2021 1st Newbie build along challenge

[Fox]

Excited to see how your bows come out gut!!

[gutpile]

I split the erc stave and put the bug spots best i could at tip and in a static .. since they’re not going to bend i am going to proceed .. 1-7/8 wide to 1-1/2 mid to 3/4 tips leaving a little wide in case i need to adjust alignment 61 1/2”.. i got the osage to 48@24.5 .. at the stage where you can turn a 50lb bow into a 35 lb bow .. gut

[Fox]

Good to hear gut... I’m really struggling with my erc stave, it’s super messed up, I think I’ll be able to barely squeeze out 1 1/2” wide out 12” then taper to 1/2” tips... it’s bending soooo much and it’s half an inch thick I’m going to make it bend in the handle cause I don’t have any enough meat there, and I like a bendy handle.... it’s 64” long, I’m not sure if I’ll shorten in or not, what do you think ?


Hopefully I’ll be able to finagle a bow outa this screwy stave.


I haven’t worked on the locust much, it’s been freezing rain all week and i don’t have a spot to tiller in the shop.     I also skinned 3 opossums today, they have some amazing fur...

[Digital Caveman]

What do you use the fur for?  I'd love to find a way to work fur into my kit.

I would not shorten the bow at all, in fact stretch it.  ERC is very brittle.  Unless you have reason to go short stay long.

I have the ash stave on the long string, but I will have to straighten a few kinks before I get much further.

[Fox]

Tradcraftsman,, yes I know erc is very bad in tension, but it’s quite good in compression, this is why I’m sinewing it, and apparently that’s a match made in heaven... this bow isn’t for the build along, just another project to work on while it’s rainy

[Allyn T]

Don't be a Nancy leave the kinks in : )

[gutpile]

Fox hard to answer and not see it . 1-1/2 is tight try not to lose any more ..After you sinew it will ad reflex which will stiffen it up some .. i got 1 bad spot on upper limb where the was a knot . Has a high hump slight twist .. gonna put the curves in it this coming weekend .. gut

[Digital Caveman]

I avoid heat corrections as much as I can, but one limb looks like it has a shallow recurve, so the tiller looks really wonky, even if the strain is even.

[Fox]

yeah tradecraftman, I would probably have straightened that out too. Its hart to tiller if theres TOO much "character"

[Zugul]

Finally today I've had some good weather, sunny and dry but still cold. I managed to take the bow to 39# @ 17", my final goal is 35-38# @ 28". I used the tillering gizmo on the straight parts of the limbs, and where they are not very straight I eyeballed the curve using a straight line drawn on the side of the limbs when the bow was unstrung. The bow now weights 20.5 oz, and I'm very pleased of how it is coming along.

[Allyn T]

Good deal man keep it up

[gutpile]

Zugul....never pull your bow to the weight desired during tillering and especially at that early in the till , always stay at least 5 lbs off desired weight till your about 2 inches from draw length.. never pull past that weight... you will induce stress and the bow will take speed robbing set... you don't want a duck, you want a snappy bow .. over stressing the bow is a bad habit and can quickly produce bad results...   gut

[gutpile]

so if your at 39 at 17.. try going for 34@ 25... shoot for that... never pull past 34.. don't do it.. if you hit 34 at 22 .. take some wood off ...by the time you hit 34 @ 25 ,usually about 3 lbs per inch.. so at that point you should be close to 43 at 28 ...you will still have enough wiggle room to hit your desired weight by just evenly taking off wood on each limb till you hit 28 . gut

[Fox]

Good advice from gut... took me too long to learn that...

[mmattockx]

so if your at 39 at 17.. try going for 34@ 25... shoot for that... never pull past 34.. don't do it.. if you hit 34 at 22 .. take some wood off ...by the time you hit 34 @ 25 ,usually about 3 lbs per inch.. so at that point you should be close to 43 at 28 ...you will still have enough wiggle room to hit your desired weight by just evenly taking off wood on each limb till you hit 28 . gut

This sounds like a good modification to use with Badger's no set tillering method. Combined with watching for set by keeping track of the weights it should give the best chance of not running into a problem early on in tillering. The next self bow I make I will be keeping this in mind.


Mark