Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: DarkSoul on July 26, 2012, 08:19:28 pm
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It's been two years since I visited the last Euromeet in Bulgaria, a bowyers meeting organized by a member on PaleoPlanet. Unfortunately, this summer there appears to be no international meeting due to various circumstances. Nevertheless I kept the Bulgarian legacy alive by creating this flatbow from a stave of black locust (Robinia pseudo-acacia) I was able to bring back home from the Euromeet in 2010. I felt privileged to be able to attend that meeting and meet everyone that was present. Iliana, our host and mother, kindly provided us with a large supply of ash and black locust. I had plenty of wood myself, so I didn't get the first pick. That means the stave I took had some knots to deal with. But the stave was fairly straight, had good rings, and looks pretty good besides the knots. I knew from the Euromeet 2008 (http://paleoplanet69529.yuku.com/topic/24670) that black locust from Bulgaria is better than the locust from my own country, so it was a logical step to turn this second pick stave into a sweet bow.
The sapwood was removed, except for a small streak over the handle, where I left one layer of extra wood. The removal of bark and sapwood allows you to see what's underneath. As soon as the back was nice and clean, I could lay out the bow in width. I avoided a few knots near the tips and placed a few other knots in the center of the limbs. I'd rather have a knot in the center of the width, than on the edge of the limb. It's a pretty straight forward flatbow, nearly a pyramid. The tips are pretty narrow (about 3/8") and have small overlays to avoid cutting grooves in the sides of the tips. I embedded a small Jay feather onto the lower limb with some varnish, just to add a small personal touch. Tillering was not difficult, but the small knots made for a few stiff spots. Especially the upper midlimb appears somewhat stiff, due to an elongated cluster of small knots. I couldn't make this section bend, so I had to compensate by leaving the bow a bit long with 71 inches. The bow has not been heat treated or - corrected and has maybe 1½" of set.
Some statistics:
Black locust selfbow.
Mexican Kingwood tip overlays.
Leather handle with small leather arrow rest.
71" NTN
53#@28"
Finish is water based varnish.
Well, the pictures! I did my best, hope you like them :)
(http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c316/JorikSwier/BL%20Bulgarian%20flatbow/P1090852.jpg)
Unbraced side profile. Pardon the ugly camera tripod.
(http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c316/JorikSwier/BL%20Bulgarian%20flatbow/P1090859.jpg)
Front (width) profile.
(http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c316/JorikSwier/BL%20Bulgarian%20flatbow/P1090836.jpg)
Braced.
(http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c316/JorikSwier/BL%20Bulgarian%20flatbow/P1090835.jpg)
Full draw.
(http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c316/JorikSwier/BL%20Bulgarian%20flatbow/P1090856.jpg)
(http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c316/JorikSwier/BL%20Bulgarian%20flatbow/P1090862.jpg)
(http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c316/JorikSwier/BL%20Bulgarian%20flatbow/P1090855.jpg)
Tip detail. You can see the overlay and ring count as well.
(http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c316/JorikSwier/Yew%20ELB%20olive%20tips/P1090827.jpg)
My two most recent bows, along with a batch of bamboo arrows.
(http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c316/JorikSwier/Yew%20ELB%20olive%20tips/P1090879.jpg)
(http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c316/JorikSwier/Yew%20ELB%20olive%20tips/P1090878.jpg)
The other bow is a yew English longbow. I'll create a topic for that one later ;)
(http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c316/JorikSwier/Yew%20ELB%20olive%20tips/P1090877.jpg)
Comments or suggestions are always most welcome.
Jorik
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Clean and simple, I like it.
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Those tips are TEENY! Wow.
George
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Clean lookin' bows . . . And those skinny tips! Well done, sir!
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Great job. Fine looking bows.
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Like the profile of that flatbow. Well done.
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Great looking bow Darksoul, thats some fine looking black locust and you got it smooth as finely glazed ceramic, not a tool mark or scraper chatter to be seen on that baby. Looks like a smooth shooter too and I like the jay feather deco. Nice work.
Greg
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Nice smooth lines and transitions. All around, excellent work. Congratulations.
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Very clean and very nice. I like it.
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Great looking bow and pictures. I like the feather idea.
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Very nice job! I just want to know how much trial and error you guys had to endure to find out just how small you could make the tips and get away with it?!? ???
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Love those stiletto tips Darksoul! I think I'll steal the idea for the bow I'm working on right now, if you don't mind. It may just endear it to me enough for me to enjoy finishing it off. Maybe I'll even bring it hunting with me. Thanks for sharing.How do you like the black locust? I was just talking shop with another bowyer tonight about the staves we collected a month ago. Neither of us have used BL but it seems a little soft compared to the honey locust.
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Beautiful bow,love everything about it. :)
Pappy
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Very nice work!
Tracy
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Beautiful job,great bow!
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Thanks for the nice comments everyone :)
Badly Bent, I HATE tool marks! :D Ab-so-lu-te-ly hate them! It's not always easy to get them all out, and I've gotten blisters on my thumbs from sanding too much in the past. With black locust, it's not too difficult to get all the tool marks out. Cutting tool such as drawknife and scraper, also help to reduce tool marks.
Lesken, the tips are not that tiny on this bow. Sure, they are narrow, but I'm sure I could go even narrower, if I wanted to. The trick is to glue on sufficient 'meat' as a tip overlay, and not file grooves into the sides of the limbs. That last pic pretty much shows the tips I've come to prefer, lately.
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Long gracefull beauty!!!
I like it :)
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Excellent bow, I like black locust for bow wood. What we have here performs well and has a lovely light brown color with hints of greenish gold.
Question, why make the knotty limb as the lower limb?
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Beautiful work on the whole package. Superb detail work, clean, crisp and classy. I really like the jay feather idea, may have to use it myself. ;)
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Too cool! Looks great, I cant wait to work with Black Locust. My dads buddy has a bunch of it on his property, he told me to take it all!
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Wow DarkSoul! That bow is amazing! I'm getting ready to cut some black locust soon myself. KyBow I have all over my property too. Really it's kind of everywhere here in Kentucky it seems like. Now that I've seen yours I can't wait to start mine!
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Those are both stunning bows, really like the looks of that flatbow.
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That feather is cool. Oh yeah the bow is too! ;D
I really like it. As others have said, very nice!
Seriously though if you see feathers on any of my bows please take it as a compliment. :laugh: