hickory stave too narrow?

[sailordad]

i say go for it, you wont know if it will work untill you try, i have a little oasge bow thats not more than 5/8ths wide tip to tip, and about 5/8ths thick tip to tip
pulls 23 lbs @ 21 inches,shoots nice out to 20 yds,never tried any further shots with it.put about 500 arows thru now.


                                                                              tim

[ballista]

almost every bow i have made has been out of hickory, most 1-1/8 at widest, the elb type's like this are my personal favourite- they'vealso been 70-72 inches though, so i'm not real sure how the 60 inch would work... if its still green, you might want to try reflexing it while itsstill green, and leave it like that until you think its dry and ready, everyone has a different preference- looking foward to seeing it tho man! good luck, hope it goes well. -jimmy

[Kegan]

Tempering the belly is a simple matter. Once the bow is roughed out and floor tillered, you clamp the bow belly-up onto a 2x4 into about 1 1/2"-3" of reflex, with 1 3/4" seeming to be the best, and take a heat gun to the belly. Go slow, and evenly. It should tunr a nice, even, dark brown. Marc St. Louis says that each limb should take about 20 minutes or so to properly temper.

You can also sinew back it if you have the sinew to do it. I made a nice 62" hickory, still slightly green, backed with sinew and pulling 60# or so at 27". It only took about 2" of set, and considering it was still green, I was impressed. It shot well.

[tsa yo ga]

Hidee ya'll,
When tempering, would I do this and then finish the tillering or would I do it after tillering?  I have not proceeded at all this weekend, just been lookin' at it and dreamin' about the possibilities.

[Hillbilly]

I would floor tiller it and get it bending evenly to about brace height or a little below, then heat-temper the belly while putting some reflex in it at the same time.

[George Tsoukalas]

You may not get 50# from it. It's a bit narrow and short. But you may get a nice  35# bow. Jawge

[tsa yo ga]

hey ya'll,
i have yet another question.  I plan on tempering the belly, but first the nocks are out of alignment and one limb has a whoop de doo.  Should i address these problems first with steam bending? and then temper the belly.  I realize it may never be the draw wt i'm after, but i will "endeavor to persevere" anyway.  If i steam bend the stave, must i shellac it first?  Thanks for the help!

[Hillbilly]

If you make a caul, you can correct those problems at the same time you're tempering/reflexing it.

[tsa yo ga]

Hillbilly, Can I use dry heat to fix problems?  It's not quite dry yet. 

[Hillbilly]

The usual mantra is dry wood, dry heat;wet wood, wet heat. But--I've used dry heat on wettish wood for minor corrections (seal the back first) and steamed recurves into dry wood. I usually use steam for major bends, dry heat for minor ones and reflexing. There are plenty of people on here who have a lot more experience bending wood than I do, though. Hickory usually isn't too bad to check, so you will probably be ok if it isn't really wet.

[tsa yo ga]

Hello friends,
I have been playing with this stave some lately.  I steamed the limb tips in an attempt to correct alignment.  It was fun, and the tips are closer but not exact. Then I used a heat gun to temper, but did not have time enough to get the wood a dark brown as suggested. 
Hillbilly shared the Cayuga community bow that has similar dimensions as the "bow" I'm working on.  My question is this: would it make sense to use the same limb thickness dimensions as the Cayuga bow as a guide?  If so, can someone provide those dimensions? I know that tillering is where the real art of bowmaking begins, I would like this one to work out. Thanks.

[Hillbilly]

Every piece of wood is different, the thickness will depend on the individual stave. You can guesstimate a starting thickness, but it's mostly working it down as you tiller. Best I can remember, i think I started that one out a fuzz less than an inch thick at the handle tapering down to about a half-inch thick at the tips. That will give you a starting point for floor tillering, you can work it down from there as you see how it bends.

[tsa yo ga]

I appreciate everyone's input. I'm thinking about tillering with sandpaper so I don't get overzealous.

[bcbull]

GOT A IDEA  HERE  IF YA WANT A HUNTING WT BOW  MIGHT BE A GOOD IDEA TO SINEW BACK IT  ADD A LIL WT  AND  THE SAFTEY IN CASE IT DOES BLOW UP  I THINK  YOU D GET A BIT MORE OUT OF IT  BROCK

[tsa yo ga]

I hear that, I want to attempt that at some point.  Could I finish bow and add sinew after the fact or will that not work?  Maybe I should put it on hold til i locate neccesary materials.  Is 60" too long for sinew?  If so, I could take some length off both ends which I'm thinking of anyway because I can't seem to get proper nock alignment.