Alrighty guys, its been about 5 months so I figured I should get back into this bow.
The limbs were quite stiff, I removed some horn with a scraper to get things moving again.
Heres a pic of starting reflex, and below it is horn bow number 2, awaiting a little more shaping and its sinew back.
I made this new caul, after seeing one of Chucks. I decided to remove a fair amount of reflex, to UP my chances of success, and to get a nice 5 curve look.
Using a heat gun for about 10-15 second on each limb, aimed at the horn belly, the limbs bent over the form easily.
I left it for a couple of days, unclamped it and was happy with how it looked.
I began to bend the bow over my knee holding each tip, much like I would with a short bow or kids bow. I took a few scrapes here and there, and tried to even up the bend.
First brace....was a little awkward. Short reflexed bows are never easy to string, and this one took the cake.
It didnt look half bad on the first brace, but took another 4 or 5 heat corrections and lots of scraping and sanding before it looked how I wanted it too.
I did take lots of photos of this process, I won't post them all, just where it ended up.
String alignment is good, and very little twist. Im happy I spent the extra time on the core dealing with these issues way back when.
Soon as I had it braced to a decent profile and height, I began to exercise it on my tree. I wasn't hoping for a high draw weight, somewhere between 40-50# would be just fine.
The bow is 30.5" ntn and has a 4" static handle. On that first session I could pull it to 12" before seeing a problem.
My thickness taper was super close, but my bottom limb looked to be bending too much in the deflex portion.
I decided to heat out some of the deflex, and it really seemed to help.
Again, I took many photos of the tillering process, but so many photos looking nearly identical would be a little boring.
This is where I ended up last night. I'll admit its not perfect, still needs a little work, but Im so happy to see this bow come to life.
I think I'm pulling 15" here, about 45#. I had her out to 16", and I think thats as far as I want her to go.
Shot about 30 arrows so far, I love it.
And thats a wrap for this build along. I'm going to do some small tweaks, pretty her up, and make a matching set of northern plains style arrows.
And of course a sinew string. Thanks to those that showed interest in this build. I certainly learned alot, I hope you did too.
