Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: H Rhodes on October 05, 2014, 12:41:29 pm
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Hickory bow that I have to call "Reborn". 57" nock to nock, 1/5/8 wide limbs, 17 oz, B-50 string, 45# @ 27".
Last spring, I made a 64" long hickory flat bow from some scrap wood that I picked up at a local hickory mill. It came in light, pulling only about 30lbs. It had a dismal looking shot in profile - almost three inches of set. I left it in the corner of my shop and kept eyeing it off and on for a while. It should have been better! Well after six months of thinking about it, I finally got around to tweeking it up a bit and I am glad that I did. I piked the limbs down and then gave the bow a serious heat treating. I hung some heavy C-clamps and a couple of 18 inch pipe wrenches off the tips just for weight and let the heat gun work it's magic. This left the bow reflexed a couple of inches. Hickory is notoriously hard for me to recurve, so I steamed each tip for about an hour and recurved them. I set it aside to get over all this heat induced torture for a few days and then retillered it. I left it strung for a day with a 7 1/2 brace height and then shot it in, drawing the bow to 28" several times. I unbraced it fearing the worst and to my great delight, it stayed dead flat. Heat treating, piking, reflexing, and recurving all combined to transform a "DOG" into a fine shooting bow. Here she is - Reborn.
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Howard you did a great job, that bow looks clean in every shape - unbraced braced & drawn
very, very nice
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Thank you Simon.
I think this bow needed time to finish drying for a while. That is probably why the first version of this bow took so much set - moisture content was probably too high. However it got here, I am pleased with it. This little bow is well broken in and seems to be very stable. Hickory soaks up moisture and can be sluggish in the wet weather. My bows stay indoors in the air conditioning, so I have never found it to be a problem. I was inspired by Ranger B's first deer of the year posted in the Shooting and Hunting section - this hickory bow was trying hard to look like the one in his post and I hope that it will have some of his good juju before the season ends. ;D
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Another great redo, Howard. 8)
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Thanks Pat.
Here's another full draw. This bow did have the least amount of propeller twist in the top limb. It doesn't hurt a thing.
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Nice bow!
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Great save Howard.....
DBar
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Nice work from you Howard...Like these bow save success stories 8) Dry Hickory lends itself well to heat, it's almost a must do to get a good performer like you have there...Great looking bow
Don
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nice congrats
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nice redux Howard, maybe it's me but the bottom seems to have a little more bend than the top but if it shoots good that's what counts
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Thanks so much everyone. Yeah, the bottom looks like that a little, but the propeller in the top limb sort of makes it look different everytime. I might have had it upside down knowing me....
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It's all good Howard, the end result is what matters most