Started new board bow! updated! new tiller pic! help please!

[lebhuntfish]

Well guys I took some others advice after posting a thread about my first bow. I decided to start my second one, it's a mallagabet, red oak board bow that I bought at Lowe's. It has almost perfect straight grain.  It's 72" tip to tip plan on 45lbs at 28 inches. I'm going to back it with dog bone rawhide and haven't figured out wither to paint it or put some kind of skin or something on over the rawhide. Here are some pictures so far. I only have about 3 hours in so far ready to make the first reduction of the belly them add the backing. What do you think?

 
 
 

[BOWMAN53]

so far so good

[Blaflair2]

Just a suggestion, make ur handle last and ull have a good surface for the tree and if it goes boom u didn't waste ur time making a sweet handle for a broken bow. Good start thiugh

[lebhuntfish]

Thanks Blaflair2, I will defiantly do that next time. I actually thought about that, after I got done shaping it tonight. I checked it and I have two flat spots that will sit perfectly on my tiller tree. I'm glad it worked out that way, pheew!

[PAHunter]

Great start!  Can't wait to see some bendy pics.  Good luck with it!

[skarhand]

I have done the rawhide dog bone on a couple bows so far. I think it makes a great backing. One mistake I made on one of them tho, make sure you have a good 1/8 to 1/4 inch extra all the way around, or it will shrink and leave you with spots where it is pulled back. Also, make sure you let it dry and cure at least a week before you trim it flush. Same problem. I trimmed mine and it continued shrinking and left me with a 1/16 or so where it shrunk up. As far as finish, if you take a rag and dab the rawhide with a dark brown stain then wipe it off, it makes it look aged. I did that on my son's bow and it came out pretty sweet.

Joshua

[NeolithicMan]

nice joshua, I like that aged look, and that 1/16 looks almost intentional, I like it

[lebhuntfish]

Thanks Joshua that's good info.  I will keep that in mind. I talked to a guy that I work with that redoes  antique saddles, if says that he soakes his rawhide in dark coffee or tea to make it match his saddles.

[lebhuntfish]

Update on my bow, I decided to reflex the tips a bit. Not much but I put 1" of reflex it what I ended up with. I think it will help with set and maybe give it a little more zip.
 
 

[lebhuntfish]

Well I got the rawhide on my bow last night, I tried the soaking in coffee thing. It actually coloured it really well except I didn't get it fully submerged so it left it with some white spots. It actually went on really well, and I wrapped it over night with an ace bandage. I'm pleased with it, I don plan on covering up the rawhide.

 

 

[lebhuntfish]

Well I have been working on my mallagabet board bow for the last few days. I think I got the tiller fairly close. That said I believed it was bending well so I shot about 10 arrows through it and it's kicking my hand fairly good. I put it back on the tiller and remeasured from the limb to the string at brace and I noticed that the bottom limb was right at 3/8" heavier than the top.  Is that good or is it too far off even? I have already missed my draw weight of 50lbs right now it is 44lbs at 28 inches. I would have liked to hit that mark but I would rather get the tiller right.

Could the shock in my hand be from the heavy static tips which are still 3/4" thick? If so how or where should I remove the weight? Here are 2 pics one braced and one on my tiller at full draw. Any help would be great, please and thank you! Patrick

 
 

[Blaflair2]

It looks like your fades are doing all the work, don't pull it too far on the tree once questionable tiller is found. That's how u get set and over work ur bow. Get the limbs benging more by the levers. Leave the handle fades be. My 2 cents

[lebhuntfish]

Thanks Blaflair2, I was wondering the same thing. I used a tillering gizmo and the last 2 hours I spent tillering was on the outer 1/4 of the working limb near the levers. I won't give up on it, thanks again.

[PAHunter]

Great learning experience and great job given your experience.  The levers look pretty huge.  I'd cut off 2-4'' off each and put in new nocks.  That will up your weight big time.  You can optionally add some reflex to the tips again as you did before.  Then take the tiller slowly.  only draw a little and ensure those outer 1/2 of the working limb is working (more than it is now).   If the tiller looks perfect go another inch.  Keep checking your DW as well as you go and don't pull more poundage than your target.  Do that and you can still come in at your target weight and get a great bend in it and get even more experience out of it.  Keep us posted!

[PAHunter]

As for the 3/8 smaller gap on the bottom limb, that's not an exact science.  It depends on the bow and you.  But 3/16 is a better target for that gap.