Vine Maple for my father (Thar She Blows!!!)

[Blacktail]

dang it weylin..i am missing oregon all ready and this aint helping....i showed my wife the pics of your bow and she said that i could just go to the storage shed...its just not the same...LOL...great work on the stick and i bet it will have some snap with the reflex....later john

[Weylin]

Thanks for the encouragement fellas 

[rodlonq]

This will be very interesting Weylin.  Looking forward to seeing your progress.

Cheers....... Rod

[Pappy]

That is looking good so far,can't wait to see it all finished up.
   Pappy

[Weylin]

Alright, I've been slowly scraping away at this guy for awhile now with my sorry little tool collection and I feel like it's coming along well. It had a twist in one of the limbs. I steamed it and managed to wrestle out most of the twist with a ridiculous looking, jerry-rigged set-up. I'm bringing it close to final dimensions and starting to bend it. I have two main questions at this point. There is a little more than 5" of reflex that I'm dealing with right now and I'm not quite sure how to factor that in to my tillering process. I'm assuming at least some of that is going to naturally disappear during the tillering process as I bring the bow down to final weight. But in the meantime, should I be accounting for it in anyway? I'm not even sure exactly what 'm afraid is going to happen. Maybe that I will take off too much wood and when the reflex gets pulled out I'll be left with too light of a bow. Is that a valid concern?

My second question is about several big, gnarly bumps on the back of the bow. they add a considerable amount of thickness in certain spots and some of them have knots under them. I've been leaving them a bit thicker for now just to be safe but I'm sure they are making those areas of the limb quite a bit stiffer. should I take more off the belly in those spots to bring them to a comparable thickness to the surrounding areas or should I leave them thick because they are a liability? here are some terrible pictures that will undoubtedly perfectly illuminate what I am trying to describe

[HighEagle]

I sure do miss Oregon I use to  live in Enterprise NE corner of the state.  I would love to get some of that VM I do have a order in with a friend that lives on the coast. Here in Canada lots of Serviceberry (Saskatoon) that I think will be a good runner up. Good luck to you on your build, it looks like you got a good start and some good advice. Take care, Chuck

[Blacktail]

looks really good...are you at floor tillering stage...john

[Weylin]

Yes, I'm floor tillering as well as using a longstring. I have this great set-up in my apartment where I clamp the bow handle on the edge of the kitchen counter with the belly facing me, then I put the long string on the bow and around my backside. then I can push back with my butt to bend the bow while my hands are keeping the loose countertop from sliding off the counter. The end result is alot of pelvic thrusting right by the patio window. I'm surprised my neighbors haven't called child services on me yet.    But hey, it works and I can clearly see the bow bending while I'm doing it. My wife just shakes her head and walks into the other room. I'd say that I have the bow bending about to the point that it is straight, keeping in mind that it has 5" of reflex.

[Keenan]

Weylin, that is looking really good, Just go slow scraping. You will hit a point where it will suddenly relax slightly.  I have one that I worked yesterday that is a twin to yours. Except mine has even more reflex. I braced and even shot it some yesterday and keep waiting for it to relax but so far it is still holding about 5" of reflex 
 As far as the knots they shouldn't be a problem. You can run with a flat belly as you have and it will add a little excess mass and slow the bow slightly or carefully work the area under the knot to a consistant thickness with the rest of the bow and leave them just slightly stiff while tillering. Just be carefull you don't make a hinge in those spots.

[Weylin]

Thanks everyone, and thanks for the advice Keenan. I'll keep scraping away then. That was my instinct about the knots, I just needed some reassurance I guess. I'm excited to see this bow turn out. my dad arrives in oregon in a couple weeks, I might even have it ready for him.

I'm thinking about trying my hand at tip overlays on this bow. I picked up a scrap piece of ebony at the woodworking shop yesterday. has anyone used it before? is it a suitable wood for an overlay?

[JW_Halverson]

I've never worked it, but a friend of mine is a woodturner and he says it's pretty hard wood.  I bet you could make nice tip overlays out of it!  It would certainly stand out in a dramatic way against the pale vine maple!

[Gordon]

Welin, I agree what Keenan says.

I helped a friend with ebony tip overlay once and they turned out great.

[Keenan]

 Here is what mine is looking like Weylin. I'll try to get you some braced and draw pics tomarrow

[Weylin]

Whoo, that's skinny. Makes me realize how much more scraping I have to do. I always get like this when I start bending the bow. I start getting slower and slower (which is probably a good thing) but I do it a little too early and end up taking ages before I even get it braced. It probably doesn't help that I scrap for 10 minutes and then play on the computer for an hour. Thanks for the pics, I'd be glad to see more of your bow, it looks great. what did you use for the tip overlays? And thanks for the input Gordon. If Gordon and Keenan agree on a plan of action how could it go wrong?!   

[Keenan]

Weylin,  This one is fairly light. It will probably final in around 52 at 27"  I started it last spring for the bow swap but knew it was going to be to light for the recipient. I think it is around 66" long