Primitive Archer

  Excellent job, you used very good judgment in not overly reflexing the bow. That has always been my biggest mistake and I pay for it every time.

Appreciate it man, I always try to err on the side of caution in most cases as good bow making timber is elusive or expensive here it seems. Plus I'd rather have a good performing bow rather than a great pile of firewood haha

Finished heating the rest of the limb. Sprung back a decent amount but the shape is still pretty good. Bending the second recurve went much better! Changed where the steam was hitting the limb and it bent very easily. The shape is pretty even along both limbs. They each have a slight amount of twist that will need to be taken out. The wedge shape of the billets doesn't leave enough for the handle so I had to plane it down to glue on some material. The chatoyance of the quartersawn edge is gorgeous. We're expecting close to 10" here in Michigan. Working during the snow always reminds me of the MartyJam get together with the Michigan guys.

I have some ocean spray but haven’t built one yet, so I’m waiting to see how your bow turns out.    I you have a nice size stave, which is hard to find.

Bob, about how much reflex are you talking about? I find that the more reflex I have the stiffer my outer limb needs to be. About 4" is where it seems to really become an issue, unless the bow has already taken massive set, which is usssualy the case with highly reflexed bows.

Quote from: JW_Halverson on November 27, 2025, 12:00:36 pm

There is NO better rawhide for bow backing, period, end of conversation. This stuff is no thicker than a good quality business card and a grown man cannot snap a quarter inch wide thong made of it.

Guess they have to have tough hide to deal with the aerodynamic heating from the high mach numbers.   

Yup, gotta have a tough hide to keep them from falling apart on that high G acceleration!