Help wanted with my second attempt at a first bow

[rcoen2]

Hi All,

I'm working away at my second attempt to build myself a bow and I'd like to get some community feedback and support to help move through some of these last phases. 

I'm working with Oregon Ash and am doing a design inspired by Paul Comstocks section on white woods in TBB1.  So its about 67" long, 1 3/4" starting width, and slightly tapering down towards 1/2" tips.

Slimbob has been helping me get this far, and his approach to tillering is to get off the long string fairly early.  So that's what I've attempted to do, but in the process of my beginner level tillering a bit of set has come in towards the end of the limbs.  I think mostly just from straining the limbs too fast and too soon. 

These pictures shown are with my bow strung at 4"BH and pulling down about 1-2"

side1 by Ryder Coen, on Flickr

side2 by Ryder Coen, on Flickr

unbraced by Ryder Coen, on Flickr

So I am considering heat treating the belly and inducing a bit of reflex where the set has taken.  The only thing I don't want to build proper caul/form for inducing reflex at this stage in my bow making journey.  So slimbob has offered the suggestion to place some shims under the handle and at about 10-12 inches from the tips to lift up the limbs so I can clamp the tips down with heat to add some reflex into them.

It seems like this would counteract the amount of string follow and hopefully limit more set from coming in while I finish the tillering.

So my current plan is to use shims and clamps to bend back the areas where set has taken in towards the end of the limbs, heat treat the belly, and then continue tillering.  And my current trajectory with tillering is to move the BH up to 5" check and even out the limbs again with a couple inches of bend, then once good increase BH to 6 inches, and continue on.

Thoughts, feedback or guidance appreciated!
(if you are going to offer feedback on the tiller, please make sure to notice how each limb has some prop twist in opposite directions that messes with the eyes a bit.)

[rcoen2]

Set up I'm considering

heattreat by Ryder Coen, on Flickr

[burchett.donald]

  In my early phases I was causing my set trying to string to early before the limbs were balanced, lack of patience on my part...Your outers and the left fade are slightly stiff here...And I agree with you on tempering that belly with induced reflex...
                                                                                                                                                                 Don

[rcoen2]

Thanks Don, when you say left fade, do you mean from picture 1/side 1 or picture 2/side 2?

[burchett.donald]

Picture 2 left side

[burchett.donald]

Here...

[SLIMBOB]

Hey Donald, good to hear from you.  So I have recommended he stay off the fades until the mid and outers were bending well. It is stiff and does need to be loosened up, but only a tiny bit at this point. My advice has been to stay off the fades for now, get the limbs bending from a few inches out and beyond. Temper, induce an inch or so reflex, and bring the fades around then.

[burchett.donald]

  My apologies, I went back and reread the post and seen where you were already helping rcoen2...
                                                                                                                                                     Don

[SLIMBOB]

No, I asked him to post it and solicit advice, so I am glad you answered. The concern he has at this point is should he temper and reflex. My advice was yes, but asked him to check the opinion of others.

[burchett.donald]

 Definitely agree on a good heat temper with induced reflex...

[RyanY]

It’s taking set where it’s bending the most but it’s surprising that it’s that much set so early. What’s the MC of the wood and what is it pulling right now?  Also looks like your handle and fades section is quite long. Definitely stiff in the outer half of the limbs.

[rcoen2]

It’s taking set where it’s bending the most but it’s surprising that it’s that much set so early. What’s the MC of the wood and what is it pulling right now?  Also looks like your handle and fades section is quite long. Definitely stiff in the outer half of the limbs.

I just haven't worked on the handle and fades yet.  its designed to be 4" handle and 2" fades but its extra bulked out and so it looks off.  I don't know the MC but its been seasoning for about 6 months so I don't think that's the issue. I also don't have a scale yet so I'm not sure about weight that its pulling.  I have to go get a cheap scale sometime soon

it's also confusing to me that the set seems to be coming in towards the end of the limbs because that's where it also appears to be stiffer....

[RyanY]

Depending on your relative humidity it could still be quite wet. 6mo very well couldn’t be long enough. From the unbraced picture it doesn’t look like the set is near the tips at all. Even though your handle and fades might be marked out that way the center 12-14” is totally rigid. You need to get the inner limbs working at least a little bit because they take the most stress and takes stress off the rest of the limb.

[Green Wood]

I just finished tillering of my 2nd ash bow. The first one is 70" tip to tip, pyramid style with 1" wide, 4" long handle, 1 1/2" at the fades tapering down to 5/8" at the tips. The 2nd one is 68" tip to tip,  1 3/4" wide at the fades, and also tapering to 5/8" at the tips.  Both have about 4" of set, developed during tillering before the bows were even shot.  The staves were purchased from a lumber mill which said they were cut about 9 months ago. The wood was quite oxidize and appeared well cured. I am thinking the bow set is just a characteristic of the wood. I think mine is white ash since that is common in my area of Western NC.  The bows pulled at just under 30 pounds at 26" draw before being backed with 2 layers of fiberglass cloth and surfboard quality epoxy. They both shoot VERY WELL.  Unless the set gets far worse, I am not going to worry about it. I suspect trying to induce reset is not going to do a lot of good, but if you are firm in wanting to try that, I would suggest steaming the area that will be bent for 45 to 60 mins, then clamping it down to a form. Leave it clamped over night. Good luck. Ash is very nice to work with compared to my usual choice of black locust, which is often riddled with worm holes and imperfections that you don't find until late in the tillering phase. Also, the ash bows seem to have low hand shock compared to black locust bows.

[Yooper Bowyer]

Backing white ash with the devil material seems to be just asking for frets.