So, being fond of Ocean spray wood, but not able to find many long pieces of decent quality I decided to try a take-down design using short billets. As dropping $$$ on a sleeve was not appealing, I tried a method I saw elsewhere on the internet:
http://paleoplanet69529.yuku.com/reply/303271/Re-Raw-Hide-Scarf-tube-take-down-red-oak-bow#.UyYnJoUXfPtI know some people on this site have been wondering about this idea, so here are the results of my experiment, even it did come in way underweight
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Since the ocean spray was only about 1/2" thick after I flattened it, the handle is 3 pieces of wood, laminated (poorly, but they dont seem to flex) using TB2. Two layers of ocean spray, bottom is oak.
Each side of the laminated handle piece is cut and flattened to a slope of about 12 degrees. (1 1/4" deep by 5 1/2" long). Getting them to fit flush and flat was a little challenging, but not terrible. The holes I drilled through the middle after I was finished with the rawhide, about 1 1/2" apart. 1/4" bolts go through the holes as a backup to the rawhide sleeve. They also keep the alignment straight.
As you can see, the handle is crazy ugly, slathered with yellow tightbond and not a graceful line to be found. That said, it was cheap and keeps the whole thing together well. Basically I wet-molded thin rawhide around the handle, when both halves were taped together in position. After it dried partially I took it off and removed the tape, then put the rawhide sleeve back on to dry fully. After that I drilled the bolt holes and then wrapped the whole thing in linen cord, set in more TB2. After drying, the setup is quite strong.
Brace is a bit uneven, but for whatever reason it seems to even out at full draw.
Around 63" ntn, 1 3/16" at the widest. 30# @26". I toasted the belly a bit and left the bark on except for where I had to patch a hinge with some nettle fiber, which was another experiment. I haven't done a very fine tillering job here, or put on any finish. I don't think this one will see too much use, but it was a fun, and moderately successful experiment. I hope to make a 50 pounder with this design soon. I believe it would be safe with pretty high weights, although I might go for a slightly deeper handle.
