Wild Plum Self bow

[pierce_schmeichel]

I decided I'm going to just add 2 more layers of sinew for now

I shaved all of the disappointing cracks off and put it into a good amount of backset. The reason it cracked before was because the wood got brittle when I was heat treating it and I just pushed it too far.

Anyway I hope this works!

[pierce_schmeichel]

I can always add the horn later if I don't think it's fast enough

[Badger]

 (f I would go all the way down to about 300 grains with the arrow. You don't need much spine at all with a 22" arrow and a 100 grain tip. I bet your 650 grains are too stiff. If you are hunting larger game you might just need a heavier bow and a little longer draw.

[pierce_schmeichel]

Well I have no doubt that 115fps with a 650 grain arrow can efficiently take down big game, especially the mule deer in my area where I hunt. Often times you can get 3 shots off at them before they move.

Whitetail are a totally different story tho.

Also I mostly like spot and stock hunting so a small lightweight bow is a huge advantage. I don't know if this one is gonna make the cut yet but the next one will for sure. I already have a few big longbows that ive made that gling a 650 gr arrow 160fps. I just really like testing the limits of the wood and designs I work with. I like speed.

[superdav95]

I decided I'm going to just add 2 more layers of sinew for now

I shaved all of the disappointing cracks off and put it into a good amount of backset. The reason it cracked before was because the wood got brittle when I was heat treating it and I just pushed it too far.

Anyway I hope this works!

What you may find as you go along here is that your sinew layers may overpower your wood.  More sinew is not always the answer.  I’ve been down this road. I ended up adding horn to stabilize one of my bows as the sinew was too much for the belly wood in my case and needed a belly lam. Just keep that in mind as you go that you may need to add something to the belly to stabilize the bow.  A little horn goes a long way too.  I mean to say that a slight increase in thickness with horn adds a lot of draw weight.  Best of luck with it.  I hope it work out for ya

[JW_Halverson]

I recently had cracks like that pop on a small scrap wood osage bow I was farting around with. It happened when I put tension on the belly attempting to add recurve before I began heating. The limb was thin enough I should have been able to bend it into a circle normally, but it cracked just as the surface began to heat.

My theory as to why this happened is that by bending the wood THEN adding heat the very surface was hot but the underlying wood wasn't and the wood just couldn't take the difference. ALWAYS heat before attempting to bend recurves - that's the lesson I took away.

BTW, I grew up west of Minot. Well, that's a lie. I got bigger. I have yet to grow up. Lemme know if you are ever coming through the Black Hills. I can act as tour guide, fishing guide, or just hang out in the shop and futz around with wood/sinew/rawhide/leather/etc.

[pierce_schmeichel]

I recently had cracks like that pop on a small scrap wood osage bow I was farting around with. It happened when I put tension on the belly attempting to add recurve before I began heating. The limb was thin enough I should have been able to bend it into a circle normally, but it cracked just as the surface began to heat.

My theory as to why this happened is that by bending the wood THEN adding heat the very surface was hot but the underlying wood wasn't and the wood just couldn't take the difference. ALWAYS heat before attempting to bend recurves - that's the lesson I took away.

BTW, I grew up west of Minot. Well, that's a lie. I got bigger. I have yet to grow up. Lemme know if you are ever coming through the Black Hills. I can act as tour guide, fishing guide, or just hang out in the shop and futz around with wood/sinew/rawhide/leather/etc.

I only ended up adding 1 layer. So there are 3 layers total now. And I'm hoping/ thinking the belly is going to be fine under the compression. Plum is a very dense, compresion strong wood. Up there with osage, at least so I've heard and read.

Anyway in a few days we will know haha! And if it's not powerful enough or isnt able to withstand the compression then it's going to become a bison horn bow

[pierce_schmeichel]

Oops I quoted the wrong message! I was trying to quote Dave.

Anyway JW_Halverson I will send you an email when we do for sure! My family has a cabin there in Lead by Deer Mountain. So, we go to the black hills a lot! I love fly fishing in the spearfish canyon and all of the works! It would be awesome to check out your shop and fiddle around with stuff!!

Also it's really cool to find a local bowyer who is into primitive archery! Do you know anyone else from our area?

[pierce_schmeichel]

Welp the bow is done!
It is 43" ntn and has 3 inches of immediate unstrung backset
It ended up with a draw weight of 45lbs at 22in and shoots a 670 grain arrow 125fps! As time goes by it will likely increase a good amount too.

And the whole bow only weighs 8.2oz

[superdav95]

Looks good. Good save!   I’m surprised you got your sinew dry enough already. 

[Kidder]

Nice little bow! I like that you kept with it until you got the bow you wanted out of it. I still wouldn’t string it for weeks yet given that from what i can tell you did the sinew only a couple days ago. It’ll look dry but it really isn’t. And the wood will have absorbed some of the moisture as well. I was also going to encourage you to round over your belly edges significantly. Those belly tension cracks may have occurred due to the sharp edges. Maybe not. But it’s always good to round the edges. Regardless, great work!

[pierce_schmeichel]

Looks good. Good save!   I’m surprised you got your sinew dry enough already. 

I do a couple things to get it to dry quickly

First off I chew the sinew instead of using glue. The glue creates a barrier on the sinew and traps the moisture in. When chewed you just don't have that issue

Next thing is that I just put one layer on at a time. So I put one layer on at night and let it dry by a fan overnight and then in the morning I put the next layer on. Then I go to work and let it dry and when I get back from work I put the final layer on and then let it rest overnight.

Then the next night I take it and do a couple mild heat treating on the belly of the bow to get the moisture out of the wood. You don't want to get it too hot or else you risk the sinew delaminating. And finally after each heat treatment I put it in front of a fan to cool it down and pull the moisture out.

Then bam ready to go..usually haha

[pierce_schmeichel]

Nice little bow! I like that you kept with it until you got the bow you wanted out of it. I still wouldn’t string it for weeks yet given that from what i can tell you did the sinew only a couple days ago. It’ll look dry but it really isn’t. And the wood will have absorbed some of the moisture as well. I was also going to encourage you to round over your belly edges significantly. Those belly tension cracks may have occurred due to the sharp edges. Maybe not. But it’s always good to round the edges. Regardless, great work!

Hey Kidder thanks!! And yeah I am very excited about this bow it'll be great for spot and stock hunting weighing only 8.2 oz...very maneuverable.

But yeah I totally agree with you on the sinew taking a little longer to dry. I do a couple of things to dry it out more quickly. And yes they do take moisture into the wood and that's why I like to do a couple of heat treatments after the sinew is dried up, to force some moisture out of the wood.

But I'm going to just let it sit for a while now. Let it dry and cure for a couple weeks.

[JW_Halverson]

Oops I quoted the wrong message! I was trying to quote Dave.

Anyway JW_Halverson I will send you an email when we do for sure! My family has a cabin there in Lead by Deer Mountain. So, we go to the black hills a lot! I love fly fishing in the spearfish canyon and all of the works! It would be awesome to check out your shop and fiddle around with stuff!!

Also it's really cool to find a local bowyer who is into primitive archery! Do you know anyone else from our area?

Not really

[superdav95]

Looks good. Good save!   I’m surprised you got your sinew dry enough already. 

I do a couple things to get it to dry quickly

First off I chew the sinew instead of using glue. The glue creates a barrier on the sinew and traps the moisture in. When chewed you just don't have that issue

Next thing is that I just put one layer on at a time. So I put one layer on at night and let it dry by a fan overnight and then in the morning I put the next layer on. Then I go to work and let it dry and when I get back from work I put the final layer on and then let it rest overnight.

Then the next night I take it and do a couple mild heat treating on the belly of the bow to get the moisture out of the wood. You don't want to get it too hot or else you risk the sinew delaminating. And finally after each heat treatment I put it in front of a fan to cool it down and pull the moisture out.

Then bam ready to go..usually haha

. 

Wow Pierce.  It’s impressive that you pulled off this bow looking at it again.  You seemed to have broken some of the rules on this one.  😝.  I like breaking rules myself and like to keep an open mind with new approach to things and test limits.  I have so many questions though with this bow build!  The fact that you chew the sinew is very cool.  I tried it and almost hurled my breakfast.  Weak constitution I guess.  I may try later with a different batch of sinew for another day.  The moose sinew was gross.  It just that I have so much of it that I hate to waste it.  I think maybe I’ll pound and seperate and wash it first and then dry it in prep for chewing later.   We shall see on that later.  Another question I have is the heat treatment you applied after sinew.  How did you avoid delaminating.  This must have been a very mild heat on the belly of a relatively thin bow not to mention the wrap around heat effect that can occur with heat gun.  Did you scorch the belly dark like that with a heat gun??? And was there sinew backing on your bow at that time?   I’m puzzled as to how you did that and not delam that bow.  That’s a lot of heat.  I’ve tried experimenting with this myself and I’ve never been able to do it without negative outcome usually resulting in delam somewhere.  Did you apply any size coats of glue before you did the chew and apply of sinew?  I’d be curious to know how many ounces or grams you laid down with each layer and total mass added to the bow.  Anyway do t take this as me challenging your methods.  Obviously you succeeded in it working in a great looking bow just so many questions as to how.  I have some theory’s but would be interested in what you think is going on and how you got a working bow out of this.  Still scratching my head on this one!   Anyway very cool 😎