Author Topic: Born again first bow  (Read 2705 times)

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Offline ricktrojanowski

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Born again first bow
« on: December 16, 2007, 03:14:32 pm »
I made a bow from a roughed  osage stave a couple of years back and was never really happy with it.  So I decided to "remake" it into something a bit different.  It used to be 66" n to n and 60#at 27 inches with very little string follow and was not shot very much at all.  I cut it down to 62" n to n, shortend and  reshaped the handle, and I am planning on recurving the ends a little and adding some tip overlays.  My concern is that since all of the reflex of the stave is now gone and I don't want a lot of string follow what should I do before re-tillering?  I've read that putting reflex into a stave a second time is a bad idea.  Would tempering the belly be a good solution?  Any advice would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks Rick
Traverse City, MI

Offline Pat B

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Re: Born again first bow
« Reply #1 on: December 16, 2007, 03:25:38 pm »
Rick. If you take your time tillering her out and exercise the limbs with each wood removal, you should have few if any string follow problems. The wood was dry when you built the first bow and now a few years later it is more "seasoned" than before and more resistant to compression than before. I have never heat treated a bows belly so I can't answer that part.
   The last couple of osage bows I've built were 60"t/t(with slightly recurved tips) and pull 55#+ @26" but I tiller them out to 28". (secret Santa has one in his bag as we speak ;D)
    Pat
Make the most of all that comes and the least of all that goes!    Pat Brennan  Brevard, NC

Offline Jesse

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Re: Born again first bow
« Reply #2 on: December 16, 2007, 08:10:47 pm »
I just looked at a nice hickory pyramid bow a guy made and it had zero string follow and shot really fast. He told me it had a lot of string follow to start with but he got rid of it by stringing it backwards a little and heat treating the belly. Hundreds of shots latter it has not changed. I would say its a good idea. I have not done it personally.
"If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn't lead anywhere."
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Offline mullet

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Re: Born again first bow
« Reply #3 on: December 16, 2007, 09:35:22 pm »
  I've heat treated an osage bow that one limb wanted to droop on me and the weight was lower than what the person wanted it was built for.It worked in both cases.I got the reflex back and upped the weight.I've toasted the bellies and got 4 to 5# pounds more in weight.
Lakeland, Florida
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Offline Pappy

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Re: Born again first bow
« Reply #4 on: December 17, 2007, 06:39:16 am »
What Mullet said I do it all the time and it will help most of the time. :)
   Pappy
Clarksville,Tennessee
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