Got my third bow done. Things have brightened up in general, plus I had a quiet afternoon shooting in and enjoying this bow.
It is 64 inches long and pulls 48 pounds at 27 inches draw.
It's made from a thin plank of bl from an runout split that had a pretty reflex. When I removed the sapwood, however, that reflex disappeared, the wood bent back and even had a little deflex in what is now the lower limb.
plus, there was only a thin slat of heartwood I got, about three rings deep, just as thick as it is now in the handle area. The tree had been about 10 years old, growth had been quick and there was virtually only latewood.
So I glued on a branch of yew to make handle. It had been lying around in my workshop since november, yet, after I had cut it to size, i developed radial cracks from drying after it was glued on
I also put on some tip overlays from the same piece of branch. I hope it holds up, especially since I also feel I should have had the riser protrude an bit further into the limbs. And this is my frist glueline as well. So maybe I should wear a helmet and gloves...
The bl was nice wood. A bit brittle, lighter than I expected, but with pretty straight grain and fat rings. And after both tillering and shooting 100 arrows (well, actually it was only 5 arrows that I shot 20 times each
and those look quite shabby now) it has taken almost no set, maybe 2/5. There are a couple of knots, two of them in the outer upper limb, so this area became a bit stiff. The deflex in the lower limb scared me because I have already ruined a bow with unevenly flexed limbs in the tillering, but I went slow and it came out ok. The grain had h slight bend over the entire lenght, which I kept. This resulted in a off-center stringline, and this the resulted in a drop-shaped limb cross section. It does not twist noticeably, however.
After the shooting today I've put on a layer of beeswax. It was hot and dry a while, but now that's gonna change. Thunderstorm is hovering over!
I'm very pleased with how it shoots, by the way.
So here's your pics:
