Author Topic: May be this years hunting bow, walnut 68#@27" now (Read 3518 times)

Mo_coon-catcher · « **on:** August 20, 2017, 07:00:18 pm »

I just tillered out what I think will be this years hunting bow.

Black walnut ELB heat treated, 74" nock to nock, 1 1/8" wide tapering to about 1" at midlimb then down to 3/8" tips with a bit of wiggle in both profiles. It still needs cleaned up and finished, but at the moment it's pulling about 58# at 27" and throws a 625-650gr arrow hard enough to make me happy, so essentially pretty flat to 20 yards. Essentially doing on par with about most ElB style bow I've seen.

It tillered out very quickly. I had it roughed out early in last years bow trade as a possible candidate, then when I went to work on it, I just cleaned up the lines with a ferriers rasp, samded it clean, put it into a low brace and it went back to 22" looking good. So I heat treated it and pulled it a bit more inline. Once it cooled I gave it a good samding with 80grit paper since I couldn't quite brace it. Once braced everything looked good, so I just kept easing it back until I hit my full draw without really having to touch anything. It ended up having about 3/4" of temporary set after tillering and shooting a couple dozen arrows, that came back to its original profile after sitting for a few minutes. I think it could flex a smidge more in the outers as it has a very slight but noticable thump. I think one more mild sanding from 80grit on finer will get it. That and cleaning up the tips a bit.

I'll get some more pictures of it all dolled up and finished in a week or two once it's done. I just couldn't wait to show this one off a bit. I'm really liking working with walnut. Easy to work, good performance, light in the hand, and looks great once finished.

Kyle

penderbender · « **Reply #1 on:** August 20, 2017, 07:29:39 pm »

Looks good from here Kyle. Cheers- Brendan

Bob Barnes · « **Reply #2 on:** August 20, 2017, 07:45:38 pm »

good to see you having so much fun Kyle... another nice bow young man.

PaulN/KS · « **Reply #3 on:** August 20, 2017, 07:57:36 pm »

Looking very good Kyle.

I've done woodworking with walnut but never bow making.
It is good wood to work with but the dust tends to make me itch a bit.

Hawkdancer · « **Reply #4 on:** August 20, 2017, 10:27:29 pm »

That looks real nice - may have to try a piece of walnut down the road. Got a coule of nice hickory staves to work on first. I think the layout and rough work starts this week, assuming I can clear enough room to work in the garage

Hawkdancer

Onebowonder · « **Reply #5 on:** August 21, 2017, 10:31:10 am »

Kyle - Did you use a ring chased stave or is this one made from a quartersawn board? - OneBow

Mo_coon-catcher · « **Reply #6 on:** August 21, 2017, 10:59:46 am »

Thanks guys.
This one is a chased ring down into the heart wood. I wanted to leave a little sap, but there were bugholes running too deep. There were still a couple of tracks left that I filled with ground deer antler and super glue. I've never tried a board yet.

Kyle

Mo_coon-catcher · « **Reply #7 on:** August 21, 2017, 05:48:29 pm »

Here it is in hand full draw. I checked the draw weight with my hand scale, and it was reading 58#. So essentially the same as what my dial tiller tree scale reads. It casts a 625-650gr arrow with 4 x 4" banana fletches artows about 130-135 yards and 400-450 gr 3 fletch around 150 yards. So not great performance, but good enough to hunt with. It can handle being drawn further, but I'm content with the looks and performance and I'll only ever draw it this far.

Kyle

osage outlaw · « **Reply #8 on:** August 21, 2017, 09:07:32 pm »

74" is pretty long. Have you thought about piking it a few inches and getting it bending near the center more? Tiller looks good in your full draw picture.

Mo_coon-catcher · « **Reply #9 on:** August 22, 2017, 07:54:15 am »

I may do that. Hopefully it'll up performance a bit and get closer to the draw weigt I was hoping for, about 65#. How much do you think would be worth taking off? At the moment there is less than 1/8" of permanent set with about 1/2" of temporary set after shooting. Think I should nock off an inch on each side of a little more?

Kyle

Pappy · « **Reply #10 on:** August 22, 2017, 08:06:42 am »

If you like one that long that is fine , but if it were me I would take about 3 off each end and as Clint said get it bending more toward the fads.

Pappy

Mo_coon-catcher · « **Reply #11 on:** August 22, 2017, 10:01:25 am »

I'm a fan of longer bows, mostly just for looks, but also how smooth they feel. But I agree that this one is too long for the weight. I went ahead and clipped of 2" from eah sode. Which should leave me about 70" between the nocks. If it was something tougher than walnut I might go shorter, but this is my comfort zone without trying more of this style bow with this wood. Any guesses of the draw weight Itll be after cleaning up and a little tiller tweak? I've never piked a bow, so I'm not sure of the gains per inch of removal. Im hoping for about mid 60s. Which is what I wanted to start with. I'll get te handle area bendin a bit more, but it already has a bit of flex as is. Though I might just be being a bit conservative with the amount of bend I want to push the handle to.

Kyle

Pappy · « **Reply #12 on:** August 22, 2017, 02:35:00 pm »

Of course depends on the wood but usually at least a culled of pounds an inch so you will probably pick up at least 8 to 10 cutting off 4 inches. Pappy

Mo_coon-catcher · « **Reply #13 on:** August 23, 2017, 08:41:38 am »

After clipping off a couple inches from each tip the draw weight went up to 68# at 27". Te cast and feel is much better.it gained about 1/4" of set. Which is all the permanent set it has at the moment. Sorry about the crappy tiller tree picture. I put it on the tree and eased it back this morning when the light was horrible. I didn't touch the tiller.

Kyle

Pappy · « **Reply #14 on:** August 23, 2017, 08:59:32 am »

From what I can see the tiller looks better and the weight pick up was just about what you wanted.
Pappy

Primitive Archer