2020 Bow Trade - Sign up closed

[dylanholderman]

well last night i got my first stave debarked and tried to split off some of the excess but apparently this stave wants to be a reflexed bow  after a quick gear change no big deal. I started roughing it out in a subtle willow leaf profile that should become more pronounced as i refine the shape.
 

[sleek]

Whelp, I got a start on one. Luckily I keep a stave in my truck when I'm out on contracts. Had an hour of boredom after work, so I split a stave, and chased a ring. Kinda different doing it in a parking lot under a street lamp on the tailgate, hoping the cops didnt get called about a guy waving a knife around in the abandoned lot I park at.

Anyways, its 57 inches long, and about 1 5/16 wide in the middle. Kinda short, kinda narrow. Gonna take it down to profile, then floor bending and stop for awhile. When the weather warms up, I'll drag my generator out for power and use my heat gun to bend in my curves to allow the draw length I want. Then I will calculate based on its width, what draw weight I can get from it. This stick is gonna walk me through the process.

[sleek]

Obligatory images of the shape and chased ring.

[Swampman]

Did you see that crazy guy waving a Ka-bar around.  He had some funny colored wood chips flying all over the place.  Weird.

[sleek]

Per my calculations, assuming I can keep the width and not need to narrow it any, I should get a 40.43 pound bow using my experimental math.

[sleek]

Did you see that crazy guy waving a Ka-bar around.  He had some funny colored wood chips flying all over the place.  Weird.

Right? Boy, what a mess that could quickly turn into.

[M2A]

All righty. With a break in the weather things at work got busy rather fast this year. Been waiting till I could get some pics posted to continue. As I have it bending, I don't want to reduce it anymore until I see if I can get the limbs better inline with the handle. I figure the worst of the 2  is just over 1" off. Tips are still about 1" wide and handle is still full width. Not always successful at getting things lined up so...but I feel pretty good about this piece. Also has some prop twist that I hope to remove. If I can straighten it up enough, I should be able to get it looking more like a bow in short order.
Mike
IMG_3454 by Mike Allridge, on Flickr
IMG_3455 by Mike Allridge, on Flickr         

[bushboy]

I would cut out the handle profile before alignment..just what I've seen happen before...

[Flntknp17]

I’ve been slowly making progress this week on the BBM.  I’m basically done tillering unless something changes unexpectedly and it’s pulling 48@24 so I’ve got plenty of room to play with the draw weight to make it about 50@27 eventually.  It started out with 3” of reflex and now maintains 2” of just unbraced reflex after shooting a few arrows.  So far so good.



Matt

[Swampman]

That is looking good Matt.

[M2A]

Thanks for the suggestion  Bush.

Your project is coming along nicely Flintnp.

Always cool to see the different styles and thought processes in these trades.

Mike

[Flntknp17]

I was able to get in a bit more work today since my flintknapping demonstration got canceled by virus 🦠.  Filed the handle closer to final dimensions and smoothed all the limb corners.  Trued up the lines of the limbs a bit.  Shot about 50 arrows at my block in the basement and it definitely shoots well.  The rules of the bow swap were “to make a bow that hurts a little to give away because you’d like to keep it yourself” or something to that effect.  This one definitely qualifies.  It kept about a full inch of immediately unbraced reflex after 50 shots.  I’m happy with that on an all-wood bow. 

Matt

[Bubbabowyer]

Got some more work done on my stave this weekend. This is some of the densest osage I've ever seen. I hope it turns out well.

[sleek]

That is some nice looking sage

[sleek]

I was able to get in a bit more work today since my flintknapping demonstration got canceled by virus 🦠.  Filed the handle closer to final dimensions and smoothed all the limb corners.  Trued up the lines of the limbs a bit.  Shot about 50 arrows at my block in the basement and it definitely shoots well.  The rules of the bow swap were “to make a bow that hurts a little to give away because you’d like to keep it yourself” or something to that effect.  This one definitely qualifies.  It kept about a full inch of immediately unbraced reflex after 50 shots.  I’m happy with that on an all-wood bow. 

Matt

I like that handle contrast. Your glue lines are certainly on point too.