massaranduba board bow

[elk country rp]

i found massaranduba on sale for $1 per foot, so i grabbed some (coincidentally it has lovely straight grain). i was just playing around with it today & decided to rough out a belly to put with some hickory so i could compare it to ipe. once i got it rough shaped, i started floor tillering it as usual, but it felt different to me. next thing you know i have it on the long string pulling way too far for ipe. no ticks, no splinters, works like a dream, and my personal favorite thing about it so far- when you take wood off it looks like your carving into a medium rare steak! the outside is brown, the inside is pink- love it! anyways, it survived being braced & shot (at partial draw) a few times, so i figured i'd post a few pics. i never thought of massaranduba as a good selfbow wood, but so far, it seems like it wants to be a bow.

63" ntn, 1 1/4" wide tapering to 1/2" tips (for now), 11/16" thick tapering to 3/8"

right now it's pulling ~70# @ whatever i'm drawing to in the last pic (~20" at a guess). i plan to get the inner limbs to bend more & get the handle to bend ever so slightly (felt not seen) before i go for a full draw. 

1) handle from the belly side- it's a little thicker where it narrows
2) thickness at the handle- rounded just a little
3) braced
4) partial draw

i had no idea this stuff would be this stable for a self bow! so far, it's only showing 1/2" of set- i'm interested in seeing how much i end up with...

Rob

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[Pappy]

Good looking bow,nice job.
   Pappy

[acker]

Nice bow !
But , do your self a favor and please put some backing on it !
I do work a lot with Massa and I know all selfbows will explode after a while , this might happen after 1000 or 2000 shoots , but it will happen.
Massa splinters are horrible to get out of the hand and believe me, you don't want them stick into your face .


acker

[George Tsoukalas]

Very nice tiller. Jawge

[elk country rp]

thanks Pappy, thanks Jawge 

Nice bow !
But , do your self a favor and please put some backing on it !
I do work a lot with Massa and I know all selfbows will explode after a while , this might happen after 1000 or 2000 shoots , but it will happen.
Massa splinters are horrible to get out of the hand and believe me, you don't want them stick into your face .


acker

sounds like the South American version of cherry- love it until it explodes...

in light of this advice (& similar advice on PP), i think i'll proceed with caution- might have to do the finish tillering with a long rope on the pulley & a face shield....

[jonathan creason]

thanks Pappy, thanks Jawge 

Nice bow !
But , do your self a favor and please put some backing on it !
I do work a lot with Massa and I know all selfbows will explode after a while , this might happen after 1000 or 2000 shoots , but it will happen.
Massa splinters are horrible to get out of the hand and believe me, you don't want them stick into your face .


acker

sounds like the South American version of cherry- love it until it explodes...

in light of this advice (& similar advice on PP), i think i'll proceed with caution- might have to do the finish tillering with a long rope on the pulley & a face shield....

........and a video camera.

[stickbender]

     What the heck is wrong with that tiller?   It looks great!  But do put a backing on it.   Then take lots more pictures......we likes to see pictures!   Nice bow.
Never heard of Massaranduba before.  Where is it from?
                                                                           Wayne

[david w.]

I really like that bow

[jonathan creason]

Oh, I should add that I think it's a great looking bow!  My comment was more for the fact that people say it'll be pretty messy if it goes, and what guy doesn't like watching a good explosion?

[JustinNC]

Does have a beautiful bend to it, dont it.

[elk country rp]

thanks, guys!

the only 2 things wrong with the tiller so far (to me at least) are

1) i can't pull it much further than i am in the pic.....
2) it's a little bit whippy- i think i'll get a smoother shot from it if i get more limb working- and it might last longer


 and for the record- i'm a huge fan of explosions! i'll try to remember the video.

[youngbowyer33]

looks sweet, from what i can see I think the bottom limb is fine and the top limb can bend a little more near the handle. JMO

[bowmo]

Good lookin' tiller. But I agree, I cringe at seeing that wood unbacked and at full draw.

dan

[mullet]

 Sweet! And I agree with Dan on not backing it.