A 30 minute bunny hunter (46", 38# at 23")

[MattZA]

Hi all!

Been a while since I posted anything.

Here's a simple little twig I spent half an hour carving.

It's not complete, hence the linen wrapping on the bottom nock, and the gaudy gold ribbon handle (I was considering giving it to my niece at one point).

Massaranduba/bulletwood self bow. 46" ntn. 1 1/8" wide at the fades. Relatively straight line taper to 1/4" tips. I made the whole thing by eye, so take "straight line" with a pinch of salt. Balau nock(s). It pulls 38lbs at 23" of draw. 1 1/4" of set immediately after unstringing and having shot around 300 arrows. That drops to around 3/4" set after about an hour.

[MattZA]

More photos...

Unfortunately I had to use a gross artificial string from dyneema, but it'll do.

[Ryan Jacob]

Something seems... off. Is the bottom limb ever so slightly weaker, or is it just the photo?

[MattZA]

Yea it is a tiny bit weaker in one place. I have no idea why, since it's actually thicker than its surroundings.

I might heat treat that section to stiffen it up, although I'm not sure if heating massaranduba does much, since it's so dense already.

It's clearly not very stressed, despite pulling as much as 45# at around 26".

Spits out an arrow with authority though, I'm actually quite impressed!

[bjrogg]

I would agree. Top limb looks just a bit stiff. Bottom limb just a bit weak. All in all not to bad though Matt. I didn't notice handle area. Could you flip it over?
Bjrogg

[Marc St Louis]

I don't believe beefwood reacts well to heat so I wouldn't try it.  It does look like the bottom limb has a slightly different bend than the top.  Well done none the less.

[MattZA]

Thanks guys. I'm chuffed considering I used a Swiss army knife and a spare 4" by 4" piece of 180 grit sandpaper. Oh, and a drop of superglue for the nock.

Bjrogg - Yea I could flip it over. I've effectively just left a small section stiff(ish) in the middle for a handle. It bends ever so slightly, but there's no reason I couldn't use the weaker side as the top.

Marc - I'm so glad you responded. I think I've read your TBB chapter about 50 times. It's where I got the idea it won't respond well to heat. That said, you called this beefwood. Isn't that a different wood to bulletwood/massaranduba?

[SLIMBOB]

Nice looking bow, and I agree with the others on the bottom limb.  If you flip it over it might be right on.

[PatM]

Looks pretty good.

 There is another tree called Beefwood but Massa is also called that.   It's a bit like "Ironwood" being used for several trees.

[ohma2]

Good job with 30 minutes well spent.

[dratera]

Very nice for half an hour worth of work. Sure would take me longer to make something like that

[DC]

Looks nice. I ddi a quick toothpick measure on my screen and it looks like you're drawing it from above center on the string. That may be making the bottom limb look weird.

[PatM]

I would just tweak the tiller and go with the longer draw if you've already drawn it that far.

[MattZA]

Thanks chaps!

PatM, I know you've got quite a bit of experience with Massa. Have you found it any good as a selfbow? I had previously heard that it tends to take a set easily, but this one clearly hasn't. Somebody else drew it to 26" and it only extended the set to 1 1/2". Also, what would you do to the tiller? Even it out across both limbs and take the loss of draw weight on the chin? If it responded to heat treatment I had considered heating the weaker section of limb.

DC, yea you're right I think I was. I haven't served the string yet, and I had the camera on a 10 second timer, so I had to hurry - The bottom limb is definitely weaker though.

[JW_Halverson]

pretty good results for the time and effort involved!  Good work, Matt!