Ash backed massaranduba handshock

[Stefan]

Hi all,

It has been a while...finally a new bow. This time an ash backed massaranduba flatbow. I have glued in 2'' of reflex but the backing was a bit to thin.

The bow is quite long, it draws smooth but I do experience hand shock. Could the B50 flemish string be the problem? Do you see something I could improve on? The picture isn't very good...

Greetings Stefan

[Pat B]

Please post a pic of the back profile. I use B-50 all the time without hand shock.

[Badger]

   I just finished several massaranduba bows and they all came in with too much mass and took set regardless. I found out that massaranduba dries extremely slow and is very often high in moisture. Let the bow dry for a few months and see if it improves. maybe push it back into reflex while it is stores. I wish I would have saved my bows and dries them but I sawed them up before I realized they were probably wet. I did hang on to one self bow that I finished at 35#. I checked it over the weekend and it had gone up to 42# as it dried.

[Hamish]

Hi Stefan, How long is your bow? I have a 76"er massa- stiff handled self bow, its like shooting an iron bar re handshock. Despite its length, even tiller it still took nearly 3" of set, so I think Badger is right regarding moisture content.
If the Massa' is straight grained, it doesn't need backing. Indeed you can use a strip of massa' for a backing. If your board is deep enough you can saw off a backing, and glue the 2 pieces back together in a reflex.

I have made a couple of other flatbows, 64-66" long, 1&1/2" wide or so, with a little reflex and they worked quite well, no real handshock.
I have also made a slew less than 1" wide ELBs. backed with hickory and reflexed. It makes a really nice shooting bow, with no real handshock.

[PatM]

Bulletwood is definitely the hickory of tropical woods.  I remember the moisture content discussion came up about it before on Paleoplanet.

[leonwood]

Hey Stefan, alles goed? kom eens langs met dat ding, ben wel benieuwd;-) (sorry could not resist putting in some dutch words)
But nice to see you back to making some bows! Now about the massuranduba, I had the same problem with my bamboo backed massu longbows, the trick for me was to shorten them a bit and reduce the tip width as much as possible. I also make the tips bend a little, seems to work better with massuranduba

[Stefan]

Thanks for all the replies. I didn't know that massaranduba was that prone to accumalate moisture. I am going to make an fast flight bow string, check the moisture content, let it rest indoors for a week or two d shoot with arrows to match.

@ Hamish, its about 70""
@ Pat B, it has an pyramid design, i will make an pic
@ Leon, we definitely should meet up! Bet it can learn a thing or two from you and I still have some laburnum vossi for you :-)

[leonwood]

If you come over next week or the week after I guarantee you we can fix the handshock and show the final bow here. Should be fun!

[Hamish]

70" for that type of design, and if the limbs are about1&1/2"(?) is a little on the long side, but not a great deal.
Another option is to try shooting with heavier arrows.

[bradsmith2010]

the handle looks a little deep and square,, hard to tell from the photo,,
heavy arrows will help
I am guessing as stated above,, it may be a bit heavy in mass for the draw weight ,, I dont think you said the draw weight,,,,
I am sure you can fine tune it a bit, making the handle a bit more comfortable should help too,, even taking it down so you can wrap it with leather will help some too

[Stefan]

Hi all,

I reduced the handshock on this bow by reducing the weight of the tips (less bulky) and fine tuning the tiller. I finally finished this bow for an club member, Drawweight was a bit light for me...

Unfortunatly I found out a bit too late that this bow+me equals quite good results. It's in good hands now, an Junior National Champion is happy with it.

Bow is finished with danish oil and has an fastflight string. First bow i used my new logo/signature on.

Thanks you all for the advise. Greetings Stefan

[leonwood]

Well done Stefan! Funny that those little tweaks can make a bow so much better!

[burchett.donald]

    3 under will create hand shock...I shoot 3 under because I gap shoot now...Try split finger and you will feel a 50% to 75% decrease in total vibration...Just try it and feel the difference...I tiller for it now