New bow started(again, 1/4/2022){ and again 8/10/22}

[darinputman]

Love to see them at that stage, holding the reflex. Looks like a shooter already.

[bjrogg]

So far so good Pat

Bjrogg

[BowEd]

Your moving along nicely Pat.
Your right the more reflex induced the more critical the tip alignment.
That elm ought to be good and dry by now.

[Pat B]

It is slow going for me the last few years. And I agree that tip alignment is critical. Now I'm trying to get everything lined up so I can start adding the sinew. I like doing this during the winter while the R/H is low.  Ed, I'm sure the elm is dry. I can feel it in my rasping and scraping.

[Pat B]

just went down and worked the other limb, heat treating, deflexing and lining things up.

[superdav95]

Can’t wait to see it bending.  Looks good so far. 

[George Tsoukalas]

Very nice, Pat. Thank you for showing us. Jawge

[Pat B]

After taking bue off of the form I tweaked the tiller a but more...




then put her back of another reflex form and gave the belly a good heat treating and made slight lateral adjustments...


After I do the other limb she'll be ready for adding the sinew backing. Once the sinew dries well I'll tweak the tipper a bit more and do a final shaping on the tips. Typically my sinew process takes a few months but I will document that process as well.

[superdav95]

Is that heat treating pat?  Looking great!

[Pat B]

Yeah, at least the way I do it. Elm doesn't seem to darken much doing it this way.
I hand hold the heat gun about 1" above the belly and move it back and forth over a 6" area. When it darkens I move out to the next 6" heating until it darkens but also go back over the previous 6" then on out the limb and keep coming back over the previous heated sections. I do this with the limb held in reflex.

[BowEd]

I found it does'nt bother elm to give it a really deep heat treatment.I heat treat 1/2" at a time/3 to 4 inches away until dark brown from tip to handle fade.I round off the corners of the belly before heat treatment also.
Cutting cross sections on tests show the heat treatment well over 1/8" deep.
At what poundage are you at now before sinewing?1000 grains of sinew [or a a good 1/8" thick] will raise it at least 10 pounds.
Also sinewing in the winter time I tiller it to a few pounds over also.That way in the summer and early fall shooting it's just about right.
That's if you let the sinew cure a proper amount of time also before tillering.
You got a good candidate there with this bow.Tiller looks great.

[Pat B]

Ed, I haven't tested the weight lately and it really doesn't matter at this point. I can tell by floor tillering it will be lighter than a hunting weight bow. If I can get my finished sinew backed bow to come out at 40# to 45# I'll be happy. I will also be adding a thin rawhide backing over the sinew. My main concern is getting the overall bow tillered well and adding a good sinew layer to it. I can still go back and heat treat more before sinewing.

[superdav95]

I found it does'nt bother elm to give it a really deep heat treatment.I heat treat 1/2" at a time/3 to 4 inches away until dark brown from tip to handle fade.I round off the corners of the belly before heat treatment also.
Cutting cross sections on tests show the heat treatment well over 1/8" deep.
At what poundage are you at now before sinewing?1000 grains of sinew [or a a good 1/8" thick] will raise it at least 10 pounds.
Also sinewing in the winter time I tiller it to a few pounds over also.That way in the summer and early fall shooting it's just about right.
That's if you let the sinew cure a proper amount of time also before tillering.
You got a good candidate there with this bow.Tiller looks great.

.

This is similar to what I do too Ed.  Good advise here.  Elm is great candidate for heat treatment.  Add sinew after that you’ll have a screamer!

[BowEd]

Ed, I haven't tested the weight lately and it really doesn't matter at this point. I can tell by floor tillering it will be lighter than a hunting weight bow. If I can get my finished sinew backed bow to come out at 40# to 45# I'll be happy. I will also be adding a thin rawhide backing over the sinew. My main concern is getting the overall bow tillered well and adding a good sinew layer to it. I can still go back and heat treat more before sinewing.

In your picture I seen you had this bow close to your full draw tillering.Personally I don't like to stress the wood hardly at all before sinewing.I try to not go past 20" drawing it.Then extrapulating a ball park estimate within 5#'s of what the draw weight will be at 28" or your full draw.Then with the knowledge of knowing what depth sinew will give the bow I can usually get within 5#'s of full draw weight while needing to remove very little wood from the belly while tillering.
I think it gives the bow prospect the best chance to be a very efficient bow broken in.
I've found reheat treating numerous times does'nt actually help much.Once it's stressed the stress goes deeper than just the surface on the belly along with the stretching on the back.Even though sinew goes over the back.

[IdahoMatt]

Looking great Pat. Thanks for taking the time to put this on here.  Always love to your builds. 
Matt