Hickory D-bow 55#@29"

[ajbruggink]

Heh guys,

This a bow I finished up in May, this was a replacement for a bow that I made for a friend that later de-laminated and it just wasn't a good bow anyway. I made this from a Rudderbows Archery Native American Replica bow blank, this one was the Oneida type I believe. It was a 65" long hickory blank and it was floor-tillered so I did the rest of the tillering and the finish work. While I believe that I did the hardest part alone, I can not say I made the bow entirely by myself. It is 55#@29", after breaking in it had some handshock which I was displeased with but after I glued some cork underneath the leather handle wrap the problem disappeared but I would like to make bows without handshock with a bare wood grip and not have to rely on a handle wrap to dampen it in the future. I tried Fiebing's Medium Brown Leather Dye for the 'stain' and its finished in 3 coats of Satin Helmsman Spar Urethane. The handle wrap is brown deer leather and the strike plate is calf hair. The bow took 1 7/8" set. The only profile pic I have is it lying next to a bow that broke the same day I was taking pictures but I included it to help to see if my tiller is appropriate for the bow's design. I was kind of proud of myself with this bow because I thought it was the best tillering job I have done yet but it did take 1 7/8" of set, the handshock without a handle wrap, and the fact that I could only get it to send a 545 grain arrow 120 yards when the bow that broke, which had 2 5/8" of set, sent an arrow 11 yards further, means there is still some room for improvement.  Let me know what you guys think.

Thanks,

Aaron

[ajbruggink]

I tried to show it unstrung in one  of these pics

[ajbruggink]

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[timmyd]

hickory needs to be kept in a drying box or somewhere with low humidity until it is finished. In SW PA, I have had hickory staves go from <8% to 12% in just one day. Soggy hickory limbs take set so I leave mine in my drying box until I get the finish applied. But the bow looks good. congrats.

[ajbruggink]

the first bow vs this bow. I guess it would be bow #4 vs bow #11, well counting all the ones that broke and/or waiting possible salvaging.

[ajbruggink]

hickory needs to be kept in a drying box or somewhere with low humidity until it is finished. In SW PA, I have had hickory staves go from <8% to 12% in just one day. Soggy hickory limbs take set so I leave mine in my drying box until I get the finish applied. But the bow looks good. congrats.

Thanks, timmyd. I keep my bow wood underneath my bed because a humidity meter reveals my bedroom is consistently the driest place in my house (I say consistently because my attic can get drier but the humidity fluctuates a lot more up there, one week it will be too dry and one day too humid) but a drying box would probably be better, I just need to make one but I don't know if that is what caused this bow's set or not, it may be my tillering, the bow's widest point is 1 1/4" at the handle, maybe it should've been wider, at least 1 3/8"?

[timmyd]

yes. hickory does better wider than most. I like to make mine 1.75" at the fades. Maybe try that with your next one and see how it turns out

[Dictionary]

Nice bow. I would have gotten the tips or outer limbs bending a bit more on the upper limb, but nice tiller otherwise. For D-bows, Wider limbs or making the bow a bit longer would counteract some of that set. For Dbows, I usually try for the longer limbs option. Tillering a slightly narrowed handle to bend on wide limb bows is just a bit more challenging.