I haven't made a bow in a while, because I have been working on a lot of house projects. I decided to work on an ash stave that has been sitting around for quite while. I have never worked with ash, and was very surprised at how easy it was to work. 10 times easier than vine maple. The stave had quite a bit of prop twist, which made the tillering process a little challenging. By the time I got the tiller to the point where I was satisfied I had scraped the bow down to 35lbs, which led me to the decision to make it into a youth bow. I cut about 10 inches off each end making it 43in ntn and re-tillered it to 17lbs@19in. I have 2 nephews (brothers) that are 2 years apart, so naturally I had to make a second bow, which is from pacific yew. The stave hand some natural deflex and a little squiggle in the top limb. I left all the sapwood on to ensure it would stand up to some abuse, and ended up with about 2 rings of heartwood by the time I got it tillered below 20lbs. It's 43in ntn and 19lbs@19 inches.
The ash took a bit of set, which probably wouldn't have happened had I heat treated the belly, but I already had it down to 2 rings, and didn't want to make it any thinner. These are the first kids bows I've made. Definitely a different ballgame than bigger bows, but super fun to make.
IMG_6166 by
Gunnar Christensen, on Flickr
IMG_6167 by
Gunnar Christensen, on Flickr
IMG_6168 by
Gunnar Christensen, on Flickr
IMG_6170 by
Gunnar Christensen, on Flickr
IMG_6207 by
Gunnar Christensen, on Flickr
IMG_6173 by
Gunnar Christensen, on Flickr
IMG_6175 by
Gunnar Christensen, on Flickr
IMG_6181 by
Gunnar Christensen, on Flickr
IMG_6201 by
Gunnar Christensen, on Flickr
