First Hackberry bow

[AH]

So here's one I just finished up.  36 pounds or so @ 28", 68" ntn. I'm really impressed with this hackberry stuff, it's really easy to work with. It did get to me how thick the limbs ended up being in the end, though, and it ended up kind of underweight. If a hickory or elm bow were made to the same limb thickness, I think it would end up much heavier.
 Bloodwood tip overlays and a red grip to match. It makes a nice target shooter. It did end up with about 2.5" of set, which I'm not happy about, but that's better than what I've heard of people getting from hackberry (stories of starting with lots of reflex, then ending up with more than 3 inches of set, ...). I very lightly heat treated the belly, but the slight browning of the belly disappeared during tillering, and now it bears no hint of heat treating. I think if I heat treated the belly more, I would of gotten less set. 

[AH]

...and once again some of the pics show up sideways.

[Ifrit617]

Nicely done!  There are some tiller issues that you can fix one your next one though. Although there are no serious hinges, your top limb is very whippy. It needs to bend much more in the inner 1/3 of the limb. Bottom limb has the same issue but not as severe. This will help to keep set down on your next bow!

Jon

[AH]

Nicely done!  There are some tiller issues that you can fix one your next one though. Although there are no serious hinges, your top limb is very whippy. It needs to bend much more in the inner 1/3 of the limb. Bottom limb has the same issue but not as severe. This will help to keep set down on your next bow!

Jon

That's exactly what I thought.  I didn't really want to tiller it much more, because it was so light already though. For some reason, On every bow I make It always bends more outwards, in a elliptical/whipped tiller. I think It could really bend more at the fades.
One thought I have though: I lingered wayyyy too long on the ling string on this bow. The tiller looked really good on the long string, then once I braced it though, it started to bend more in the outer limb. I have heard that on the long string it will look like the inner thirds are bending too much?

[adb]

Nicely done!  There are some tiller issues that you can fix one your next one though. Although there are no serious hinges, your top limb is very whippy. It needs to bend much more in the inner 1/3 of the limb. Bottom limb has the same issue but not as severe. This will help to keep set down on your next bow!

Jon

That's exactly what I thought.  I didn't really want to tiller it much more, because it was so light already though. For some reason, On every bow I make It always bends more outwards, in a elliptical/whipped tiller. I think It could really bend more at the fades.
One thought I have though: I lingered wayyyy too long on the ling string on this bow. The tiller looked really good on the long string, then once I braced it though, it started to bend more in the outer limb. I have heard that on the long string it will look like the inner thirds are bending too much?

There yah go... lesson learned. That's exactly what happens when you stay with the long string.