Well, here is a new bow, for what it is worth. I am not entirely happy with it, but again, I think it came out okay. This was my first successful stave bow. It was an elm stave Jamie had provided me via the Connecticut primitive gathering that happened earlier this summer, where I got it to the early floor tillering stage.
It is 65 inches end to end, and pulls at 49 lbs. at 27 inches.
I ended up, I think, inducing some set by not having the stave quite seasoned when I was in the early tillering stage, with about 2" or a bit more of brace. Nevertheless, it seems to be a great performer, very fast and no hand shock at all, very zippy. I thought it would be a dog at first, but a few trips to the range have at least put that fear to rest.
I had to steam it twice to get the string aligned to the center of the stave, and that worked out well. The stain I used was unusual. I wanted a natural stain, and made a two part stain out of black tea (Irish breakfast, actually,
and an iron acetate solution made from letting a big ball of steel wool soak overnight in a bowl of malt vinigar. The tea I boiled, let steep for a few hours, and then wiped on, let sit for a few mintues, and then, I wiped on the iron acetate solution. It began to darken immediately, stopping maybe after 15 minutes.
I made the tip overlays and arrow plates from, believe it or not, a couple of bone folders you buy at a craft store for paper and book making. Cut the pieces out, worked them with a power sander and then file, final finishing, and glued them on. I put a plate on each side, as I wasn't sure which limb I wanted to have as the top limb. The handle is just a strip of oiled leather wrapped on and glued where it needed to stay put.
The decorations are just four strips painted on using acylics. I wanted to try a real primitive pigment, and am moving in that direction. In fact, I had envisioned painting on some neolithic cave animal design, but at the last minute, decided to keep it simple. I made a 200 lb. linen flemish twist string for it while lying next to a salt water swimming pool and the ocean at Booth Bay Harbor, Maine, where my wife and pug and I celebrated her last birthday (the good life, pity it isn't every day,
a couple of weeks ago. The finish is satin laquer, about five coats.
So, this is my rememberance of the Ct event. Overall, I am happy with it. I wish I had done a few things differently (for one thing, something about the tiller bothers me, but I can't quite put my finger on it. It could have been better, I suppose), but there it is, and here at the pictures. Thanks for reading. Oh yes, I don't think this should be put in for the bow of the month contest, however. I've seen far better bows than this one this month.
Dane
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