my new hackberry 54# recurve.

[richardzane]

ok,i'm gonna try to send four pics here..doesn't always work.

after patching that first hickory bow,and then making three more fair ta middlin bows
here's new Hackberry recurve 54# i'm really happy with. arrows fly flat and fast.
love this bow.
the texture on the back is ripply textured sapwood.the limbs were heated
over an open fire after being rubbed in lard...(smelled like moms frybread)
and bent (fairly) carefully in a wood-jawed vice.
the twist bow string is a three ply of 5 strings each,a little trickier than two ply,but its rounder.
You know which bow is your favorite when the others get ignored.
Someone on this forum said hackberry made a good recurve ...so i thought i'd give it a try
and turns out they were right,even if my recurve is slight.

[gstoneberg]

Looks very nice.  I especially like that braced picture.  Congrats.

George

[triggerfinger]

love the look of that string

[half eye]

Looks like an excellent deer killer to this old man.....she's got some real nice lines.
rich

[BowJunkie]

That is a sweet looking Hackberry. 
Always said Hackberry is under rated.
By the way, what is the draw length, or did I miss it?
Excellent job Richard, Beautiful bow.
Johnny

[peshikthe]

thats a beauty for sure, looks real nice.

[Gordon]

That bow turned out super. I especially like the full draw picture.

[druid]

Good bow.

[ErictheViking]

very cool, really nice job

[Elktracker]

Very nice work!!!

[richardzane]

tizhameh! (thanks)
for the great comments !...its my 5th attempt bowmaking.

Johnny, the hackberry bow is  60" tip to tip unstrung  , 28"+ draw length.
it does follow the string some, like hickory,
but recurve limbs seem to be holding . tryin to shoot 30 or 40 arrows an evening.

want to make almost everything i need for good hunting bow(s) right from the land the deer live on
here (except for B50 string! - some Wyandot ancestors used bear gut)

[BowJunkie]

Hey Rich,, I am working on a hack berry now, 64'' tip to tip and shooting for 55 lbs, it had some prop twist on both tips, so I straightened them out.
I am planning on slightly flipping the tips also, after seeing your bow.
My question is did you use dry heat, steam or boil the tips?
Also how much of a bend did you put in the tips?
Again that is a Killer profile.
Johnny

[soy]

Nice job..I've got to say you have me wanting to try out a piece of hac.

[richardzane]

Johnny,
I had a little propeller twist on mine too and found that using dry heat
recurving helped take the twist out as well.
first rubbed the limb down in lard, and turned it,and waved it over a small fire
till the lard started to sizzle.

I had my wood-plated table-vice ready with a piece of rounded wood also ready
so while the limb was hot i clamped the tip down against the rounded piece of wood
and slowly pulled the bow back over it....just holding it in position till it was cool to touch.
 the first time i used too small a diameter stake and it dented it,(not to bright!)
but i've a curved block of wood. much better....
so its almost like bending pipe.

[BowJunkie]

I will give it a try and see how it turns out
Thanks