that is either stiff or hinging, correct it before pulling further....
DBar

[osage outlaw]

The less tip weight the better on a bow.  A small piece of horn glued on as a tip overlay will add all the strength you need. 

[Jim Davis]

As for the tips, any weight added there absorbs energy that should have gone into the arrow. Weight there is a mistake.

Jim Davis

[mikekeswick]

Yes you did well with a not great wood combo. B.walnut is not great in compression and hickory is very strong in tension. When making laminated bows you should think about the back and belly woods being balanced in relative strengths. If you wanted to use b.walnut for a belly again then it would be better to back it with maple and use a flat belly.
As mentioned your tiller is off but it made it to full draw!
The trick with tips is to try and get them as small as possible whilst maintaining function. The most strain on a bow is at the middle, the least at the tips. It is amazing how small you can make a bows tips once you get the feel for it.

[Selfbowman]

Ash-arrow and Osage outlaw are spot on about tip weight. The speed and smooth peformance are in deminishing mass and placement of said mass. Tid bits on the tips can be very appealing till you let the string go. Arvin

[mxalex229]

ahhhh i had never thought of it that way, and i had no idea what i was doing when i paired the woods, it was just a wild guess.

love the feedback, I'm designing a new bow with the feedback. what would you all suggest for wood combinations? it will be a reflex deflex with a bend handle... and some thinner stylized tips!

[Dictionary]

Great first attempt. Right limb is bending too much near the fade. I'd leave that area alone and take wood off down the limb to the tips. You should be able to balance the limbs. Although, you will lower the draw weight in the process.


I've used minwax stain. It works fine in my opinion. I've also used leather dye, which works well. Many here use acrylic paint, but I haven't gone that route for staining an entire bow.

Bamboo/Ipe is a very popular combo or just about any hardwood like red oak, hard maple, elm, etc backed with hickory.

Dic

[DavidV]

ahhhh i had never thought of it that way, and i had no idea what i was doing when i paired the woods, it was just a wild guess.

love the feedback, I'm designing a new bow with the feedback. what would you all suggest for wood combinations? it will be a reflex deflex with a bend handle... and some thinner stylized tips!

If you're still going to use a hickory backing then the best belly woods would be osage or ipe, which you can get from decking boards and is easier to find straight grained than osage. Stylized nocks look great but like everyone said, there isn't much strain by the tips. The brush nocks Osage Outlaw posted above serve a purpose but it took quite a bit of thinning down and balancing to get rid of the handshock in the bow, the weight also robs some cast from the arrow. You can get the tips down to the width of a finger or pencil and there's still plenty of strength in the tips to hold.