Started(and finished) my first Hickory selfbow

[Cardboard_Duck]

Well, I took blackhawks advice and ran it through a wood chipper and I am currently grilling dinner with whats left of the bow... 






The handle is only roughed out and will not stay "that" thick. I'll just keep at it and post some pics when I'm done. I just wish I would have laid it out a little differently so I could have used that knot as an arrow rest.

[George Tsoukalas]

With the knot there make sure the handle doesn't bend especially if you cut through it. I'd leave it but it does look lie you can take about an 1/8" off. Jawge

[Buckeye Guy]

Don't you be roasting yard bird with that stick !!
It will make a nice bow ,and if the knot is sound ,as in no junk in it, and the handle is non bendy there is no reason to worry about cutting thru it !!
Now if it was that inferior Osage stuff ?!!!
Who wants to eat old dead birds anyway ?!!
Have fun !!
Guy

[Stingray45]

I'm with Pappy on not tillering it much farther than he's going to draw. Alot of people think they draw farther than they do. I'm 6' tall and have pretty long arms, I anchor in the corner of my mouth and I typically draw about 26.5""-27". So that being the case I typically pull my bows to 27"-27.5" sometimes I'll pull it 5-10 times at 28". I just do that to give myself the confidence that if I would over draw for any reason, because I'm excited in the woods or whatever that the bow shouldn't snap on me. If he draws 26" I'd tiller it out to that, pull it to 27" 5-10 times and then just leave it.

~Barry

[Sidewinder]

I don't think I would be too worried about a knot in the handle, just so long as it stays out of the fades. I always just ignore em and do what I want to with it when its in the handle area of a stiff handled bow, but like I said, as long as its not in the fades.  I would think you can get your draw weight with those dimensions. A little heat treatment might help knock down any set as well so long as your tiller is pretty even before you start stressing it too much.   Danny

[Cardboard_Duck]

I put on some tip overlays today and did a little scraping. Got it on the short string and worked it for a while. I am still undecided on what on want to do to the handle though.


I also straightened it a little, it might need a tad more...


It still has some natural reflex


 I think I should make my weight (#40-45)... I hope.

[JW_Halverson]

To quote Teddy Roosevelt on his first trip to Africa...."Safari so good!"

I've got high hopes for this bow.

[Cardboard_Duck]

Well... After some "learning experiences" I am almost ready to put a finish on. I thought everything was going smoothly until for what ever reason it took some set. I was taking tillering slow and never pulled it passed my target weight, but I didn't heat treat the belly... and when I was tillering it was rather humid out.

So I flipped the tips




But they didn't want to stay... So, I put some underlays on. (first time trying this)






I put a little arrow pass in.


I still have to do some finish sanding, put on a handle wrap (thinking twisted jute) and seal it.

[Cloudfeather]

Looks pretty smooth to me. Gonna be a beauty once it's sealed, I'm sure.

[BowEd]

I did some underlays on a working recurved hedge once with horn and it worked fine.I got in a hurry dry heating the recuves in and cracked it.I'm thinking you steamed the flip on the tips.If you would of heat tempered them later with the heat gun on your steaming form they would never have pulled out guarantee it.
If you get more familiar with using a heat gun you can do wonders with it on hickory.

[RyanY]

Judging from the pics it looks like it took set mostly around the middle third of the limb. As narrow as it is there it's no wonder it took set. With that taper you need to get the wood near the fades working more so the stress is more evenly distributed along the limb. Flipping tips will actually put more stress on the limb than before because you reduce the amount of working limb you had to begin with.

[Cardboard_Duck]

I only used a heat gun for the bends and I did toast the underside of the curve on the tips, I just think there wasn't enough wood there to hold them in place.

I will take a few more scrapes near the fades to see if I can get them bending a bit more. This is my first time working with hickory and I have learned a lot from it, I', happy so far with this one though

[SLIMBOB]

I like it. Ryoon was right from the get go, a bit narrow.  I would get it bending closer to the fades, heat and straighten the limbs while tempering.  Might improve it some.  A little set is always acceptable to me.  Some would argue preferable.

[Cardboard_Duck]

Tiller looks good to my inexperienced eyes

[Cardboard_Duck]

Well I finished it, I hope he likes it...