Self Hickory Recurve Stained with Flowers, and Build-Along Video

[Santanasaur]

Here’s a recent one, from a split stave I cut early this year. The bow draws a little over 40# at 28”. It’s 60” ntn and about 1” at the widest.  I heat treated with a silicone strip and stained with various wild and garden flowers. The arrow pass is cherry bark, and there’s one in birch bark on the other side. The string is fast flight and the grip is veg tan leather, tooled with antler tines and  stained with the same flowers.

I also put together a build along video here https://youtu.be/ye4GqWDGRak.

[bownarra]

That is a lovely bow Great tiller and unstrung profile.

[Pat B]

Excellent bow, excellent execution. For a 60", 1" wide hickory recurve to end up flat is a salute to your bow building ability. Well done. 

[gutpile]

1" wide..!!! that right there is impressive...where are you located ,humidity wise?... gut

[Santanasaur]

Thanks guys. The bow did take a little set, about 1/2” per limb. It only  sits flat since it started with a slight amount of reflex. It was a really  good piece of hickory, dense fat rings with a low early wood ratio.

Its pretty  humid where I am in western mass, so  I was aggressive with humidity management in the hot box. Beyond that I also did a couple slow and deep heat treats  with a  silicone heating strip. the  back is slightly trapped too

[PaSteve]

Beautiful bow and really enjoyed your build along. Excellent execution on both the video and bow.

[Jakesnyder]

Cant wait to see the maple bow completed!

[Hamish]

Great bow. I really enjoyed your video too. I like your approach to staining the bow with vegetable pigments. I can attest that lily pollen makes a strong stain. 

Seriously dude, step away from the drawknife catalog:) Just kiddin, you can never have too many drawknives.

[bradsmith2010]

beautiful congrats

[George Tsoukalas]

Wow! That is a beautiful bow with an excellent tiller. Jawge

[Eric Garza]

Beautiful bow and video. I am curious to learn more about how you use a silicone pad to heat treat. How long do you leave the pad against the bow for? What pad do you buy?

[Santanasaur]

I use the silicone pad pretty similarly to how I would coals or the heat gun. the advantage is mostly in labor saving. According to the thermostat on the device, which I wouldn’t trust at all, I use it at around 200-250 f.

I’ll tinker with the temperature and time as needed, this  bow got around 220 on the dial for 45 minutes per limb, and I did that twice during tillering. Every 10 minutes or so I move the strip around.  Any areas that scorch or are  are going too fast get a scrap wood as a spacer  to buffer the heat.

The one I’m using in the video is a briskheat  3”*24” which is sold as a metal pipe thawing tool, but it was recommended to me by a luthier. I don’t really  recommend it though.  I bought it refurbished for $25 on a sale but haven’t been able to find it again at that price. Now it’s often sold in the hundreds which seems ridiculous since it’s made pretty poorly. There are much more affordable options on ebay for guitar side bending strips. You’re not really supposed to use them directly on the wood but I’ve been getting better results with the off label method.

[Marc St Louis]

Yes very nice

[M2A]

Spot on looking tiller there. Thats a keeper!
Mike

[Parnell]

Very nice looking bow.  I like your grip work.