74# Hackberry Longbow w/ rounded belly (Deer Added)

[organic_archer]

I saw an old post from the archives with an argument about whether or not hackberry could make a longbow/warbow with a D cross-section. Being a big fan of hackberry, I had to see for myself…

It has a minor dogleg in the top limb, was heat treated as a bow blank, took approx 1.25" set even with deer tallow as the sealer, has no compression fractures, and shoots great! This is my favorite bow at the moment. Kept it as simple as possible — just a stick and a string.

Even though my draw length is only a hair over 26", I'd eventually like to make another one that's 72-74" long and mid 60's in weight, just for fun.

Hackberry - 74# at 26" draw
Heavily rounded belly.
Overall length 68" (66" ntn)
1.5" wide for the center 2 feet
straight taper to 0.5" tips
1.25" thick at handle
straight thickness taper to 0.5" tips
Wrapped jute string nocks

[superdav95]

Looks dang good.  I like it a lot.  I like the rustic look and finish too.  Bend looks great.  Nicely done.   

[Del the cat]

Nice, got an English longbow look to it
Del

[organic_archer]

Thank you, Dave!

Del - I was going for the English longbow look, but it’s 5-6 inches short of “archer tall” and I’m not sure it meets the 5/8 rule. It gains 3# per inch of draw so it would be warbow-lite weights at 30+ inches though! 86 pounds-ish.

[GlisGlis]

Great bow. still have to make an hackberry bow. I have a stave waiting for 10 years for a drawknife to find it.
How do you make knocks? I like them alot. Do you soak jute in loctite?

[Mo_coon-catcher]

Looks great!

I’ve also found that Hackberry does just fine in that profile as well. I’ve done a few like it but not near that weight. Around 40# is as high as I’ve gone and have had no issues. Similar amount of set as you got and feels good in the hand.

Kyle

[Aksel]

Nice bow, love it, also the nocks. Hackberry seems to be a very good bow wood.

If you wanted to you could probably make the nocks and last 4-6 inches quite a bit narrower and thinner. I do BUT I don´t make this heavy bows so hand shock is maybe less of an issue.


How does it shoot?

[organic_archer]

Glis - the nocks are wraps of jute, two layers deep, soaked in superglue. For this design I use a looped slip knot for the top limb and a timber hitch on the bottom, so it takes very little material to stop the string from sliding. I’ve found this to be a durable design for lighter woods like hackberry and yew. No overlays, and no worries of splitting at the nock.

Askel - exaggerated camera angles make the tips look big but they’re quite petite for a 74# hackberry bow. A touch less than 1/2” wide and 1/2” thick. It’s probably around 5/8” wide 4” down from the nocks. Hand shock is rarely an issue with hackberry unless it’s poorly tillered or severely overbuilt. It’s a strong, light wood that makes for quick, smooth bows. Similar to elm in many ways.

[organic_archer]

More pictures of tips and nocks:

[Aksel]

cool. Camera angles can be deceiving.

[Hamish]

Nice bow. I'm really liking these whitewood longbows.  Is that the normal look for hackberry, ie prominent grey grain? It looks really cool and artistic.

[Pappy]

Simple and effective. Nice work.
 Pappy

[organic_archer]

Hamish, this one’s stained with MinWax Dark Walnut. Hackberry is usually as white as ivory and too flashy for the woods. It needs to be darkened up for hunting. It takes various stains really well and has interesting and unique patterns in it. Sometimes it stains darker, sometimes grey and streaky, sometimes gets leopard spots.

[Hamish]

looks really cool.

[M2A]

Real Nice! Like everything about the bow. 
Mike