Hickory bow build.

[superdav95]

Ok so went to work on this today and got it as close as I date go.  It’s at 46lbs at 28” on my scale.  It feels more stable doing several pulls on the tiller rig.  50 pulls to 28”.  20 at 29”.  Feels good so far.  Proof will be in the shooting tomorrow if weather is good.  The horn stabilized the bow I think and hope it will be a good shooter.  Here’s some full draw pics.  Tiller on the top limb on the right side towards the tip transition is little stiffer then I want but that’s due to the splice repair that was done there.  Looks good otherwise and the bend is where I want it.  After doing several pulls on this thing it came right back to its highly reflexed profile.  It settled in at around 13” reflex right after unstringing and letting it rest for about 5-10 mins.   Gotta be happy with that.  I’ll try and get a chance to shoot this again tomorrow.  Here’s some pics.  The third pic shows the splice repair.  Seems to be holding.    Thanks for looking and following along on this crazy build. 

[Selfbowman]

Looks fast to me!

[bjrogg]

I gotta second Arvin’s notion.

It does look fast.

Thanks for sharing this build with us Dave. I know it was a challenging one and it threw you a curve ball or three. I think it was a good opportunity for us to step a little closer to the edge and even look over it. Great learning experience.

One like this is on my bucket list. I’m not sure I will have the nerve to post it as I go through.

Well done

Bjrogg

[Muskyman]

Hope it works out for you. Looks speedy for sure.

[Pappy]

WOW , that turned out nice. 
 Pappy

[superdav95]

Thanks guys!  It’s been a journey for sure.  So I tried to do some shooting today and get some speed readings but they were all over the place and never consistent.  I’m not sure if the very sunny windy weather had something to do with it or just one of those things today.  The bow settled into around 45lbs at 27-28” draw.  I had readings all over ranging from 50fps to 298fps.  I couldn’t seem to get consistency at all with my chrono today.    I’ll have to try it again some other day with new battery maybe I don’t know.  I eventually had some readings around the 170-180fps range at about 10gpp but can’t rely on these till I retest.  Just shooting it today it seems very nice and would be surprised if it’s faster then 180fps at 10gpp. Comparing the feel of it though it seems moderately speedy and smooth. Not my fastest bow though.  Very little handshock which was to be expected.  There is a bit of tip twist that I couldn’t resolve in the end but did t seem to affect it much.   Much more stable now with the horn.  I left it strung up for a few hours today messing around with it and shot close to 160 arrows through it at around 27-28” draw.  It’s smooth and pleasant to shoot.  It seems to like my stiffer 300’s at about 450grains. They were about 31” long.  It also shot well with lighter 350 spine arrows too but had little more side kick out and shot less straight out of the bow.  It’s hard to tell in the video posted here cause of the light shining but the stiffer arrows shot the straightest of the ones tested.  This could be how I’m shooting vs others too.  The recipient of the bow will get some good shooting out of it I hope and has been observing the build hurdles on this one.  After shooting today I unstrung it and it went back to 11” immediately and then settled back to approx 13” reflex.  Here’s a couple links to video clips.  Sorry for the lighting here the sun was making it hard to see the arrow flight.  I’ll see if I can get better lighting and try again another day. 

Couple short vids

https://photos.app.goo.gl/vSDhUjJ1FnjwTrLJA


https://photos.app.goo.gl/jxCpaBX3i1TzBSHX8

[bentstick54]

Sure looks smooth in the videos. You definitely have more perseverance than I do. Great job of sticking with it and coming out with a great bow through all the challenges.

[superdav95]

Sure looks smooth in the videos. You definitely have more perseverance than I do. Great job of sticking with it and coming out with a great bow through all the challenges.

Thanks bentstick   It tested my patients for sure but ended up with a bow in the end.  Lessons learned on this one with many more lessons awaiting for me I’m sure.  Accidental horn bow crept into the non horn bow pages. Oh well nobody seemed to mind anyway.  More traction here anyway.  I think less sinew would have been better and would have allowed me to keep more wood thickness on the belly instead of chasing weight.  Either that or just let the bow be heavy at around 60-70.  Anyway it worked out in the end. 

Thanks again

[superdav95]

Did some more shooting with this bow this am and got more consistent readings.  I’m questing that the overcast weather had something to do with it.  It shoots consistently around 180,182,183.  Shooting a 450grain arrow.  The bow pulls 45lbs and at 28” draw got more consistent readings today.  Not too bad.  Had no one around to take video for me unfortunately but feel little better about it now.  Now I just need to figure out how to finish this up.  Do I put a stain job on it then seal it up or just seal it up the way it is.  Right now it’s just got the rawhide covering.  Thoughts???

[superdav95]

Here’s a video of me stringing up this bow.  My old stringer for my long bows was not gonna work for this highly reflexed bow.  I made a new stringer for it and figured I’d post a short clip of me using the stringer.  The recipient has opted to have this bow the way it is with no stains on the back.  I’ll put some sealer on it and send it out with a natural look.  I’ll post pics when done. 

Video clip

https://photos.app.goo.gl/xnzKuTZ52EBGbNrz6

[Aaron1726]

Really enjoied following this build.  Glad it turned out as nice as it did even through all it challenges along the way. 

[M2A]

Great build along. Lots of good information on the build and the solutions for the problems that could be encountered. Thanks for taking the time. Final product looks great, all around. Just a plain WOW kinda project. Fella getting this piece is getting something good.
Mike   

[superdav95]

Great build along. Lots of good information on the build and the solutions for the problems that could be encountered. Thanks for taking the time. Final product looks great, all around. Just a plain WOW kinda project. Fella getting this piece is getting something good.
Mike

Thanks mike.  It was a learning curve for me this one.  I’m happy with it in the end and hope the recipient will be too. 

[superdav95]

Really enjoied following this build.  Glad it turned out as nice as it did even through all it challenges along the way.

Thanks Aaron.  I actually enjoyed the challenge of this accidental horn bow as well.  My intent initially making this bow for my friend was not to post it as a build along but it did put me on the spot to put out and overcome.  I think it’s an important lesson for us Boyers to realize that these kind of challenges are just part of bow building.  It’s rare when we get the perfect pieces of wood to work with but more often then not we need to find solutions to overcome with less the perfect pieces.  This piece has taught me a few lessons I will not forget.  Each bow can teach us something.  It’s easy to fall into the trap of doing the same bows and not expanding the comfort zone of builds.  That’s what I love about this craft.  Lots of guys on here and elsewhere that are great builders know the importance of raising their bar.  A lot of guys And gals that I look up to and aspire to be like are challenging themselves in their builds.  Glad to be part of this community. 

Thanks again guys for all the kind words and following along.

[superdav95]

Ok so I put several coats of tru oil on after sanding it all down.  The recipient as I mentioned before wanted the natural look so I honoured this and named this bow “The Natural”.  Seemed fitting.  Put some basic stats on the belly of bottom limb and called it done.  The horn really shows the grain nice in the sun.  Thanks for following along on this one. 

Dave.