Hazel 3000 - 61"ntn - 48# @ 27"

[simk]

Hi Folks

Back in December I was about to tiller a Hazel bow in my standard design. Alone it came a little light - measured 9# @ 26". I then tought about backing it with sinew and strengthen the belly a little with horn. Now that was quite a journey...first you have to do the right things and then you need to do the things right - sounds easy, but this crooked hazel stave had a few traps and hints ready for my on this path. finally it was all successfully defeated - glad to have a shooting bow. nut sure if you're interested in the full story.

Cheers

[simk]

 

[simk]

 

[simk]

 

[stuckinthemud]

Hang on, hazel?! As in Corylus?  I am VERY interested in the whole story, as I understood things, corylus is compression poor and prone to crysals if over-bent. I have a perfect hazel stave 60" long and a pair of horn strips waiting for a core that I have so far failed to find. Need details pleeease!!!!!!

[DC]

Very nice Simk!
Unhh, you left a loose thread on the handle. Don't know if you noticed it

[Deerhunter21]

wait so it was just as easy as sinewing the back (evenly) and then just strengthening the belly with horn???

[simk]

Yes, Stuckinthemud, Hazel. It's not my invention tough; a friend of mine did many like this and they are working fine for years now. He also did scyths with Hazel. Nut sure if also used on more stressed designs like turkish, etc... Just make a weak bow with main bending zone of about 8" and bring it to an even thickness of about 6-7mm. Then glue horn and sinew...

Thanks DC, just remarked this too now?!?! What the heck... 

Exactly Deerhunter21, just as easy 

[stuckinthemud]

I have some questions,  if its ok. How long are the levers? How did you get the sinew that colour? Did you steam in the reflex or pull it in as the sinew cured?

[simk]

stuckinthemud: levers are around 30cm (12") - after tillering i reflexed on a caul. on that same caul I glued the horn. this gave her about 10" reflex. thats also what remains after shooting. sinew put the reflex initially to 16". Now it returs still to14" within 3 days. 

[silent sniper]

Very impressive, nicely done 👍🏻

[BowEd]

Nicely done simk.Depending on how thick of sinew you put on there in all probability it'll gain a little draw weight yet in the next year.Good performance out of your bow too.I'd be interested in what the mass weight of your bow is also.
I've got a honeysuckle stick at 1 and 5/8" diameter that's sawn in half length wise leaving it full round at handle.It had a pith also.It is very long though.Was saving it for a try at a hollow limb bow but now you got me thinking....Ha Ha.It has a specific gravity of close to .90.
How big circumference was your hazel?I've heard and would bet it does that hazel takes a heat treatment very well making it a bit harder.
I did a specific density test on hazel some time ago but have forgotten what it was.I'm pretty sure it was at least .60.
So if I got this right your saying it shows 10" reflex after shooting from 14" starting reflex?How long was brace time?
PS....Good success story!!! Looks good and sound.

[bownarra]

Sweet
How did you glue the horn to such a thin limb?

[simk]

Thank you SS  looking forward to some new stuff from you soon!
ED: Thank you and guess who was first to inspire me to do such a bow? The pics of your badly reflexed elm composite were just burnt into my mind since  the bow is incl. heavy grip and soaked wrappings and 8 Strands of BCY452X 535gramms. Naked around 500.

That honeysuckle idea sounds nice. Since its very dense and tough you can go slimmer on the levers. The hazel wood seems quite light to me and likes heat treating - I gave her a medium one... bow is quite slim 35mm => 26mm in the bending zone and it has a crowned back. Correct about the reflex. It was maybe strung 4-5 hours and shot few arrows. In total it has maybe 200 arrows now. I think the bow still has to settle in a bit.

Thank you bownarra. I have my caul...   

[BowEd]

So yea you reduced the mass weight considerably.So tell me what do you think of your bow and how it shoots?For glueing I'm assuming you used a type of epoxy to glue?Maybe titebond3?
I think bow your referring to is a hickory core bow and 58" long.16.50 ounces or 466 grams bare bones that now pulls around 50#'s @ 28".