Kaitlins Bow saga - finally complete

[n2everythg]

Thought I would post my latest Kids bow saga. It has been a while. I have been tied up with other projects this winter and havnt done much bow work.
But I have finally wrapped up the other projects and have been making a few shavings.

Almost a year ago at Pat B's B-day party I got a stave from someone. Cant really remember who it was.  It was destined for the fire as it had really thin rings and was a narrow split. Well my daughter kait needed a new bow to play around with so I saved her from the burn pile. rechristened her 'ember'. I chased a ring at Pat's and roughed her out. Had to chase a couple rings actually as they were so thin I kept ripping through them.

Well the bow came home and as I said she sat in the corner and for a while sat on my dash in my P-up. I finally got around to finishing her off this spring.
Man she turned out beautiful. best bow I think I have ever done as she ended up with no set and I started working on thinning down my tips. She was 48" NTN. 3/4" wide. and 25# at 18 inches. I tillered her out to 20. Man that kids bow would really fling a short Kids arrow. I finished her off with 5 coats of tong oil and bees wax. and had glued on a dogwood arrow rest. Was about to wrap her with a leather handle also but I loved her so much... I just couldnt put her down...

Let the kids of the neighborhood shoot her one night... and kait even got to shoot her a number of times... Man they were having fun. Well I built her a string of 6 strands of linen. and can you guess where this is going??
I had to fling a couple more arrows... I put one about 1/2 way through our wooded privacy fence... and of course I was wondering if one would actually penetrate the fence.... .

Oh man I should have left well enough alone and handed the bow off to kait.. but daddy had to play with the new toy...
So she blew apart at full draw. guess the design or my tiller or the rings just couldnt handle me pushing the limits of that design. I was using a kids short arrow so I thought I was safe from overdraw... but nope. at least it didnt blow up on the neighborhood kids.

So.. now I am working on another bow for kait.. and im looking for comments on the tiller but first let me post a couple of pics of the short lived 'ember' :







So after breaking kaits heart... man you should have seen the look on her face when i told her daddy broke her new bow.... I
had to promise her I wouldn't work on any other projects until I finished up a new bow for her.

This one I probably overbuilt. She has much better rings for one. plus I made her a full 1" wide out of the fades. 48 1/2" long NTN. as a stave she was pretty whipped to the right and I had to heat straighten it. while I was doing that I put just a bit of reflex into the stave.


Check out my tiller at 18" and see if you can find any areas I need to work.
Right now she is 23# at 18. which is about what kait draws right now.
I thought I would tiller the bow out to at least 21 maybe 22.
any comments or suggestions?
 

Thanks,
wade 

[adb]

Bummer.

[n2everythg]

yea...
but it was fun and I learned from building it.
Man I love those short bows... 
think I was only bummed for an hour or so over it.

[n2everythg]

So how far do you guys think I can push this bow?
I have it tillered out to 19" @25 lbs which is maybe just a hair heavy for my kid. I think my tiller is pretty good but I am wide open to suggestions if y'all have any.

BUT I would love to really push this bow to the limit and tiller her out long enough that I could shoot it as well. and of course as my girl grows then she can continue to pull it for some time.

I am thinking that I can safely tiller it to prob 23-24 inches without passing the 90 degree string angle. Anyone know how to calculate that based on bow length?
Then if I flipped the tips a bit I might even get 25 or 26" out of it.

How can you tell what the max is that you can push a bow to before it pops?

Should I just leave well enough alone... or should I push her as far as I can and risk it all?? least til I chicken out.

tips are really fat right now but it weighs 300 grams or 10.58 oz.  48.5" NTN. handle is 3.25" with 1.75" fades so the working limb is really only 21". limb is 1.125" for about 11.5 inches then taper.
Any thoughts?

Im gonna push her at least a couple more inches.......
Think this is where I need to take of just a tiny bit and get more bend?



I know that is a lot of questions.... but if nothing else I'm using y'all as a sounding board to get it all straight in my own head....
well maybe sounds good anyway.

wade

[n2everythg]

OK I re prioritized... I just gotta finish up a bow for kait.
So I tillered her out to 21" which will last kait for a lot of growing.
Thinning the tips now and starting to work on the handle.
Will post finished pics when done.

Here is the tiller at 21" and 30lbs. Let me know if you see any glaring problems or areas that need work. thanks

[richpierce]

Looks good.  With a handle, there is only so much draw you can get from a bow that short.  You only have 44" (maybe) of working limbs.  I'd flip the tips as she gets stronger and older and you might get more draw weight and draw length too.

[Justin Snyder]

What Rich said.  You are getting real close to a 90* string angle.  If you re-curve the tips a little it will help to reduce stacking.  I would get all but 5" of the tips bending more.  Justin

[n2everythg]

thanks guys that does help.
That circle is really helpful. I'm going to have to figure out how to make that work for me. I messed around with it in paint but never could make it quite work right. either the elipse was the wrong shape or the pic too big or something.

It is a big help. will get the outer 2/3rds bending a bit more as I am working on the tips.
thanks again
wade

[CutNShoot]

N2everything about ms paint. Drag your pick to paint click the oval and right click just outside the left tip but up center  bow above the handle. Hold down on the mouse and drag straight across to the other tip  and pull it down till it evens up at the tips. This works for me maybe it will help you a little.

[n2everythg]

Well I wont call her finished. still needs shooting in and could still use a few more coats of true oil and wax. but she is a shooter.. 

Kait is really proud of her new bow and glad her 'ol man finally decided to build her a sturdy shooter that he wouldnt break.

I'm pretty proud of the bow as well. Ended up pulling her to 22" which was probably almost a 90 deg. string angle. She didnt end up taking any set. Or at least the bow is the flattest after unstringing that I have ever made. I initially started with probably 2 inches of reflex and now she is flat.. so does she have set? Dont know. dont care... she will fling an arrow and make my kid smile.
The bow was somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 lbs at 22" and im happy... she is complete. Now I can go build me one.

I have a new respect for those that do the leather handles with stiching. This was my first and I cursed it all the way.
Some pics are in order I think.





Mama even got in on the action... this is the first time she ever shot a bow or showed any interest... uh oh.. might have started something.....




later guys.
N2

[Pat B]

Great little bow and Kaitlin's smile says it all!!!   Now, go build Mamma a bow!       Pat

[Fundin]

The last picture is great, she shows the most important aspect of primitive archery, the joy... My little daughter Torunn has to wait a while until its her turn. I have a bow ready for her, 12# @ 23" but she is only 8 weeks old....

[El Destructo]

Them Pictures say it all....comgrats on the Bow and making Her something I beleive that She will remember more than a Gift from a Store

[Pappy]

Sorry about the first but looks like you made it up on the second,very nicely done
and I know she will enjoy it,what a smile.
   Pappy

[Okie]

Great job N2. Bow looks nice.

John