Hickory board bow.

[Dakotian05]

Well, it's certainly been awhile. I got back from teaching abroad in Ecuador for a year and found myself between jobs and places to live. While "living in my parent's basement" as they say, I found my old shop more or less how I left almost 10 years ago and this message board....pretty much unchanged in that time as well. I decided to pick up an old hobby. I'm an adult now so I benefit from the patients of one and wanted to make up for all the times I cut corners as a teenager. The end results took a lot longer, but are much more satisfying. Here's the result. This is 66 inches tip to tip and about 55#. This is my first time really working with hickory, it's truly is an amazing wood. The riser is carved from an apple branch and the tips are IPE that I still had laying around. It's a fairly basic project, but it's a pleasure to shoot.
Enjoy the pictures, I'll be curious to see how many user names I still recognize.

~Andrew

[Pat B]

Welcome back, Andrew. The tiller looks pretty good to me. Well done.   
 How's your sister, all grown up I guess.

[Hawkdancer]

Andrew,
You will find a big bunch of newbies, as well!  The "bow bug" has been busy biting lots of folks of all ages.  Looks like you haven't lost the techniques.  Welcome back!
Hawkdancer

[George Tsoukalas]

Welcome back. Bow looks great!

[rps3]

Welcome back. Good looking bow, how about an unbraced picture.

[Eric Krewson]

A little stiff from the fade to mid limb on the top limb, the bottom limb looks great.

[BowEd]

Welcome back Dakotian05.Nice bow from such a long lay off.

[backtowood B2W]

Nice bow!
I think bow making will never be boring, great you found back.

[gutpile]

Im worried the handle is gonna pop off the way it is glued... just a matter of time.... gut

[Pat B]

As it is now I think the handle riser is safe. With the stiffer inner limb the handle area shouldn't bend and the handle riser should be safe.

[Dakotian05]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Right, I was also a bit worried about the handle which is why I was a bit careful about taking wood out of the middle. Is there a better way to glue it on? It's also a bit shorter than I originally envisioned but I made it as tall as I was, and I'm still short. Hey Pat, good to hear from you. I still have that mulberry bow you sent me awhile back.  It still works. Sisters are doing great, ones a nurse, the other's a paramedic. Also, here's the unbraced picture.
I guess I'm starting to remember how much I missed this hobby.

[gutpile]

well what you need to do is have some of the board in the fade... in other words there should be board rising to the fade at handle ... somebody will post a pic Im sure... the way yours is the board is flat with no rise and handle just glued to the board... fade should start at the board not at handle..only take 1/8 inch or so to take the stress off glue joint..but as pointed out since the bend doesnt occur near handle might be ok...

[Bayou Ben]

I got a pic that may help...Welcome back, and nice bow btw. 

[Dakotian05]

I see, thank you for the analysis, I do appreciate it. looks like I have some homework before I start a new project. I have a few questions (which may warrant a new thread). The board was already bending when I bought it. So I was worried that if I took off too much wood from the center, the end result would have been too light since I would have to remove a significant amount more throughout the limb. So to maintain a 55# to 60# range it turned out a bit whip-ended. So my two questions,
1. Was that a valid concern? Is there something I didn't understand?
2. If so, was that a good trade off in terms of performance? Would a 60# whip-ended bow perform better than say, a...40# evenly bending bow? Of course, there's plenty of variables, but as a general principal?

I'd love to hear any thoughts on the issue.