Happy new year, everybody! Just finished this one. Turned out rather pretty, if I may say so. Shoots really nicely, too. Yesterday it was putting 750 grain hunting arrows in the red zone at 30 yards, with no tuning. This will be my hunting bow next fall. Unless I get another one done before then that I like even better.
This is one of Allyn's staves. 65" long. Pulls 57 pounds at 27". Carved and finished all with hand tools. Stained with aniline pigment; sealed with lard/beeswax/pine pitch varnish. As a few of you might remember, it developed a bit of a hinge out of the top fade (you can see the thin edge in the full draw pic), but I was able to fix it with a little creative heat-treating and a few judicious scrapes.
Braced by
Whistling Badger, on Flickr
Sorry for that goofy looking guy messing up this picture of a pretty bow.
Full by
Whistling Badger, on Flickr
Bison hoof tip overlays. I got the hooves from the friendly local bison ranch. Absolutely nasty to work with, and I'm still getting the hang of the material, but they turned out rather nice. Got some nice sinew out of them, too, which will go to back a future bow.
tip overlay by
Whistling Badger, on Flickr
Left a bit of the cambium on the back for looks.
back by
Whistling Badger, on Flickr
Belly. Handle is wrapped with braided deer skin.
belly by
Whistling Badger, on Flickr
The stave had a weird little zig-zag in the grain. I put it at the tip of the bottom limb...
bottom tip by
Whistling Badger, on Flickr
...so that the string sits off-center at the handle. This means the arrow doesn't have to paradox around the handle quite as much, which seems to be a good thing.
String offset by
Whistling Badger, on Flickr
This was definitely a team-effort bow, from Allyn sending me a stave to lots and lots of great advice about design, tillering. finishing, and fixing my goof-up at the fade. So, thanks everybody! Comments and critiques welcome!
T
