Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Ricardovanleeuwen on May 18, 2020, 02:34:35 pm
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Oke so this is the first bow where my recurves kind of succeeded. I did Both bends on the same caul but 1 curve ended up a bit different. Do that marters if they are still the same distance in front of the back? And for string alignement, is It important to just have the string in the middle of the handle or is a little bit of limb twist at the curve also bad, even when string still centered and recurves not bending?
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Tip alignment is critical with recurves and especially with hooks that drastic. You'll probably even have trouble bracing it. If the twist is natural you can tiller it so the twist is out at full draw where it is important.
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Undoing recurves is easy if you decide to relax one of them to match the other. just hold it over the steam pot for a minute or two but watch it carefully and take it out and clamp it in position. Or use a heat gun just a bit. A hair dryer might even work. You did get a little aggressive for your first. Like Pat said recurves are very fussy about alignment. After you fight with it for a while you can steam out most of the recurve to make it easier if you want.
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Well the recurves are same distance away from the back but the right is a little less drastic but have the curve start further to midlimb like the last part of the working limb is reflexed and the recurve is bend a bit less in degrees
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...or you could just cut off an inch or from each tip. That would still give you a nice recurve but easier to handle. With those big hooks you could add set to the limbs just trying to brace it.
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You should be ok . Profile your limbs and cut string nock grooves in as is. You shorten limb the cut in string nocks youll loose a bunch of bow length.
I would leave bow heavy in working part of limbs when you floor tiller. I have done wider 90 degree curves without almost any set. Sure you can as well.
HH~
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The bow looks short overall anyway and the recurves are really over too long a length of the limb - this shortens working limb length - increasing strain.
I'd relax them a bit as DC says.
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I was planning to deflex the handle
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But I Will try to relax the curves
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Bow
I agree it looks short. Taking some hook out is no big deal and it looks like the limbs been scraped a good bit as well.
How fae was this bow tiller out to when you recurved it?
HH~
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Once I cut my string grooves on my static recurves I always have to tweek the tips one way or the other to get the string to lay perfectly in the grooves. Once set properly they stay that way forever.
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Yep or get limbs to hold string without grooves. Then you know they are correct.
HH~
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Honestly It Just started bending because i had serval limb breakage in prevous attempts so i didn't want to wast that energy and time again be a chance of failure
I think i have An Idea to tiller tough. I post pictures of that thursdsy because i have little time atm and rather spend those hours in getting my hawthorn stick shooting and then thursdsy and fryday i going to work this one. As for relax the curves, cant i Just scrape Them down so a bigger part start bending so its partly a working recurve, if It pulls out oke and if It dont i got s working recurve
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So i start tillering this bow but It raised An other question.how far before the bend begins do the recurves have to get stiff
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Those recurved tips are never going bend or actually work. Tiller limb as you would remembering that the tips will remain Static or Stiff.
You might oughtta relax those 90 degree tips some and get a string to stay on bow at brace height before you start scrapng on this bow to much.
HH~
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What you mean by Stay on the bow at brace height? Like aligned?
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: At the moment in relaxing my recurves but as i did Read " Just reheat Them to relax" i tought they Will straighten by themself but needed quite some force
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Usually they will straighten somewhat with just heat but sometimes a little persuasion is needed. Depends on how much heat you apply.
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When your limbs on a static are aligned you don't even need string groove on belly of bow. They are not a bad idea however because you can loose the weight you added with tip overlays by string grooving the belly a good bit. Make it a snappy static whitetail shooter.
HH~
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Currently have the bow tillered to braceheight, the handle is still stiff and there is no taper to the tips. If i want the handle bending there Will almost be no fades right? And how narrow can i make the tips? The string is laying right in the middle pictures comming later today
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Here is the braced pic, left limb need to bend more
And also the handle
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That's looking pretty nice. Do you have an unbraced picture? I've never made a narrowed grip bendy handle so I can't advise you on that.
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Rich,
On a narrowed handled bendy bow, you should not go too narrow. Ishi style bow, that is over 1.5". How narrow is the handle? I can feel the "bending" in my latest 55" redo with handle at 1.25". But, I can not see it bend .
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I did Heat treat It today and now i took the unbrace picture i see that one limb has more recurve.( I did add It bit more while Heat treating because some pulled out while tillering but didn't add the same amount ivsee now. The second picture is a picture of the handle with a triple a (AAA)battery next to it because im walking with my dog and dont have measure tool with me. The left limb looks like It got a hinge but that was its natural shape and It didn't want to come out.
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It's looking good. Just remember that the left limb is starting out with a bit more bend than the right limb so it should always have a little more bend. It can be tricky to judge but just keep it in mind. I think you want to get it bending in the handle fade area now.
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To make it easier on us critics if you always post the bow the same direction it helps a lot. Usually top limb is to the right. I arbitrarily chose a top when I start and mark it so I don't get mixed up. A pice of tape on the back works. After that top limb is always on the right. Later on if you decide to change top limbs you can do so.
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Ah thanks for the tip, from now on i wil post pictures of right limb as top. As for Heat threating.. wow its really "the time you put in is what you get back" the second limb i treated was for my feeling a bit shorter treated. I wanted to brace the bow again but It was looking like a yumi bow (its theblimb with less recurve also) so when back home back to the Heat gun.. damn i hoped to shoot some arrows while walking my dog
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If you ain't bored spitless you ain't doing it right ;D ;D ;D
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I AM, hahaha. But might have done something cool. I Saw somewhere on here that someone used a mix of charcoal and oil as finish so did i after first Heat treating. For the second time i used the mixture while doing Heat treating and the belly became Nice dark Brown alsmost black. Hope It is because the charcoal burned in ( It probably is because i didn't Heat It spectaculaire) after i "polish' It with toilet paper It looks really good.
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Got to full draw today and It pulls 45lb@28 "
Its lenght is 55 inch nock to nock
I shot a few arrows when not even a full draw yet and its kinda fast
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I used watered down pva glue as a finish, can i shoot the bow if the glue is dry or i have to wait till the moister is out of the bow too?
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And how narrow can i make the tips? I got pin nocks
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Are those inches or centimetres?
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This is inches
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In my picture is also inches, how tick are they by you? And also elm or? And do you start narrowing Them from the start of the curve?
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It's about 1/2 " thick. This one is Bamboo backed Yew. I usually start the taper an inch or two before the recurve starts. You can go down a whole bunch. You'll probably notice that the bow doesn't thump in your hand as much once you take some off. Do it a little at a time.
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You should make your tips alot narrower (if thick enough) to save mass. If you are already too thin, you should consider doing underlays (thin strips glued on belly to reenforce the hook)
Compare first pic in replay 23 with third pic in replay 29 - why has it taken that much set?
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I dont really know, after first Heat treating It had a real uneven tiller, maybe that caused It.
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The picture in replay 29 was also taken Just after unbracing this picture is after one night
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Also the bow is 55 inch wich is quite short for 28 draw right?
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When making An other bow, if i would use the Gizmo right from the start to the end and go real slow ( i kind of rushed this one too because i must be able to practise shooting when walking my dog:p) would that avoid set if i keep It long enough, say 60/65 inch? Next wood Will be purple leaf plum or Hazel with either a pyramid design or Just a straight flatbow
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If your stave is nice and straight follow the Gizmo If it's not so straight you can still use the Gizmo some but you have to keep in mind where the lumps and bumps are. Yes 65-66" will make it easier.