New member and first bow build

[PEARL DRUMS]

Couldn't agree more, Marc. Fantastic first or fiftieth bow.

[bitterman]

Nice Job! How does it shoot?

[bjrogg]

When you stick and eat a deer...... even a big doe doesn't have to be a buck, with a rig you built yourself, there is no feeling in the world like that.  I hope you have the opportunity. Your have a good start.

DBar

Bills given you some great advice. Congratulations on your first selfbow. Only thing better than first shooting your selfbow is hunting with one you made. Best of Luck and happy Hunting.

I also agree with Marc. You can see the unbraced profile in the full draw. Pretty darn good for your first bow. Doubting it'll be your last.
Bjrogg

[Hawkdancer]

Congratulations and welcome aboard!  These guys really know their stuff and are glad to share!  They are a real personable and social group!  If you live close to any of them, link up in person.  Good luck with the new baby, and be ready to build a kid's bow down the road!
Hawkdancer

[EOT]

Thanks again everyone for the advise and critique. This site is real treasure of info with all the knowledgeable and helpful people on here.

My boss didn't have any issue with me bringing the heat gun home from work and I grabbed some scrap 4x4 as well. Hopefully I'll find time to mess with making a caul this weekend. And try thinning the sides down to get it bending better and further.

I can only imagine how fulfilling it would be to shoot a deer with a bow you've made yourself. I just started bowhunting last year with a compound my buddy sold me for a good price. I was never interested enough to buy a bow before. I've never been that thrilled with the idea of a wheel bow but it was a lot more rewarding than rifle hunting even though I haven't actually get one with the bow yet. I can't afford to buy a good longbow this year so I figured I'd give making one a shot.

Considering I haven't shot a bow like this, and I haven't been able to pull it past about 24-25", I'm pretty happy with how it's shooting. It just feels good to shoot! I've only got about 50 shots through it as I'm doing a number on my forearm without a proper arm guard.

I guess one question I have for you guys would be: Do you think that shooting it too much as it is would do any harm to it? I'm sure it would be better to get it bending even better. And it's probably one of those things that is to hard to really guess?

Also, I tried to get the weight of it at work on an antique scale but my stick was only ~25" long. I got almost to the end of the stick(probably 24") and it was roughly 60#.

I doubt it'll be my last bow either. I hope put this one to use hunting something this year even if it's only rabbits. Hopefully the next one I'll have a better idea of what I'm doing and will make a better one. And yes I should definitely make one for our kid someday!

[simson]

Considering the unbraced profile the full draw is showing a pretty darn good tiller

Just wanted to say the same, Marc was quicker.
But if this is really the first - I take my hat off.

[selfbow joe]

Nice work

[EOT]

Had to work all weekend but I made time to work on this some more so here's an update.

I put some reflex into the bottom limb. I didn't get the 4x4 to the shape I thought would work so I did this instead.


I did it twice in two areas about an inch apart just moving a small amount. I didn't take a pic of it at rest afterwards but it made the bottom and top match pretty closely. The tips were 1" forward of the handle at this point.

The next day I removed a little (very little I thought) from mid limb out on the top, and from the entire bottom limb and ended up with this at 22"

(Top limb is on the left in theses pics.)

Not what I had hoped for.

I worked on the bottom limb removing wood with sandpaper for a while and ended up with this.


Not much better. But I figured I'd better quit for now before I get too carried away. Still need to get the outer third/half of the upper limb moving better but I focused more attention to the bottom since it's quite a bit stronger.

So now I feel like I've gone the wrong way with this thing. I probably shouldn't have messed with the top limb at all and just focused on the bottom one. Too late for that though. So is there anything I can do to salvage this without making it into a kids bow? (I'd estimate it at around 50 ish pounds at 26" right now.) It was only meant to be a practice piece but I was getting hopeful that it might turn out heavy enough to hunt with. If not I'll just get it as good as I can for a plinker and start another and see what I can do.

[Danzn Bar]

Your right on them outers bending more.....shoot it and have fun with it....start another and learn from your experience.
You have a great start, and I think you understand the tillering process from your experience with your first bow.
DBar

[EOT]

Ok I'll probably mess with this some more as time allows and see what I end up with. Definitely going to start another soon too. I'll update this as if I get it bending better. Thanks for the help.

[Danzn Bar]

That's great if your good with that it....you have learned so much with your first build...good job.
DBar

[burchett.donald]

  Once again...Your fades are excellent...Incorporate this in your next one Sir...Thanks for sharing your work
                                                                                                                                                                 Don

[George Tsoukalas]

EOT,
your full draw looked pretty good but the last TT shot has definite problems.
I'd begin by getting more near handle wood bending. Get the wood at the end of the fades on left limb  moving. Right limb looks good.
Jawge

[EOT]

Update: I've been slowly working on getting this thing bending better (especially the upper limb) just sanding and checking every 20-30 strokes with the 80 grit. It has improved but but still isn't perfect.

Braced



At 26" on the tillering stick


And at about 27" in my hands.( sorry for the glare)


I thought it looked quite a bit better in the full draw pic than it did in the tillering tree so I ended up shooting it for a bit after the full draw pic. After unstringing it I noticed the back has a small splinter starting to lift, in the same spot in the upper limb that is bending too much in the tillering tree pic. So I'm probably done working on this for now. I've seen where it might be possible to salvage it but I'm probably not qualified to do it at this point. It's not firewood yet because I don't like to give up easily. Hope to get some sinew from this years hunting.

I hope to start bow #2 soon. I feel like I've learned enough to do at least a little better on the next one.

[DuBois]

I thought it looked real sweet about the time Marc and Simson said he liked the tiller. Looking close at the unbraced and drawn photos it seemed great. You must have put a lot of thought into tillering on non matching limb profiles so great work. Did you need to remove more to reduce weight?
I have a habit of trying to "get that little bit better" when something is already fine.

You've got a great start going!

PS: might do you well to make a tiller tree/pulley system so you don't have to leave limbs strained for too long.

Sorry I'm late to the welcoming committee but welcome!!

Marco