Red Maple MH Style Board Bow

[PlanB]

I've been working on something I've wanted to try for a long time, a 76" Meare Heath style board bow. For this oddball, I wanted to do it in a light weight locally grown white wood with the hope that might keep limb mass lower than the original yew for a little better performance on similar dimensions for my low draw length. I happened to cut some red maple boards last summer and haven't tried a bow with that yet, so that kind of came together.

I was going to do a straight handle for safety sake, but  got caught up half way through roughing it out with a strong desire to do it with the original set back type. I do know what that means in terms of grain violation risk. But I have a few ideas I want to try out to make it more likely to hold together. Since it's a board bow, I'm piecing the handle with a riser. I'm going to try for 50# @ 28" -- I do know the original was likely much more than that, and I'm not making an efficient bow. But I'm doing this for the fun of it, the interest, and just a whole bunch of long time curiosity.

The pics here are just the rough out, there's more shaping all around to come. And even though it's from a board that was air drying, it's still too high moisture to begin tillering. Thought people would be interested in the start of the handle area, anyway.

Pics so far:

[tattoo dave]

Trying out ideas, doing it for the fun, interest, and curiousity...sounds like your on a good path of learning if you ask me! And also sounds like a good attitude about it.

Looks like you're off to a good start. I'm interested to watch the progress on this bow. Good luck with it.

Tattoo Dave

[willie]

Plan B-

it will be interesting to see how a longish and moderate poundage bow will shoot. Low strain with lighter wood might be a good combination.

like the keel-at-the-fades flourish, is the handle concave on the belly side as well?


willie

[Stick Bender]

it will be interesting to see how it shoots at that weight /draw I have a Red oak stave setting around that I was thinking of that design for , I have always liked the O B design but with Red Maple it might have surprising cast.

[blackhawk]

Thats the right design for that wood...it should work. ..id still be careful in tillering and also temper it..have fun n good luck!!!

[PlanB]

Thanks Dave, Willie, Stickbender, blackhawk! Strong believer in experiment and fun (as shown by the present mini-bow builds going on. I really love reading and seeing that stuff! Wish I could participate.)

Wllie in the last pic above, you can see the handle set backin the belly view. The top surface of the handle itself gets another piece of riser glued on. That's why it's dead flat in the photo. The reason I needed two risers instead of just doing it with one was just a change of mind -- originally I was doing the flat, non-set back handle, but just kept thinking about how it wanted to know whether the original setback was do-able. The first riser was right for a straight handle, but the setback handle required cutting right through the back, completely through the original bow blank -- basically converting it into two billets attached by the old riser. So I have to pad out the handle to make it deeper. Total handle depth will finish about 1-1/2". I glued up the additional piece last night, and will shape it today.

The bow is losing about 15 grams a day now in water weight. That's down from 100 g the first day bringing it indoors a couple weeks ago. Though I'm not tillering yet, I can tell this red maple is quite a bit more limber than black birch or even elm was. It doesn't feel weak at all -- but sort of a healthy elastic feel, hard for me to describe.

[Lumberman]

Excited to watch this unfold, remember the newbies trying to learn from you guys so don't assume things are too obvious or unnecessary to explain

[PlanB]

Lumber man, not much more than a newbie here, my friend, and experimenting with a sawn in set back handle, so this might just be a good example of what not to do. 

Okay so explaining what I'm gonna try to do with the obvious extreme grain violations and the fact that the original example is broken across the handle:

First, in laying out the handle, I tried to maintain a 1 in 12 grain angle where all pieces taper to nothing, playing with S curves to do that.

Second, using the original's belly keel to pad out thickness at the bend and distribute the load over a larger area of the belly.

Third, trying to keep the cross sections as thick as possible through the bends, and keeping the glue surfaces as large as I can.

Fourth, tapering and rounding as much as possible, with the above in mind to keep stresses spread out.

Fifth, I'm hoping to band the handle sections, transition, as well as the limbs (which the original had). I will be using hemp fiber, though, which I have on hand. I don't have any rawhide, and besides I think it will stick better as a fiber than just a strip of rawhide. Just a guess on that. I'm hoping that if the bands are placed right, they will contribute to preventing the handle pop-off that may have happened to the original, and prevent splitting. Sinew would probably work as well, but I don't have that either. My guess is hemp fibers will work, though.

sixth, I might (not sure yet) run a strip of fiber up the back part of the handle knuckle, under the bands. Not sure on that one, yet. Have to feel how it looks -- if that makes any sense.....

[PlanB]

Riser on and handle shaped:

[PEARL DRUMS]

Are those limbs glued on separately to the handle?

[bradsmith2010]

its a beautiful shape,, I am a little worried about the limbs coming off the handle,,if you think that might be an issue,, maybe go with a lower poundage,,???

[PlanB]

Pearl Drums, yes, they are now, though they started out as a full length straight blank. Riser added and the center was cut out which separated the two limbs.

I know it looks bad, but that's actually how the original grain lines went on the Meare Heath bow, except it was all cut from a single stave. But essentially it was a board bow with separated limbs in terms of grain violation.

The handle was broken on the original, but not at the inner limb juncture with the handle. It broke in the center of the handle. Possibly because the back of the handle popped off first. If you look at the original limb on the left of the photo linked below you can see the ring lines completely severed from the handle area. The limbs were essentially boards.

http://digitaldigging.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/010-meare-heath-neolithic-bow-reconstruction.jpg

[PEARL DRUMS]

The difference is you are trusting glue to hold it, MH wasn't. I wouldn't pull it back at any draw weight without safety goggles on. I'm just watching out for your eyes and face.

[PlanB]

its a beautiful shape,, I am a little worried about the limbs coming off the handle,,if you think that might be an issue,, maybe go with a lower poundage,,???

Brad, it's definitely a possibility, which is why, as far as I know, people build new versions with a straight handle. But I just had to try it set back per the original.

As far as the weight goes, the few reconstructions are all over the place with regard to weight 40-90 lbs. I'm shooting for 50 lbs. and if my own experience is correct, it'll be 45lbs a few months after it's finished. Assuming it holds together.

[PlanB]

The difference is you are trusting glue to hold it, MH wasn't. I wouldn't pull it back at any draw weight without safety goggles on. I'm just watching out for your eyes and face.

Thanks, Pearl, I will be very cautious. I have a hardhat, too.

There will be banding in that area, too. Which wasn't on the original.