Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: riverrat on September 10, 2015, 10:39:15 pm
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working on a few bendy handle elm bows. first one im working on is 54 in. tip to tip.a bit snaky, no knots.has a kind of round back. hoping to get a 26 in. draw but i know im really pushing it. im not going for a war bow or anything.lol. would be happy with 40 pounds at that draw, would be over joyed at 45 pounds.its 1 3/4 inches wide just past the handle area.gradulates to the tips. not like piramid style but around 12 inches from the tips it will taper quite a bit.if all else fails, itll make a decent kids bow if it seems to be over worked when im working on it. its slippery elm. its great bow wood. its better longer. but thats in the works for my 4th and 5th bows. im just getting back to it after about a 4 or 5 year break. its a nice tricky to make bow.feed back would be good on draw to weight ratios on elm bendy handle bows. thanks. Tony
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i cut this down last week. its a crappy stave. when i split it it came out pretty thin. i worked it to shape kind of green. im not pressed if this dont work out. but ive made some decent bows from crappier pieces of wood.lol the bottom of this section closer to the trunk is going to make a couple realy nice bows. this one and the next two, pretty much practice wood. ill see what i can do. its been awhile.Tony
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A 54 in bow at 26in draw should be totally doable with a good tiller.
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thanks, yea i agree tiller is most important when it comes to a bow.workin on it ;) ........Tony
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Get the heat out and kick the tips up...not necessarily needed,but itll help with string angles n smokt out the draw a tad more...
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i was thinking the same on the tips.thats very sound advice. thanks.Tony
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bow number 1 : i call it the snaky elm. its now 53 in. tip to tip. widest just past the handle area is 1 5/8 in. tapering gradually to the tips . which are 5/8 in. wide. its going to be a bend through the handle bow. theres some snaky stuff goin on in the limbs, a little twisting. one knot upper limb not quite out to the edge so i should be fine there.ive already ruffed it out to the point its starting to bend. ive cut in the nocks on the tips.the tips are thick and have reset all on thier own just a tad but i will be heating this to add to the effect. i had to heat to bend it , whole bow, sideways a little. it took a little side to side bend as its dried. i needed to realign the handle and tips. its very close now. might still take a little tweeking but i think ill get it.and with the twisting im thinking a lot will pull out during tillering. im going to make a tiller board and get to tillering a bit more today. i still have to finnish ruffing out the other two to this point. ill post on them as i go on a new post for each.
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top pics nock in tips, middle pic. back of bow. bottom pic belly of bow.
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side view
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Well on your way. Will be fun watching as ya get back into the addiction.
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have it bending evenly to brace. now to start tillering....in about a week.the thing is this is only about a week since cut and split then ruffed out. it needs a good 2 weeks drying time before i go any further. right now no set. i want to keep it that way.Tony
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You could give it a week of speed drying where it's hot with good air movement and then give it a good toasting over a fire
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I rough mine to about an inch thick everywhere but the handle if im going stiff handled and an inch everywhere otherwise, then I give it a good month or so to dry. but a week or two in a hot car will work fine im sure.
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suppose to be in the mid to upper 80's the next week. ill leave it outside on non rainy days and inside the garage if its going to rain. that garage, its a huge hot box lol. Tony
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Looks pretty. In the future, you might consider a full-width-full-length sort of design for those white wood shorties. Kind of like an Eastern Woodland. It seems to help spread out the compression a little more. Those are fun little bows and can be made in a hurry.
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i did make one of those eastern woodland type bows. from a scrap piece.along with 2 two feather fletch arrows with pen caps on them for blunts. my grandson sure likes it . ;)
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o.k. dont have a scale but i have this snakey bow bending nice at 26 in. it feels about 40 45 lb.ish. it feels like its going to zing a arrow the way the weight builds up once i get to 26 in.didnt even use a tiller board. eye balled it used the kitchen floor as a graph of sorts. i wont say its a perfect tiller. its not. its decent though. i might heat treat {toast it} then retiller the upper limb just a little. i dont want to loose what i have. it feels good.it stacks nice.Tony
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it feels good.it stacks nice
Thats not something you hear very often,but i understand what your sayin.LOL
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at the end of the draw, its at the end of the draw.lol it just feels great.you can tell its not going any further without a major issue .i hope by toasting i was suppose to put it over heat on the belly till it changed to a tanish color.anyways it seems to have a little more weight now.not a lot but a little bit. my Golden retriever donated a tuft of hair for the top nock.lookin around for somethin to use for the handle area for a wrap.ill take some pictures shooting it tomorrow, well , later on today.man its late.Tony
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pics .
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more pics
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Looks like your having fun. .n thats all that matters :D
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Ohh that's a pretty set. I like it a lot.
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I love simple things like that, no arrow shelf or pass, hand knapped points and shoot shafts. You skipped the warm up and went straight into the race. Well done!!
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the bow string is made from store bought hemp. didnt have enough nettles to make the string. but, the handle wrap is sewed with nettles i processed myself and the same with tuft of hair at the top. its tied with nettle cordage. it was a lot of fun. i have a much much better stave im going to be working on in the future. planning on a eastern woodlands flat bow. thanks Tony
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awhile back i made a similar profile locust bow. from a smaller diam. tree. so of course the back was rounded a little. so , i decided to tiller it to a similar effect on the belly.why? locust weights a little. so how do you reduce weight on a flat tillered self bow? you remove the edges. they do squat other than weigh down your limbs and rob you of cast. this is my thinking anyways.so just remove whats not needed.right? well i did. the person i gave the bow to was amazed at how it looked like a kids bow but drew exactly what i said it did. actually i wanted to tiller it for a little more draw as his draw was greater than the 24 in. i got done. however i didnt have time to do that so i sent it to him as it was and told him just lightly shave both limbs untill you get the other 2 inches.he decided not to do it. he didnt have a clue as to how i was able to do what i did. well long story short, he was suppose to get back to me in the next few years to let me know how it held up after use. he never did. so thats exactly how i tillered this bow. im gonna find out for myself.Tony
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tillering? been 15 years since i made a bow. i eyeballed this on that messy kitchens floor. what ya think? yea i know my pants are draggin. lol worked 12 hours. they have a reason to droop. lol Tony
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i have the arrow nocked a little high in the first pic.Tony