white oak shorty molle - finished!

[H Rhodes]

Building a white oak shorty molle.  These are my first pics of it and it isn't finished yet, but I am so excited by it, I had to go ahead and post.  It looks sort of hingy right out of the fades and I have already tillered past what you are seeing in these pics.  I will post a full draw and finished pics soon.  The surprising thing about this bow is that it is 51 1/2" NTN and I have pulled it to 45lb @ 27" and it has taken zero set.  Heat treated white oak continues to amaze me.  50/50 ratio on the levers/working limb.  Bendy handle and shoots great. More photos to come. 

[lesken2011]

Ooooh, Howard. I can't wait to see the final product!!

[sharpend60]

Ive got a white oak bow coming along nicely also.

It's my first oak bow, I gotta say I'm digging it.

My heat treat process leaves something to be desired, do what ya can with what ya got right?
Ive got 25" draw so far, 1" set, 62" stiff handle. Not so bad once you see this stave...

What species are ya working?
Ive got a buncha Q. Gambelli

My only complaint is how hard it is...

[half eye]

Crap Howard, leave ya alone for awhile and look what ya been up to, dang. That has to be a quick little bugger and a 51" mollegabet ought to make a damned fine huntin bow....
rich

[Dean Marlow]

Looks like your left limb is pretty stiff. Looks like it is doing most of it's bending right out of the fade. I think white oak is a highly over looked bow wood. Thanks for sharing.

[H Rhodes]

Thanks for looking guys. 

Sharpend, I have only worked with true white oak, quercus alba, and only from staves split from 4" - 8" diameter trees.  My heat treating process is pretty crude...  all done over the kitchen stove.  Good luck with your bow. 

Yeah, Rich, I think this one has your name on it. 

Dean, you are right as rain.  I had to take a good bit more off that limb to get it bending more to match the other.  It looks some better now...  I have never built such a short, bendy, molle style bow before, and I am not sure if the tiller looks right or not.  I will post you a finished pic pretty soon.  I know it shoots fast and has absolutely zero set, so I am starting to get happy!

[blackhawk]

I know you've tillered past the pic u showed....but never ever pull that far with it showing that much hinging...it looked pretty hinged real bad in my opinion.

This is funny cus I am working on a 52" bendy molly out of hhb right now(literally now). But your further ahead than me... I'm aiming for 27" with mine

[ionicmuffin]

I agree with blackhawk, its looking like its got too much bend near the handles and too little closer to the beginning of the lever. if it were mine i would make sure that its got an even arc across the entire working limb. think of it this way, if you were tillering it without the levers(so just pretend you cut off the levers) and have it bending in an elliptical shape, if you can get it like that then it will have much less strain on the handle area.

[ionicmuffin]

this is what im talking about, to me it looks like these two areas with red are stiff, and the areas without are bending too much. Do some work in paint until you get a nice picture of whats not bending enough, it will serve you well to do so.

[ionicmuffin]

Heres an example of what im talking about. its very close to matching the bend. which is what you want. i hope that made sense. EDIT. If im wrong then call me out guys. Dont want to lead the guy astray. I believe this is what blackhawk is talking about.

[H Rhodes]

I agree with you wholeheartedly.  I should have been more cautious with my tillering.  This one will probably finish out with less than perfect looking tiller.  That said,  I  can't say enough about this species of wood.  It shows no set and I don't think I could break it, if I tried....  I honestly, threw caution to the wind and bent the hell out of it early on.  Maybe some kind of morbid experiment to see what this material will take.   It seems to be very durable.  Shoots good too.  I appreciate the advice and your diagram shows exactly what a molle should look like.  This little bow may not look just like that in the end...  I rushed it some for fear that I would have a half built bow bugging me, while I am trying to deer hunt next week.    I find myself really advertising white oak for some reason.  I guess I would say, "look at the hinges, the flat spots, the mistakes,..... and in spite of that,  it is a 51" hunting weight bow that pulls 27" with zero set."   I think if some of you experts could build a few bows out of white oak, you would  find that it rates right up there with the very best of bow wood.   

[ionicmuffin]

i agree, ive never used white oak, but its so far looking like its an amazing bow wood. Im glad you see what is wrong with it, and im sure you will apply that to your next molle. i really like white oak so far, if i can ever get my hands on some i would work with it.

[H Rhodes]

Thanks for the advice.  I haven't built enough of these molles to be real comfortable with tillering them.  This one bends through the handle and looks a little different.  Your diagram was very helpful.   I will post some finished pics in the next few days.  It is getting some finishing work right now and actually looks a site better drawn now than it did in those photos. 

If you can get your hands on a stave of white oak, give it a deep heat treating and don't be shy about bending it...  it is tough stuff and once toasted, takes very little set. 

[ionicmuffin]

No problem. i figured letting you see a visual comparison between yours and one that was a good looking tiller would help, i also figured adding the ellipse would give a clearer picture as to what was going on.

The only problem for my is finding someone to trade the white oak to me. once i can find someone to do that with i will probably be very happy with it.

[Badly Bent]

Hey Howard doing more white experimenting huh? Will be interesting to see how this one finishes out, be sure to post her up I'd like to see how it works in this design.
You know I cut some white oak this summer and just finished one bow from it and the second is ready for long string tiller after a few more days in the hotbox. I agree it is quite different than any wood I've worked before. It feels very elastic and smooth drawing on the one bow I finished. Started taking set so I deeeeeeep heat treated it and its holding the reflex very well. Also like you said seems that
you couldn't break it if you wanted to. I'm eager to finish my second one.
Greg