3rd bow, Hickory Backed Red Elm 55#@29"

[ajbruggink]

Heh guys,

I finished my third successful bow last week, it only took me months to finish it. I made it for a friend and he was impressed by it, he is a newcomer to the more traditional forms of archery, having shot only compounds before. It is a board bow, red elm backed with hickory. It is 66" long ttt, 64" long ntn, 4" handle, I put bloodwood tip overlays on it because I thought it would be a nice touch. It was sealed with Spar Varnish, no stain, I painted his initials on the upper limb at his request. If I were to give this bow a name it would either be 'Merciless Set', for the set it took, or 'Teacher', for the lessons I learned from it. This was my first bow with a rigid handle, the other two bows I made and are still shooting bend in the handle and this is the first bow I made where I hit the target weight instead of coming in too light. I glued this thing up in the most primitive way possible, I glued it up with wood glue and piled bricks on top of it three high because I did not have enough clamps or split bicycle tubes and I wanted to see what would happen. The gluing process worked fine except that I neglected to thin down the 3/16" hickory backing at all, which I learned is a mistake. This bow took quite a bit of set, I'd say from 2.5-3", I didn't measure, which I think not thinning the backing could have contributed to the problem but my tillering and the neglect of checking moisture content of the materials before gluing them up also could have been the culprit. Either way, I ended up with a 55# flatbow at 29", which was my goal and I shot almost 100 arrows from it before he came to pick it up and I think it shoots well and he really likes it, and that's what really matters after all. I think this is my best bow so far, I did a much better job reaching the target weight and I did a better job finishing it, although there are some band saws marks on the backing strip that I tried to sand off but I couldn't do as good of a job as I would've liked, I sanded on the back a lot and they just would not come out and I didn't want to miss my target weight but my friend hasn't said a word about it either, but I think my tiller could have been better. Your advice and critiques are greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Aaron

[ajbruggink]

More pics, can't not have a full draw pic.

[Newindian]

that looks like a very well put together third, I'm sure your friend loves it. The camera angle could be misleading, but your full draw looks like you have a bit of a square tiller going on, especially in the upper limb.

[RyanY]

You know it's a hickory backing when there are still saw marks on the back.    Great third bow. Tiller is a little whippy but I think you know that. I'd also recommend making sure that your handle extends to or past your fades. It's hard to tell from your pics but it looks like the handle taper may be a little short IMHO.

[bubbles]

Gotta get that back "baby butt" smooth.

[Drewster]

Yes, your tiller does look whippy.  Your inner limbs near the fades are stiff and not doing their share of the work.  Try getting the whole limb working on your next bow.  I agree with Bubbles.  The back needs to be really smooth to help eliminate any chance of a splinter raising......potential death to a bow.  Sand your back before you start tillering next time, then it won't affect your draw weight.  Hope this helps.

[ajbruggink]

Thanks for the replies, guys. The back is pretty smooth but marks still remain. I don't remember what was going in my head at the time I glued it up but next time I'll make sure the back is smooth before tillering or probably better before gluing it up. I realize that the angle of my full draw pic makes it harder to see the tiller, I'm posting a pic where I'm not at such an angle but a tree branch was in the way of the upper limb and I thought it would make it harder to see, I still think my tillering needs work either way. Ryoon4690's advice on a longer handle brought up a question I had. On a board bow does it matter if you glue another piece of wood for handle before or after you tiller it? On this bow I glued on some walnut for the handle and shaped it to what I felt was right after I tillered it.       

[PEARL DRUMS]

Id suggest you fix that tiller buddy. Those are a fuzz from hinging and elm doesn't like compression much. You'll get compression fractures eventually.

[bubbles]

i would say you want to do it before tillering, because otherwise your handle will be bending while youre tillering, and with a narrowed handle section, you dont want that. It will give a false tiller impression.