new member's bow builld

[blackhawk]

The best suggestion I can offer you is to forget all the reflex, deflex and recurves for now.  Concentrate your efforts on tillering a flat straight stick for now.  That will prove to be plenty of a challenge for you at this stage of the game.  I know everyone wants to come straight out of the gate with the best bow ever made by mere mortals on there first try.  It don't work like that.  You'll have way better luck by keeping it simple for awhile until you get the basics down pat.  There's no shame in simple bows and they can ( if properly done) outperform the more advanced designs that are only mediocre in execution.  Walk before you run and all that.  Josh

X10.....solid sage advice right there,n I'd take it if I were you

[George Tsoukalas]

Yes, indeed. Great advice. Forget the heating, bending and form stuff and make a bow from as straight a stave as you can find.
White woods like hickory, hop hornbeam and white oak will make a great bow.
Red oak boards as long as they are straight grained will make you a good shooter.
All of the above will make a good DEER hunting bow.
Check my site for more.
Jawge
http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/index.html

[George Tsoukalas]

Yes, indeed. Great advice. Forget the heating, bending and form stuff and make a bow from as straight a stave as you can find.
White woods like hickory, hop hornbeam and white oak will make a great bow. No ring chasing needed.
Red oak boards as long as they are straight grained will make you a good shooter.
All of the above will make a good DEER hunting bow.
Check my site for more.
Jawge
http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/index.html

[thomas74p]

would like to offer my apologies to those who tried to help me in the beginning of the post. I didn't quite understand but now I do. I came off as a  bit of an ass and hardheaded and I wish I had not. please accept my apology. I took the bow out of the jig and  will try to straighten the deflex I put in it back out and hope for the best. thanks for the advice and help. when I get it done I will post up my results and impressions. and some pics.

[thomas74p]

this is'nt my first build. it's just the first heavy bow I've tried that hasn't broke yet. yet at least. I've gone through about 5 staves in 5 years. this is however the best peice of wood I've ever found and it seems like it is gonna do better than any other I've ever made. thats why I was trying to make a recurve and put some reflex in it also. Just want to give this peice of wood all I can. is there a limit to steaming. I mean, will steaming a section more than once harm the wood any more or less. also will it weaken it? I'm gonna have to steam it again to straighten out some of the deflex I put in it. GUNDOC that pic you posted is in fact what I was aiming at. hope I can still achieve that. I don't however feel like I should have so much space between the string and handle. my draw length is only 24.5 inches so I don't want 12 inches between the two. thoughts?

[PEARL DRUMS]

That space is called brace height. Most all bows will fall between 5 and 6" when properly tuned. Its not about what you want to see, its about bow tuning. I wouldn't use steam for anything on your blank. Dry heat will do it all for you with much less damage to the wood.

[thomas74p]

like a hair dryer. most bows I like have had about 5-6 inches of brace height.  that pic just looks like alot more!
like a hair dryer? for dry heat? I also have a heat gun I use in the auto repair shop. it gets pretty hot though.

[huisme]

Heat gun. warm a limb on low, only hitting the belly, not the back. Once I can feel the heat on the back of the bow I switch to high and give my black locust a good slow browning with long sweeps across the whole limb.

[thomas74p]

damn! that sounds a bit hot. I never would have thought that much heat. even for osage? I'll give it a try. I used steam to put the bends in it I already have. hope I didn't weaken it. probly why my last 5 staves have cracked during the tuning process.

[PEARL DRUMS]

I use my heat gun on high and hold it about 3-4" away from the wood sweeping it back and forth over 4-6" area. After about 60-90 seconds the surface will be too hot to touch, that's when you bend and clamp. Then move along to the next 4-6" area until your to the tips, or whatever area you want to stop at. 

[thomas74p]

thanks. I will deffinetly try this. also will try this next year with the other half of that stave. it's still in the pantry and like I said it's the nicest I"ve ever seen.

[DarkSoul]

It seems like you've got a lot to learn. Which is perfectly fine of course, but after five broken bows, you want to gain some confidence and just build a bow that lasts. And I'm sorry to say this, but a 56" osage character stave that you want to heat bend into a reflex or five-curve design is a very poor choice in that respect. You're just making it far too complicated on yourself. And for what reason? Ditch the heat bending and just build a straight bow. And why only 56" with a stiff handle? I know you're going for a low draw length, but you're making a highly stressed shortbow now! Go for a bendy handle with that length, or (my advise) go for a 64" bow. Sure, 56" can be done. But gosh, you're making it hard for yourself! Keep it simple, stupid.

[Stringman]

I'm with Darksoul on this one. The K.I.S.S. approach will be better in the long run. You say your stave is primo, that you've failed 5 times already and we've all read that you are still learning much about this hobby (terms, techniques, & bow design.) if you just want one bow of a particular design then go buy one. But if you want to learn how to build them, in all their varied forms, you're gonna need to crawl before you walk. Do yourself a favor and make a straight stick bend evenly then move on to more difficult designs.

This is the right place to get your questions answered (so long as you're listening,) just make sure to take it slow, post pics, then listen to the advise given. There's more bow building talent represented here than you could ever hope to pay for. Good luck!

[Josh B]

The reason the brace height looks so high is because the bow is only 3 foot long.  Here's the full thread http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,45728.0.html
The brace height is only 4 1/2".
The grown up version looks a little more proportional .
 http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,33979.0.html
However, I still believe you should start simple.  Josh

[thomas74p]

, or (my advise) go for a 64" bow. S.

I don't want a bow thats taller than me