Hickory flatbow for my father

[briarjumper12]

Here's some photos of the latest bow I have completed. It's 70" NTN. 1 1/2" wide at the fades with just a slight taper to midlimb (stave dictated that). Then tapers from midlimb to 1/2" 6" from tip, and last 6" are straight 1/2" but a little thicker to keep them from working. I marked it 48lb @ 29" but it pulls safely to 30".
Finished in many thin coats of true oil sanded 600 between coats. Tips are walnut/osage/walnut.
Any constructive criticism is welcome, especially on tiller.

[Bowman]

Like it. Cool. Rough bow. :-)

[rossfactor]

Tiller is excellent. Nice finish Work.  I like the bare handle with the skin arrow pass. The bow has an elegant, minimalist look.

Great work.

Gabe

[danny f]

great looking bow im sure your dad will love it. i like the tip overlays what wood is it?

[Trapper Rob]

Nice like the arrow rest

[George Tsoukalas]

Looks great! Nice job. Jawge

[lesken2011]

Nice job! I really like the strike plate, too!!

[raghorns]

Yep...very nice! Your father will be proud of the bow and his son.
Lyle

[NTProf]

WOW! Not THAT is a bow!

[half eye]

Hey bj,
     very nice bow right there, sure it will make yer dad proud......they got a habit of showin-off stuff from the kids,eh?   Good for ya sir, enjoy him while ya can cause you'll miss him someday.
rich

[blackhawk]

Nice hick stick there 

[sharpend60]

I like the bow. I like the tips, the arrow pass and finish work.

But since you asked for a critique.

(I sat through many of my wife critiques for art school, terrible events... You spend hours and hours and some schmuck rips you open, in the name of 'art'. Most of the time it was minor, personal opinion and inflammatory... Not my intention in the least)

You possibly could have got away with a little less length but then again I dont know what the purpose of the bow is.
If the bow gets shot alot, the arrow pass; which is awesome, will wear quickly.
And last but not least, the bottom limb could be just a bit stiffer. You can see it is bending a bit more via the mortar line on the wall behind you. How you are gripping the bow could affect how the bottom limb looks, it may not be weak, possibly just a visual.

Just remember, I like the bow.
I dont usually post unless I do...

Oh and one last thing,
your photos are good, composition wise. Except one or two...Composition is an important thing in my home.
Damn you art school!

[briarjumper12]

Thanks Sharpend. I appreciate the comments. I agree that the bottom limb looks a little weaker in the pic. That's funny too  because the bow has 1/8 positive tiller. Might be something going on at full draw that brace tiller measurements didn't tell me about.
I also agree that arrow pass will wear quickly if shot a lot. I doubt if Dad will shoot it much. He's got a bad shoulder and during construction I had him come over shoot it while I was tillering it. I wanted to take the wieght down some more but he didn't want me to, wants to hunt with it, he says. If he gets to shootin' much I'll put on some very small, thinned down leather patches on the contact points and that will remedy that.
Could have definately gotten away with a little less length but Dad has long draw and has done put one my bow outta commission by consistanly overdrawing it. So overbuilt this one so it would last him.
I know composition well, but sometimes I get lazy. I am actually quite capable of producing art with my camera when I am in the right zone.  Thank you a bunch for honesty...it's refreshing.

[sharpend60]

Its is good to error on the side of caution when build building for someone else. Thats a fact!

I was thinking, perhaps you could add a super durable finish to the arrows pass, Massey finish maybe?
It is easy to do and might preserve the snake skin.
I however have no experience with Massey finish but would expect it to hold up quite well, given it is epoxy and all.

Or even a small CA finish, takes some serious buffing but is a real small area.
Try one test piece to see if you like the results.

In regards to the tiller...

A deep pistol grip (high wrist, Asbell style) will prevent the bow from tilting downward during the draw.
I wonder how many bows show a weak bottom when in actuality they are just rotating counter clockwise or away from the archer..


Bow building is hard don't let others lead you to believe otherwise.

[Badly Bent]

Nice bow Briar, like everything about it. Looks great in style and finish plus braced profile and full draw are right on. Nice work.
Your Dad has himself a top notch bow there.
Greg