I'm hooked again.
For a variety of reason I've taken a break from bow building, but circumstances made it necessary for me to get building again.
Most importantly, the lady needed a bow. I started to teach her to shoot only back in August, but she started to pick it up quickly and without a lot of hand-holding, or need for constant corrections or extra teaching. She's a natural.
At first I had her shooting a bow I've had for a few years, ~35# @ 29" (so ~29# at 26"). A comfortable bow to shoot, and thankfully right in the right strength range for her. But shooting arrows that were really not the best match -- over-spined and heavy.
She expressed interest in having me build her her own bow -- not even a hint or a nudge, she just straight up said it haha -- and also building some together in the future. Super into that idea. We started by a stop to Menards, and going through some stacks. We picked out a good hickory board, and maybe even a better oak board. And we've already cut some staves, too. Like any of us, she'll probably end up with several bows to choose from in the near future.
The goal wasn't to build a screamer, high performance bow. Just a comfortable, snappy shooter. And I think I've done that. (And also just make sure I still know how to do it, make sure the skills are still there, the tillering eye, etc.)
She said that the weight on the first bow was pretty comfortable, so I aimed for 30# @ 26", and that's right where it came out. Overall length is about 60" -- she's about 5'4" and pulling it 25-26". Still working out form, anchor point, repeatability, etc.
I'm fairly happy with how the bow turned out, but I know I could've done better. It's not my best tiller -- but far from my worst. Thankfully, the work skills are still there (and maybe more polished than ever, and more patient), and the tillering eye is working.
I was very happy with how the "final" tiller looked on the tree -- but during shoot-in a bit of a weak spot (not a full-on hinge) appeared toward the outer lower limb. I migrated the bend upward some, but I can still kind of see it. I'm not actually
worried about it, but I will keep an eye on it for frets, developing tons of set there, etc. For now, it seems stable -- not getting worse, just staying the same. And that's good. Thankfully, I don't think the wood is highly stressed.
I would have liked to have gotten the inner limbs bending a little more too. Seems a little more whipped than I'd like.
During the heat-treatment about mid-way through tillering I put in ~1.5" of simple reflex, and the limbs are settled very close to completely straight. Tiny bit of follow when first unstrung. The wood would've been happy being a 40# bow, so I know it's not stressed to the max or anything.
Anyways, pushing the bowyer in me aside and forgetting about what I could've done better -- she's happy, therefore I'm happy. It will be a great bow for her to continue learning on. And I'm not ashamed to admit, watching her shoot it for the first time, I was overflowing with happiness and pride, watching her shoot a bow I made, with arrows I made. Seeing her smile -- and also go very quickly into "serious mode," trying to shoot better.
