Author Topic: Sisal backed, painted short bow (updated... broken bow)  (Read 2281 times)

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Offline Aaron1726

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Sisal backed, painted short bow (updated... broken bow)
« on: April 10, 2023, 08:02:05 pm »
Ever since reading Joachimm's info on backing with sisal I just had to try it.  I picked up a 2x2 oak board with really good looking grain and a spool of sisal and went to work.  Split the 2x2 in half length ways so I ended up with 2 short staves (the sister bow is a kids bow for my 4 and 7 year olds).  So far I've been building almost only board bows, but wanted to try chasing a ring, this was just the board to try it on.  Got it down to one ring, shaped and tillered to about 10in, then I took the heat gun to the belly and glued on the sisal to the back.  Used tb3 for the sisal.  I decided it needed some decorating so I layed out some artwork on the back and painted it up.  Now I just got to work on my Comanche style skills!  Hope yall like it, it was a fun build.

Specs on this one:
36" overall length
44lbs at 16in
Pre-sisal weight 176 grams
9 grams of sisal used
Weight after backing 204 grams
Has about 1.5in of set after unstringing, settles about 3/4in after a while
« Last Edit: April 14, 2023, 09:24:16 pm by Aaron1726 »

Offline Aaron1726

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Re: Sisal backed, painted short bow
« Reply #1 on: April 10, 2023, 08:05:15 pm »
Some more pics before the paint.

Offline Aaron1726

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Re: Sisal backed, painted short bow
« Reply #2 on: April 10, 2023, 08:09:08 pm »
And here is the board I started with, split it along the ring in pencil.  I tried to add a little reflex in the glue up, but learned I should have done way more.  Maybe on the next one

Offline RyanY

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Re: Sisal backed, painted short bow
« Reply #3 on: April 10, 2023, 08:13:59 pm »
Very cool. Stout little bow! I should keep those short red oak pieces in mind for bows like this. Definitely nice to find pieces you can chase a ring on.

Offline superdav95

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Re: Sisal backed, painted short bow
« Reply #4 on: April 10, 2023, 08:27:19 pm »
Wow.  Cool little bow.  This is one on my list. 
Sticks and stones and other poky stabby things.

superdav95@gmail.com

Offline Pat B

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Re: Sisal backed, painted short bow
« Reply #5 on: April 10, 2023, 11:16:24 pm »
Very nice little bow with beautiful bend. Well done.   :OK
Make the most of all that comes and the least of all that goes!    Pat Brennan  Brevard, NC

Offline GlisGlis

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Re: Sisal backed, painted short bow
« Reply #6 on: April 11, 2023, 05:53:55 am »
Bending looks very good
I like your bow alot and I think I'll make something along this way
I'm just a little puzzled by the weights and math
Are you sure of the numbers?

Quote
Pre-sisal weight 17.6 grams
9 grams of sisal used
Weight after backing 20.4 grams

Offline Aaron1726

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Re: Sisal backed, painted short bow
« Reply #7 on: April 11, 2023, 06:46:36 am »
Thanks yall!  These short bows are fun.  Challenging to shoot, but tons of fun to mess around with.  Not to mention it also fits in my quiver!

GlisGlis, just re-read that and rechecked my notes, haha, decimals where decimals shouldn't be...
Here's something that should make more sense,
Pre backing weight 176 grams
Added 9 grams of sisal
After glue up and trimming the excess, bow weighed 204 grams, just under 1/2 lb

I'll correct the original post, thanks for catching that

Offline M2A

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Re: Sisal backed, painted short bow
« Reply #8 on: April 11, 2023, 06:49:40 am »
Looks like your getting about all you can from that piece of oak. I like it! Great use of resources. A fine example of what can be done.
Mike 

Offline bjrogg

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Re: Sisal backed, painted short bow
« Reply #9 on: April 11, 2023, 07:23:44 am »
Nice bow. The arrow looks great too.

I like how you split the board and chased a ring. I just finished a Osage board bow I did the same way.

Bjrogg
A hot cup of coffee and a beautiful sunrise

Offline Selfbowman

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Re: Sisal backed, painted short bow
« Reply #10 on: April 11, 2023, 10:41:40 am »
Cool bow but dumb Tx has to ask. What is sisal??
Well I'll say!!  Osage is king!!

Offline PEARL DRUMS

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Re: Sisal backed, painted short bow
« Reply #11 on: April 11, 2023, 01:01:53 pm »
Arvy, bailing twine is sisal. A plant fiber.

Cool little piece of wood.
Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught will we realize we cannot eat money.

Offline Aaron1726

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Re: Sisal backed, painted short bow
« Reply #12 on: April 11, 2023, 07:26:06 pm »
Thanks yall

M2A, yeah I think that's about all I can ask out of that board! 

bjrogg, thanks I just finished that arrow up along with the bow.  I have wanted to try chasing a ring and this seemed like the perfect test piece since I've yet to get my hands on a real stave.

And yeah, just bailing twine.  They sell it at the hardware store and Walmart too just as general purpose garden twine.

Offline GlisGlis

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Re: Sisal backed, painted short bow
« Reply #13 on: April 14, 2023, 08:42:36 am »
thanyou Aaron
I ask you another courtesy
would you keep me updated on the durability and life of this bow? I think others too could be interested.
Thanks

Offline Aaron1726

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Re: Sisal backed, painted short bow
« Reply #14 on: April 14, 2023, 09:06:49 pm »
Well....  unfortunately this little bow has met its end.  I decided to try some shots across the chrono earlier, something I have told myself not to do, but I couldn't resist.  I had some 550-600gr arrows.  First shot was a touch over 100fps, but I didn't think I'd pulled it to its full draw, so sent another across, making sure to get to 16in.  Speed was 115-120 for the next few shots, then suddenly I was seeing high 130s for about 4 shots before... bang!  The bow came apart right in the middle of my hand at full draw!

So... here's some thoughts I have.  First, I had already put a few hundred arrows through this one without issue, but was always short drawing and pretty sure I never exceeded the 16in draw it was tillered to.  My sudden high numbers on the chrony are a likely indication that I was drawing this little thing a bit too far.  Seeing where the break happened I am suspicious that I had a little too much bend in my handle and that coupled with a narrower handle section and over drawing the bow ultimately led to its demise!  I'm also suspicious that the tb3 may not be as good as hide glue for this backing.  I'm not sure if the tb3 allowed the sisal to stretch like it should, but not sure.

Here's a shot of the carnage.  Any other thoughts on why this one failed?  This has only motivated me more.  After some choice words, I grabbed 2 3ft boards I had and cut out 2 more blanks to try this again!  Maybe one of those will end better!