Short D bow question (birch D bow buildalong)

[zoomer]

bassman,
Thank you for the pics. With time, I'll have all the setup. But for now, I'll use the stovetop for heat treating. Right now, I am rasping the stave to width.

[bassman]

Good luck ,and stay with it.

[bassman]

zoomer, I just finished, and shot the sister stave bow this morning. Profile is much better. Same specs with same arrow. This bow shot 153 fps.  Inch of reflex, but had to do multiple belly heat treat to get it. Still a little wonky.I think because , both bows were made from a large sapling, and not a large tree trunk. Both bows will work fine for deer sized animals at 15 yds, and in. Here are some pics.

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bassman, your bow is nice. I see you have a long working limb and the tips are a bit wide. I've heard about the long non-working outer limbs (for low string angle) and the low tip mass for efficiency. But as I see, you haven't included all these tricks and your bow still shoots great!

I think this is not how build alongs are made. I guess you just invest all your time on this for a couple of consecutive days and finish it fast. Still working on it. Been a bit busy. Took me 3 months from tree to my first bow (and I quick dried!). This one (I hope) will be faster to make, but I am slow without a vise (which I may get soon). Bear with me.

[bassman]

The bow only weighs 14 ozs. with the string at 58 inches long, so I don't concern my self with mass with this wood. Once I get 1 on the tillering tree I get it finished quick. This is the 4th one in three weeks. The other 2 are Elm. I am retired ,so their are days I work on them from early morning to late at night. If you get you bow tillered right with no set at 28 inch draw you should have a good shooter. My last Osage bow was 1 and a quarter at the fades to less than half inch at the tips,45 lbs. at 26 inches, and 60 inches long. That wood will handle skinny bows, and it does cut heavy mass which that wood is. Keep  us posted.

[zoomer]

Sorry it takes me so long. Got myself a vise. The tips and the handle are almost finished. I will not form them entirely now, as this stave has serious string alignment problems. It's 68 inches long and the narrow tips are 9 inches long (perhaps I will cut an inch off from each side later). The tips don't have to be dead stiff I think, or a least some portion of them. The handle is 1.18 inches wide (3 cm). The limbs are a little over 2 inches after removing the tool marks. As I said earlier, it has significant deflex.

I want to bend it out to some reflex during heat treating  (should I? How much reflex?). Now I think I should proceed to floor tillering.

Also, how can I secure a bow on a caul during heat bending without clamps? Tie a knot? Wouldn't it come loose? And should the caul be as wide as the bow or a narrower one will do?

[SLIMBOB]

String alignment will be your biggest obstacle.  If you get the levers narrow enough to matter, and the alignment is off, it will be a problem.  You should more than likely get all the bends done in one session, meaning remove the deflex and fix the alignment at the same time.  You can do one limb at a time if you want.  I typically do. No need to get fancy on the caul.  A 2X turned on its side is enough.  I would get that done as soon as the bow is flexing some, before going much further.  I use clamps and cant imagine doing this without them.  Get creative I suppose.  Get the heat treating done while it is secured in place as well.

[zoomer]

Forgot the image.
Slimbob, thank you for the help.
This stave came from a nice, straight tree. My first bow is as gnarly as this one. Both of them have some pattern: first it reflexes right from the handle and then proceeds to a greater deflex.