Puzzled ,how does a 50lb bow become a 78lb bow

[SLIMBOB]

Steve's advice looks to have been spot on.  I did some precise measurements this morning;
5 7/8 inch brace height.
Still 10lbs at 10 inches
now 26lbs at 15 inches (was 30lbs)
       44lbs at 20 inches

That's about 3 1/2lbs per inch, which would bring it in around 68lbs at 27 inches.  Still heavy but not as heavy, and I haven't pulled past 21 inches yet.  I'll work up to it and see where it lands. 

[PatM]

I think Tim Baker got tired of being jumped on by all the wanna' be experts on the bow building sites. I understand he took a different direction in life and now longer makes bows.

That's not true. There are many experts in the bowbuilding world now. Tim just did not like his word not being the gospel truth anymore.
 Dean Torges would be considered an expert by many and he and Baker couldn't see eye to eye on anything.

[JackCrafty]

Dang It Mr. Patrick... You have my Undivided Attention Now!!!
Would you tell me why you no longer use Texas Bodark?


   Hahah...  I don't use it any more for bows.  It works great for everything else though (knife handles, foreshafts, arrows, etc).

I think it grows too fast here.  After having three unexpected tension failures with TX bodark, I decided to get picky.

[Gus]

 After having three unexpected tension failures with TX bodark, I decided to get picky.

Egad... That does Stink for sure...

I haven't had this problem as of yet, and hope not too.
But I will keep my eyes peeled in the future.

We're the staves from the same or different trees?

Best Regards,

-gus

[SLIMBOB]

If that's true, and I have no reason to doubt it, it's a shame.  Tim Baker brought a scientific approach to all this that I hadn't seen before.  The questioning of long held beliefs and the testing of those beliefs to see if they held water.  When I started all this it was he and Hamm's writing that I consulted more than any other.  Jim Hamm was in there specifically and maybe only because of his expertise in Osage and Indian bows.  Be a shame if he left because of others now questioning his beliefs.

Patrick, I've cut some Bodark up north of you on the Llano Estacado that was as good as any I've seen.  It does vary in quality though, not just place to place but from one tree to the next.  I just assume it is that variable everywhere.  Haven't used enough from other states to make any kind of comparison.   

[Badger]

  Tim Baker and I are close personnal friends, we live close by each other and visit often, we argue about everything. Tim still plays with bows  a bit but prefers the more natural primitive straight bow approach as his chosen style. As far as pleaseant bows to make and shoot I agree with him on that. I have seen Tim make plenty of red oak board bows in about an hour or less that would shoot at 170 fps, faster than his famed mojam bow.

[JackCrafty]

We're the staves from the same or different trees?

Different trees but I think they all came from East TX.

[Gus]

I have seen some Real Nice Bodark come out of Michigan, Ohio and the like.
But the Prettiest by Far was in a couple bows that Sasquatch brought to the Knapp In out I'm Burlington last year.
The Rings were 5/8"+ thick with an excellent early to Late ratio.
As I recall it was from near College Staion...

-gus

[BOWMAN53]

I think Tim Baker got tired of being jumped on by all the wanna' be experts on the bow building sites. I understand he took a different direction in life and now longer makes bows.

Made an osage bow, well seasoned and dried osage sprout wood, some of my best. The bow went from 65# to 75# in the year after I made it, the guy who bought it shot it a bunch during this time, almost daily. Go figure, this is the only bow I have had  react this way. The wood sat in my shop for years before I made a bow out of it.

lol no Ive personally seen Tim make a yew shortie.

[Eric Krewson]

I stand corrected.

I saw a bunch of very abusive replies sent in Tim's direction on the Stickbow site from some of the now banned hot heads and assumed this was the reason for his departure.

[Badger]

  Eric, you really don't need to stand corrected. What you said was true. Tim does enjoy a good debate or aguement but so many idiots started taking it to a personnal level that he did drop off a lot of the sites he used to frequent.

[SLIMBOB]

Great admiration for what he brought to the table.  That is true for many from that generation of bow makers.  I got to read volumes of information from many different sources when I started.  That was much less true for those guys, who just refigured it out thru trial and error.  That includes Steve Gardner and all the others.

[Pat B]

I believe that lots of the "experts" like Tim and Dean don't show up on the different sites anymore because they get constantly hammered with questions about this and that when they do come on. I've seen this on PA and other sites over the years. It is only human nature to put these "icons" of our archery world up on pedestals but in truth they are only regular folks like most of us. I guess celebrity can be a curse or blessing depending on how you accept it.   
  The cool thing about our addiction is there are as many ways of building wood bows as there are people building them. We have to thank the TBBI contributors for opening the wood bow doors for us and informing us that not only osage and yew but almost any wood will make a good bow if the proper design is used for that specific wood.  Tim Baker and Paul Comstock let us know this and showed us how so we could all be successful wood bowyers. By the time TBBIII or TBBIV came out lots of other folks, through their own experimentation, found out that not all that was written in TBBI was gospel.  This proves that our sport is alive and well and looking forward to the next generation to grab the "wood bow" baton and run with it.
 

[willie]

Slimbob

I am a little late to the discussion, but back to the original question.Is there a chance that you might be working with tension wood? perhaps pulling some additional set into the bow, at the same time as it attempts to gain more reflex?

 

It was a stave from a small diameter limb in the half round.

It finished out then with a couple of inches of reflex and that is where it sits now.

willie

[SLIMBOB]

Willie, Possible, but I don't think so.  If there was anything remarkable about this bow to me, it is the lack of set it took while being built.  Started with 3 inches of reflex and ended with 2 inches of reflex.  I expected more set.  I just measured it after working with it yesterday and it's just under 2 inches of reflex still.  That's within a 1/4 inch of where it was when I finished it.  I am sure however, well I believe anyway, that it was reaction wood, but whatever reflex it pulled into had already happened before I started working on it.