load of fence post

[bradsmith2010]

looking good when can we shoot it,,,,

[RandyN]

Brad,,Good news. I will be by this week so we can shoot it.

I have been working a little on the bow each day. I have one limb that is making the going slow. It is the one that is twisted and it also has reflex. So I am being careful not to create a hinge in the limb and not get tricked by it looking stiff. Here are the pics of that limb. I hope you can see what I am talking about.

[RandyN]

The other thing I have been doing with this bow is leaving it strung for hours at a time. I left the bow strung at brace height the last couple nights in my unheated shed. Since it is winter, the humidity in my shed is around 50%. I think this helps stabilize the bow wood. I have done this to other bows I make. The reason being, I string my bow in the morning when I go hunting and leave it strung all day until dark. Usually 14 - 15 hours. All this rain or shine. I have been lucky so far. The only bow that follows the string is my first one. I have learned a lot since that one.

Here are the stats on the bow when i quite working on it today.

Draw: 16"  Weight:  39.5 lbs
          17"               42.5 lbs
          18"               45    lbs
          19"               48    lbs
          20"               51    lbs
          21"               54.5 lbs
          22"               57    lbs
Here is what the tiller looks like so far.  Let e know what you think.

[RandyN]

Forgot the most important stat that I like to get early in the process. I always start shooting my bows at 20 - 22" inches. I like to see how the bow is performing at a low draw length. I am shooting a 634 grain arrow and drawing it to 22". The result is 145 fps. I hope this will improve as the draw length increases.

[DC]

Do you have an unbraced picture?

[RandyN]

DC,,,,Thank you for asking. Here are a couple for now. I'm not sure they will show you much. I can take a better unbraced pic in the morning.

[DC]

Thanks, now the tiller looks good to me.

[bradsmith2010]

that wood is a beautiful color,, it should look amazing with some finish on it,,

[bjrogg]

Imagine how long that fence post waited for you to find that bow in it and bring that piece of wood back to life. Well done sir, on a very challenging fence post. What draw length are you hoping for?
Bjrogg

[RandyN]

Bjrogg,,,I am hoping to get a 28" draw out of it. But as slow as the scrapping is going, I might settle for less. I worked on it for about 3 hours today and it only dropped about 8 lbs in draw weight at the 22" draw length.

[bjrogg]

Good Luck I'll be watching. 
Bjrogg

[bradsmith2010]

my draw is about 25,, that should be enough,,

[Hawkdancer]

Looks good to me, but I'm new to bow making - I guess you would tiller to the shooter, maybe slightly over.  Good to see the wood repurposed!
Hawkdancer

[RandyN]

In one of my last posts I said that i like to leave my bows braced for a period of time to help stabilize the wood. And that I leave them strung all day while hunting. I know this goes against some of the thought process of a wooden bow losing cast if it remains strung for extended periods of time. Maybe I'm just lucky but it has worked for me. My hunting bow pulls 62 lbs and is as straight as the day I finished it. With no lose in weight.

Here is the bow after I left it braced in the back shed overnight. The first pic is of it braced and the 2nd is right after I unstrung it to start working on taking weight off.

[DC]

Looks good, nice bend.