Hi All,
emboldened by my seemingly successful "camo" BBO flatbow (which is not
quite finished yet !), I decided that I would make Helene a backup bow before we go to the NFAS 3D Championships here in the UK. Since we shoot in the NFAS Primitive class, I also needed to make a primitive style bow, and then I saw adb3112's Holmegaard build-along. Inspired by that article, and having some osage and bamboo to use I decided to have a go at one myself.
I cut the osage to the basic shape, thinned it down in the working limb sections, and then glued it into a 2" Perry-style reflex with the bamboo backing. I thinned the bamboo, but not really enough towards the limb tips, if I'm honest. I
will get that right next time - practice, practice, practice!
Also, I managed to crack the bamboo in the middle at one end longitudinally for about 4", but since it was on the non bending, non-working part of one limb, I talked myself into ignoring it. Helene was keen to see the stave when it came out of the glue up, but less happy to see the crack, which had been highlighted by the dark resourcinol glue. I said I would have a go at disguising it, and thats when I decided to put on a thin overlay of a veneer of lacewood (or some call it leopardwood), which I thought would look good if I put it on both limbs. So I did, and Helene was happy
During tillering it occurred to me that to get the limb ends non-bending while still light, I would make them roughly triangular. That is, the non-bending portions of the limb appear very thick, and dont bend because they have a deep section front-to-back, but they could still be quite light if I shaved the sides of the limb into a pronounced ridge running along the belly face of the limbs. This seems to have worked, because the bow shoots far more quickly than I might have expected, given its modest draw weight - Helene prefers 38lb at 25" draw, the same as her current ash flatbow by Andy Hall (a bowyer and a half, believe me).
The bow bends gently into the handle area, since the working parts of each limb are only around 16" long. The handle is 1" wide by a shade under 3/4" thick, and wrapped in a salvaged piece of chocolate coloured suede from an old jacket of Helene's. The bow is 62.5" NTN, and the limb tips are approx 9mm (5/16") wide. I had to cut the nocks in quite deep to avoid unexpected unstringing, but that worked well. The very end of the limbs are strengthened with an inset overlay of black buffalo horn. I made a 6-strand flemish twist string from purple 450Plus (hey, it was the only colour the shop had
), and used a short doubled serving it to make it thick enough to use with existing arrows. The final finish was Helene's choice of plain bamboo with the overlays, all coated in gloss polyurethane varnish.
I think it turned out quite nicely, and I was very happy at the cast it has. Our club's 70-yard shot to our cutout elephant was dispatched with only a whisper of elevation, and the bow shoots quietly, so all seems well. I will post the pictures any minute in separate posts. Note that I dont have any full draw pics just yet, but they will follow.
