New project: Hornbeam "lever bow"

[FilipT]

Blue beech? First time I heard about it, just looked on wikipedia, it has similar uneven bark. How are HHB and HB related when they are separate genera?

[PatM]

Blue beech? First time I heard about it, just looked on wikipedia, it has similar uneven bark. How are HHB and HB related when they are separate genera?

 Same family.

[Danzn Bar]

@DBar
They are amazing! Especially the first, even though I like the recurves of the second just a bit more. How much thicker your levers are then the limb thickness? I am interested at what thickness levers stop bending.

Limb thickness has to do with the wood type eg. osage can be thinner than hackberry.
It also has to do with limb width,  the wider the limb/lever the thinner it can be and the narrower the limb/lever the thicker the limb/lever will be.
therefore, pending the width of the bending limb and static lever it could be different.  Sorry for not being able to answer your question specifically.
Maybe someone else can explain it better....
DBar

[BowEd]

Stalker....Making levers narrower no matter what the type of wood used is to make it as light as possible but still stay stiff to get the best out of them.Less dense woods will have to be thicker than more dense.That''s something you will have to finesse while tillering the type of wood your making a bow out of most times towards the end of tillering is where I do that.Horn beam will be stiff out there at 3/4"" wide and 5/8" thick.Your tips 10" to the tip don't get much stress out there.Slowly reduce width even more then.It can take a little practice but if it's your first lever bow I'd leave enough out there to start with.

[BowEd]

Here's some pics of what I mean.These are only 10" levers on 63" and 64" bows.I'd say a close 60/40 percentage working limb to lever ratio lever bows.On the left is osage.On the right is elm.A 11/32" arrow shaft between them as a reference.You'll notice the elm that's less dense is same width but a little thicker than the osage.In order for a lever bow to do it's job correctly they've got to be lighter weight on the tips.

[FilipT]

Aha, I get it. As I said before this is all rough and I have enough wood to remove when the bow is dry. I was inspired by Thimo's elm bow:

http://paleoplanet69529.yuku.com/topic/19175/ShapeShifting-Elm-From-green-to-mean-FullDRAW?page=1#.V_NGPPSBolQ

Looks little different then most mollegabet I see and I like that design more.

[BowEd]

I see.That is a very nice designed heavy bow.Inspiration is the driving force for the best work.I would'nt enjoy shooting it though.A bit too heavy for me and my purposes for a bow.

[FilipT]

How should I make nocks on this type of bow? I want regular nocks, cut at 45 degrees angle but as levers will be recurved I don't know if that will be good for the bow.

[bubby]

Stalker as far as thickness taper i have been building a pyramid/molly recurve quite a bit and the thickness starts out even then i just tiller to get the right bend. Photobucket is down for maint right now or I'd post some pics

[FilipT]

postimage works good

[bushboy]

I use this style of nocks for every design.

[bushboy]

From the front

[FilipT]

How deep and wide this groove is? Have you ever encountered slipping?

[loon]

Beautiful!
Looks kinda like nocks on the magyar bows
Very nice shape

[Del the cat]

Sweet 
Del