Ash longbow - 45# at 28"

[Strichev]

Nice! Did it take any set?

Yesterday I tillered an ash longbow (34 mm by 27 mm in the handle with a rather rounded cross section) 186 cm long and it developed 2 inches of set, I believe mainly because of the initially terrible whip-tiller. I'll perfect the tiller in the coming days but it'll become firewood after that.

Anyhow, those thin growth rings make for a good looking belly.

[FilipT]

Yes it got a bit of a set, but keep in mind it was already a bit deflexed. These rings will pop out even more tomorrow when I put fat and beeswax and heat them up. Wood will soak it in and show the grain even more.

[FilipT]

I just put coating of pork fat, heated it up with heatgun and rubbed it in with a cloth. Repeated the same process with the beeswax. Combination of these two really popped out the grain and bow is also now practically waterproof. When I put leather I will post full draw.

[FilipT]

Definitely not the perfect bend but I am very satisfied with performance. Learned a big deal out of this bow during tillering and this is my first successful ash bow! Also I must learn to make better handle wraps.

[bjrogg]

That should fling a arrow nicely filip.
Bjrogg

[Strichev]

I'm going to be a bit of an 'hole and speak my mind

To me it looks a bit stiff for the first third and then weak midlimb, especially the right one. Were you going for an elliptic tiller? Could be that it's just deflexed parts that look that way.

It looks almost exactly like my previous attempt just better; my bow developed unacceptable amount of set because I kept seeing the outer limbs as too stiff while on long string and low brace.  Then when braced it looked absolutely atrocious.

Also, a fun thing I noticed is that that apparently the last few years have been slow as far as ash growth goes, over here the outer rings are also thin, not  as the ones you have but still. Then again, it's just 50 km "as the arrow flies" from here to where you're at.

[FilipT]

Any critic is welcome, just speak your mind.

I agree with you regarding right (upper limb). But the issue here is two fold. You noticed a spot where it appears weak mid limb but actually that spot is not hinge but a poor shaping attempt of me. What happened is that change in limb thickness is a bit abrupt in that area but not so it makes bow behave poorly. I completely forgot to correct this when I finished tillering and just proceeded to coat it with fat and beeswax so it was too late. Dumb of me, no need to mention it.
Second issue is indeed a bit stiffer inner half of limb. I tried to correct that area several times, but it just didn't had any effect. Since I am beginner I was afraid it would suddenly become too weak and since the drawing of bow is very smooth I decided to not bother with further.

And yes, I was going for a more elliptical tiller instead a part of circle. I guess it was more because it was deflexed already and that shape naturally appeared at drawing. Not sure if this is an error or these bows NEED to be circular.

All in all, this bow is the first successful one this year and in some areas it needed further work but considering difficulty of the sapling, how much it could be pushed further I wouldn't know.