First bow: Ash flatbow 25#@32

[Oni]

Hello Bowyer's,

Thanks to this site, with all the comments and questions I found here, I was able to create my very first bow. I'm very proud off it  . I have to admit that I had two failed attempts before. I blame it at a bad grain board (white oak). I knew it was far from perfect but I was just to stubborn and wanted to try it right away. Now I found a good local wood dealer who was really interested in my project. He suplied me with a perfect ash board out off which I made this bow. (I already ordered a next board  )

Although I was aiming for a 30# bow it came out at 25#. Since I am tall with long arms I made an 72 inch bow ntn to make it easier to get to 32inch draw. I found this formula on the net that supposedly comes out of the bowyer's  bible. If I follow that formula i should reduce the tips by about 1.3 inch on each side. This way I should reach my target weight of 30#.

My question now is, would my bow be able to take the extra bend if I cut 1.3 inch of the tips? Or should I leave it as it is?
To my eye the tiller is perfect (I used the gismo), but if anyone spots a fault please let me know.

At the handle the bow is 1.7 inch and it tapers to 1/2 inch at the tips.
The string alignment is a little off centre but i did that somewhat on purpose so the string lines up with the bow rest.
There is a set of 3 inches and 0.7 inch string follow. I thought about heat treading it but I haven't got any experience with it and I don't want to mess the bow up. So that's out of the question. I read on this site that you should heat tread in advance so maybe I'll try that on my next project.

I don't really notice any hand shock but I haven't got much experience shooting a bow. I've fired about a 100 arrows now and to me it shoots accurate and smooth.

My question again, should I shorten the tips or leave it like this?
Maybe a side question: I live in Belgium near Brussels, does anyone know a Bowyer in my vicinity?

Many thanks in advance 


Oni

[mikekeswick]

First off well done on making a bow 
You should leave it well alone as shortening it will increase the strain on the wood and increase set. The tiller looks good. A couple of things with your handle - it is dodgy to cut shelves in as it weakens the bow quite a bit due to violating the lateral grain. On your next one (!) you should make the transistion from handle to working limb an arc so that the riser piece ends in a feather edge which blends into the limb. This will help to spread the forces here much better.
Again well done 32 inch draw wood bows aren't easy to make! Also you should definately try heat treating on your next one if it's ash - it will make a much better bow with less set.

[wizardgoat]

Nice work on your first shooter, I agree with all of Mikes advice.

[Del the cat]

Very nice tiller (that's the hard bit), but ditto to the advice... you'll find you own style and get more subtle with grips, shelves and stuff.
Well done.
Del

[Oni]

First of, thanks for the comments 

Just want to make sure I understand it here. Do you mean the tapper at the handle should be longer (like 3inch for example) instead of the 1 1/2 inch I have now and it should be rounded smooth into the limb of the bow. And do you mean only on the upper side of the handle, above the arrow rest, or at both sides?

I remeasured how far I pull the string and I could make my next bow 31 inch. Hé, that wins me an inch 

mikekeswick: Why the exclamation mark in your sentence: "On your next one (!) you should make the..."?

Before I start my next ash project I'll be sure to read up on heat treading a bow. My eventual goal is to make a beautiful recurve bow but that's still somewhat to challenging for now I believe. The recurve idea is mainly for aesthetic reasons and it gives me a goal to go for 

I'm going to leave the bow as it is then and give it a nice finish. I still have to decide if I'll give it some darker colour... . I'll post a picture when it's finished.

Cheers

[JW_Halverson]

mikekeswick: Why the exclamation mark in your sentence: "On your next one (!) you should make the..."?


Cheers

I have the cheek to answer for Mike, simply because it is a pretty obvious answer for those of us that have been around this block a few times....

Because these things are a lot like a drug.  Oh sure, you always say you are only going to experiment with it, just the one time, it's not like you are wanting to become a bow addict.  But you will, you just will! 

You are going to start a new bow soon, if you haven't already!  Welcome to BowAnon!  My name is John and I am a bowyer addict.

[JW_Halverson]

Sorry, forgot to mention that those are, without a doubt, the COOLEST tips I have seen in here in a good long time!

[bubby]

I'm pretty sure he means a smoother transition in the fades to the limb

[bubby]

And those are pretty cool tips

[LittleBen]

Nice work.

I'm with Del on this on. Great tiller, and thats the hard part.

The rest like handles style etc. will improve with practice.

The transition from the handle into the limb is critical though because if it's not smooth like bubby showed, then the handle may pop off because the glue joint can fail. This is more of a problem on bow that are heavier in draw weight or long in nock to nock length, but can happen to any bow.

[bowandarrow473]

Looks like you got yourself a nice litte bendy stick there! Beutiful tiller. I would say thats one of the best first bows i've ever seen. Don't mind the transition to the handle, you can fix that in a later bow. For now just go out and enjoy shooting your first bow!