To the contributing members of this forum, My name is Steve, and I would like to thank you all for sharing your experience and knowledge with others here in this place. I don't know if this is the right spot for this entire post but it seems somewhat appropriate as the following is the whole reason for me being here now.
I'm an auto-body repair tech by trade (30+ yrs.), but I am a man of many other skills. At work the call me 'MacGyver' because I can make or fix nearly anything I set my mind to with very little exception. Among my skills is the art of flint knapping which has naturally led me to make my first bow. I have had bows in the past but they have all been store bought, mass manufactured bows. I stand 6' 8" tall and have a natural draw length of 37", so as you can imagine nothing off the shelf works well for a man of my stature be it a bow or an arrow.
I have a habit of challenging my own knowledge and skills, and this adventure is not unlike any other in where I adhere to my habit true to form. Having never made a bow before I have chosen to fashion my first bow in the style of a very slender Penobscot with an elvish hint, and to construct this bow primarily from Brazilian ironwood.
Here are the stats;
Main bow:
No heat bending of limbs.
Length from tip to tip - 72 1/4", from knock to knock - 71"
String length - 67 1/2" (braced)
Full draw - 37" @ 26lb.
Rawhide backing
Polished bovine horn tip overlays
Secondary bow:
Heat bending, deflexed at both ends of the handle and at the ends of both upper and lower limbs. Unbraced, the tips are raised 4" from a flat plain. (if that makes any sense)
Length from tip to tip - 62", from knock to knock - 60"
Full draw - 13 1/2" @ 32lb.
Rawhide backing
Polished bovine horn tip overlays
Overall Bow:
Full draw 35"-36" @ 60lb-63lb
All tip overlays are reinforced with 1/8" dowel pins made from white tail deer antler, The union of the main and secondary bows at the handle is also reinforced with 3/16" pins made from the same material.
Titebond III is the adhesive I chose for constructing this bow. While filing and sanding the antler for the dowel pins I created quite a bit of antler dust which I saved and incorporated into the adhesive for the union of the two bows. This mixture of glue and antler dust became thicker and more manageable and filled the minor air space created at the joint location by heat bending of the secondary bow.
There are polished bovine horn overlays at the back and belly sides of the handle.
Bow failure:
The lower limb on the secondary bow failed after some use. The problem so far as I can tell is two fold; 1) The grain in the ironwood crossed from one side of the lower limb to the other in an area no longer than 3", and 2) the rawhide backing was not strong enough to hold down the grain under the stress of bending, therefore failure was inevitable.
I now have this bow deconstructed and I am making the necessary repairs. I have removed all of the rawhide backing and I am now looking for some cured pecan which is very similar to hickory and readily available in my area. I will reconstruct my bow and return with the results.
