Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: LeightonM on February 20, 2017, 07:17:48 pm
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I cut this hackberry at christmas time and got it roughed out today. I want to try to make a bow that is center shot or close to it. I'm shooting for 62" ntn and pulling 50-60# at 26" Am I crazy? I've never worked with hackberry before. Any pointers? I'm thinking heat treated belly maybe?
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Never worked with hackberry either but I think I remember reading that it does like a toasted belly. Good luck :)
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It looks like that stave has a lot of twist to me.
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Things like the width/whether it has a high crown or flat back would matter to me for the dimensions your asking the wood to do.Design of course too.
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Heat treat the belly, you have to on hackberry IMO. I like your NTN length. Keep all the width you can. It should make a fine bow.
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Hackberry makes a good bow, light physical weight, heat treat it as was said and it also work well with dry heat so you can get out the kinks you don't want. It should make what you are looking for. Looks like the handle area is off set so center or close to center shot should be easy, you just need to figure which will be your top lime to make the off set work for you. ;)
Pappy
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thanks for the input guys!
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Update: I have this almost to full draw. What do you all think of the tiller?
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Pretty darn sweet LeightonM.Your second pic shows a slight negative tiller.Could be a propeller there too.It could use a smidgen more bend midlimb top limb,but not much.Working pretty close right out of the fades but the resting profile says it's all ok.Still pretty darn sweet.Hope the center shot worked out for ya.
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Very nice tiller. :OK
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For some reason the first pic looks like it is bending too much out at the fades but the second pic looks real good. Cameras are funny sometimes; especially with a challenging snake like that one. Very nice work and thanks for showing it!
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It looks good to me. I wouldn't do a whole lot more to it, maybe just a tweak as Beadman suggested. When I say tweak I mean literally 2 or 3 scrapes. Did you heat treat it yet?
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Full draw looks great, nice job on that snakey Hackberry stave LeightonM!
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thanks guys.
yes I heat treated it before i pulled it much past 15 inches.
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Good thing you he treated it. It's a must. Takes Hackberry from so-so to extra snappy in my opinion. I just posted one this week that was 60" long and 50@28. It's a real sweet shooter. Don't beat yourself up over a little bit of permanent set with a short hackberry. Your FD looks silky smooth. Nice work!
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Thanks MNB, I saw the bow you posted it looked like a sweet piece! I dont have much experience with Hackberry, at what point do you heat treat yours, and how did you know when it was hot enough?
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I usually heat treat after I get it to brace, but the last one I didn't pike and heat treat until it was at probably 26" and severely under weight. That probably contributed to some of my set with that one. I heat slowly on 800 degree setting until it's a golden brown/medium brown color and once I've done the whole belly of one limb I feel the back to see if I got heat penetration all the way through. If you've got a nice brown belly (careful not to scorch.. you'll smell buttered popcorn when it's getting hot) and a warm-to-the-touch back you know you're done!
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Nice looking bow........IMHO Hackberry is a very underrated bow wood and doesn't get enough press................
DBar