I started a hackberry bow yesterday, and thought I'd turn it into a build-along. The stave (which I forgot to take any photographs of) was acquired through eBay and the seller did a fairly sloppy job of debarking it. For that reason the bow will have to be backed, probably with rawhide. Nonetheless it was very straight and had no knots on either the back or belly. I cut the stave down to 65 inches, and laid out a long-handled pyramid bow. I roughed the bow out earlier this afternoon, leaving about 1/4 inch of extra width around my design so I can adjust its layout if the wood warps in the early stages of bending or during heat treating.
The bow will be 65 inches long tip-to-tip. It will be 2 inches wide at the widest part of the limbs, tapering down to 1/2 inches wide at the tips. I will probably glue on horn overlays, and carve in pin nocks. The handle will be 1 inch wide and will be rigid. Handle is 4 inches long, with another 4 inches for each fade to yield a nice gentle transition form handle to the widest parts of the limbs. I like this design a lot, as it pushes the bending portion of the limbs out away from the handle a bit. I plan on tillering the final 8 inches of each limb so they don't bend.
More to come...
