starting a hickory bow,,

[Selfbowman]

Watching and Learning. Arvin

[Allyn T]

I'm half tempted to just start a new one and finish this one later. If I kill a couple deer here soon I might make some progress

[bradsmith2010]

yes deer hunting can slow you down, I did not draw a tag,, and cant get to Texas so Im making bows so I dont go crazy,,,

[Hawkdancer]

Living in the high, dry will do that to you!  Fries the brain or something  On the other hand, staves cure quickly . 
Hawkdancer

[Allyn T]

I am lucky enough I can always get three deer tags no matter what

[simson]

ok sorry for the long post,,
Simson, just a straight D bow with 2 or three layers of sinew,,
with a gentle reflex in the whole bow,
no built up handle just slightly bend in handle,,
very rough roughed out pics,,
will go to draw knife and rasp and get it to bend,,

you can see it has a bit of character,, it just split out that way, I didnt try to make it straight,, by cutting it,,
just let it flow with the grain like it wants,, 

well, you said it is 60" long. Why will you back that thing? For a bendy handle it is long enough.

[bradsmith2010]

   Simson, I am just experiementing to see what it will do through the chrono,,yes good point you are right,, I have been experimenting lately with the sinew, I just really enjoy it,, I guess really I have gone bout as short as I can go 0n some bows, and experimenting with longer draws with sinew to see the point of diminishing return,, as far as applying to longer bow with longer draw,, a 60 inch sinew bow ,, drawn to 30 inches ,, should be releative to drawing a 50 inch bow to 25 with sinew was my thinking,,
thank you so much for your input,, greatly apprecitated,,
   as I shoot the bow through the chrono, I can see when the bow strarts to perform well or at what draw,, I may have to take it out to 30 inches to take advantage of the sinew, but I will start testing at shorter draws to see how the performance does ,, hoping the sinew backed bow will hold more reflex at  the longer draw,,,hoping to see how the performance would compare to an unbacked bow same length same draw,,,,

[Morgan]

Brad, have you sinewed hickory before? I am curious of the benefits of a sinewed hickory over a non sinew in your bone dry climate? Meaning would you gain speed even with the added weight?

[bradsmith2010]

  Morgan, Im really not sure, but should be able to tell something as I do this one,,
it may be a wash,, I am hoping the added reflex, will help with the added weight of the sinew, and that being able to draw it to 30 if needed with out taking any set,, might be postive,, but I am just learning about the hickory out here,, I made a pecan bow with sinew but it was short and shot nice,, so I am in uncharted waters for now,, on the hickory..
  Ok Im just thinking out loud, but for example take a 50# self bow would have a mass of so much,, ok now sinew back it,, its gonna gain 20#,,roughly,, ok to tiller it back to 50 you would have to take off wood that would reduce the mass somewhat,, maybe even get close to the same mass weight that was for the self bow,,, so that would compensate for the weight of the sinew a bit,,( i have weighed piles of saw dust before to check this,,but dont think I gonna get that crazy on this one,,)
   now say the bow is holding 3 inches of reflex,,compared to a bow that is even no string follow,,
for me a 60 inch self bow draw to 30 inches would be pushing it,,,and probably gonna follow the string a bit,,   but the sinew backed bow could hold reflex at the 30 inch draw,, so I am thinking not only would the bow be less likly to break at the long draw, but might improve performance a bit,, but just speculating now, but after shooting through the chronograph, will now better,, and if there is no advantage,, then I will try a 58 inch bow next time and so on,, to see where is does become an advange,,for me,, Now I know PatM gonna chime in and say ,,, Brad they figured that out about 1000 years ago,, OK ,, im sure,, but I am just having fun seeing the results first hand,,,and hope I gonna learn something,,

   

[Allyn T]

I think you should def weigh sawdust 

[bradsmith2010]

you probably right,, how anybody gonna take me serious if I dont,,

[Allyn T]

Real bowyer's weigh everything, better weigh your glue too just to keep it legit

[Morgan]

Brad, I had no idea the sinew would make it gain so much draw weight. I know that the sinew makes it hold reflex through extreme draw length for a given bow length. Have you ever removed the sinew on such a bow after shooting for a while? I wonder if the bow would still be reflexed right after the sinew is removed or if the wood still took set that the sinew is overcoming. I’m excited to see your projects. I probably will not ever sinew a bow, not for a long time anyway, so I appreciate you doing this build along for us to see the ins and outs of it.

[bradsmith2010]

   Allyn, gonna weigh the glue   
Morgan, I did have the sinew come off a bow,, not on purpose,, but the sinew had kept the bow from taking set,, I thought was interesting,,
there are so many variables,,even in the sinew itself, it makes it challenging I think,,but I have had some really nice shooting bows,, and enjoy the results I get,,lately I have just tried some different things,,this hickory bow will be one of them,,
   I dont have my notes in front of me,, but the bow that the sinew came off, was about 54 inches long, and it would shoot about 180 fps with a 10 gpp arrow,, at 27 inces of draw,, it was osage,, I am going to put the sinew back on, I recurved the tips and gonna see how it shoots as a recurve,,

[bradsmith2010]

u can kinda see the side profile starting to shape here, workin with my 1968 workmate outside today,, thought you might like to see my new rasp,, its call the Beast,,