First Self Bow Help

[WackEM]

New on here and this is mostly new to me. Was big into archery (compound) about 5 years ago but now I started a new venture. I’ve been working on a hickory self bow that has been a long time bucket list of mine. Anyhow I’m almost at the finishing point but I have a couple of problems I’d like to see if I can get some answers to. 1) I have a slight limb twist at the tip that I don’t know how to fix or if I should even mess with it. I think it was caused by a pin knot that I didn’t even know was there until I started tillering and I might have shaved off to much on one side. This piece of wood is not a good one to start my first bow but it’s all I could find at the time. I learned when I would shave across one of the knots the card scraper would catch and bounce and dig in and leave a uneven spot. The bow is 62” or 60” from notch to notch and tillered to 55# at 27”. Anyhow leave it alone or try to fix? If fix any ideas?

2) It’s a symmetrical bow and I was wanting to make one certain limb the top limb for a couple reasons A) The limb I was wanting to make the bottom limb has a knot at the fade that I left wood around by following the grain and it will somewhat impede my vision a little. B) The string is closer to the one side , I think due to the slight limb twist, and if it’s the bottom limb it will put the arrow more inline. The problem is the limb I wanted to be the btm tillered at even or maybe 1/16” negative and it is wider and thicker than the limb I wanted to be the top. Really don’t want to take more off the thinner limb. I think that limb had a little natural reflex at the start. I’ve heard that if you shoot 3 under even tiller is okay. Any help appreciated I just want to get this thing finished and find a better stave to start a new one. I’ll post pics if I can figure out how haha. Sorry for the long post. Thanks.

[Kidder]

Welcome! Assuming you haven’t recurved the tips a little twist is usually a non issue. Just so long the string isn’t at risk of slipping off you should be ok. If you decide you want to fix it you will need to heat correct it. Should not be difficult as you will be thin enough. As for top or bottom limb - try shooting it both ways and see how it feels. If you are negative tillered take a couple scrapes off the top limb and you’ll be there. Good luck!

[WackEM]

Thank you. The twist is very slight. It starts about 10” from the tip where there is a pin knot on the edge so I was kinda afraid to try to heat it and twist it back with that knot being right where I’d be twisting. As far as scraping more off the limb to make it positive tiller I’ve been doing that but it just seems like it’s not reacting and it’s already thinner than the other limb. It actually looks like it’s the weaker limb when drawing it on the tiller tree but I might try it again. I wish I could figure out how to post pictures but I’m pretty dumb when it comes to technology. Thanks again for the reply

[Del the cat]

The twist is probably best ignored.
The limb, you want to be the bottom, and the limb that the stave wants to be the bottom are often not the same.
I've often turned a bow up the way during tillering. With out pictures it's hard to offer more advice... but I'd guess that the bow probably has plenty of extra handle section that would allow it to be turned over... and don't worry if you end up with the lower limb longer than the upper, one of my sweetest bows has the lower limb longer.
If it is a shooter now, maybe leave it alone and come back to it after some time, or after you've made some more and got more experience.
A bow is rarely ever entirely finished!
Del

[WackEM]

I did put the handle in the middle ( symmetrical ) for that reason but that big knot gets on my nerves looking at it haha. But like you said the bow is fighting me on this one and I might just let it win. I like the character of the knots just not in my line of sight. I know I could have been done with this thing a week ago but I keep messing with it and I’m afraid I’m going to screw it up the more I mess with it. Thanks for the help and advice.

[superdav95]

It tough sometimes to call it done.  We all have this problem.   Welcome to the forum and congrats on getting this far with your hickory bow.  I have fought with natural wood bows to impose my will on them and won at times and other times have lost.  For your first bow I would call it a win and shoot it the way it wants to be shot and call it good.  You could do some heat correction and twist removal but that may cause some problems for you with the knot you mentioned.  The natural reflex in the one limb can throw you off with tiller too. The possible solution to this could be a mild to moderate heat treatment of the bow limbs while while clamped to a reflex form.  Certainly not not necessary but could help with evening out your limbs a bit.  There’s lots of info on this out there but essentially you are compressing and stiffening up the belly wood and driving out moisture.  Best of luck on you decision and either way you’ll use what you learn on this one for the next build. 

[WackEM]

Thank you and I’m glad I’m not the only one that wants to get this bow perfect haha. I do have a little OCD but I think I’m going to call this one while it’s still shootable. Every time I think I’m done I find something else that bothers me. Like you said though I’ve learned a lot on this one. I hope the next stave or sapling I start with is cleaner than this one. I didn’t mention but I have already done a heat gun heat treat on a back set form back at rough in stage. I guess the limb with the natural reflex just took more I don’t know. Anyhow thanks again for the help. I did learn that when measuring the tiller with a long string the side of the string with the knot will cause a different result well it did on this bow anyway but I guess about everything has been a learning experience on this heck I had never even used a draw knife before now. I think or hope I’ve figured out how to post pictures so hopefully I can get some up.

[WackEM]

Here’s a picture of the limb twist. Also if you look down the back of the bow you see ridges this was caused by me ripping the bark off. The sapling was about 4 1/2” at the btm and narrowed down to about 3 1/2” at the top. I cut it and it sit in the garage for about 3 weeks before I could get started on the bow. When I went to take the bark off with a draw knife I couldn’t tell where the back started because everything was white so in fear of violating the back of the bow I peeled it off. Is this cambium? If so should I scrap it off before I finish the bow or leave it? Sorry if this is a stupid question but I don’t know what I’m doing.

[WackEM]

Sorry I can’t get but one picture at a time to post. The pic above is with the bow strung and here’s one on the tillering tree

[M2A]

Looks good! Left limb looks perfec, right limb maybe not but dont have an unbraced photo to compare so maybe it is. Enjoy the finish piece. When your trying to remove the bark/cambium, or even chasing a ring and arnt sure where your at, test the side of the stave in an area that will be removed when shaping the limbs. That can help me out sometimes.
Mike

[superdav95]

Welcome wackem.  I agree the tiller looks pretty good to me too. Especially for your first.  Adequate inner bend and left limb I presume is your bottom?   The right limb is little stiffer on outers 1/3.   As for the cambium on the surface it’s no big deal.  Many just leave it on and stain bow and seal it with it on.   To get it off you could use a spoon or a gooseneck scraper carefully.  To avoid this step in future you could harvest you hickory in late spring early summer and slip the bark right off for a pristine clean back.   Congrats on a complete shooting bow!   It looks good. 

[WackEM]

Just wanted to say thanks for the replies and advice. I’m pretty happy with the results for my first one other than a few details like the limb tip twist and a couple other things I wish I’d done differently but it was a learning experience and at least it hasn’t broke (yet)🤞. If I can get it finished I’ll try to post some pictures and chrono results.