First bow - Ash Selfbow

[George Tsoukalas]

Yes leave the handle and nocks wide until at least bracing. Then you can shape the handle to track the string better. Nocks can be cut deeper to bring the string on the handle and then shaped.

[Tim P]

Almost at bracing height now. didn't pulled it beyond 40 pounds. I want to play it safe and aim for a 40 - 45 pound bow. Or should I go lighter (30 - 40 pound) on this wonky stave?

I left the tips a bit thicker so they wont ben too much once I start tapering them more. I guess I 'll carve temporary nocks and then start tapering the tips as needed.

While thinning out the limbs, a few knots became brittle and came out of the belly. Not sure what I should do with them. I was thinking of narrowing the limb between the knots slightly as to even out the stress as drawn on the second picture

Any Advice?

[bownarra]

Where the string sits on it unbraced is not a big deal, especially so the more character the stave has. Forget the 'stringline' until the bow is braced. Where it sits when it is braced is what matters.
The way I do these bows is to leave the handle full width until it is braced....you then simply shape the handle to where the string naturally wants to sit   Very simple and effective....thank me later
As for your last question then yes your idea to narrow the limbs either side of the knot is a good idea. A lot of it will likely be removed in the finished bow anyway but the grain around the knot still needs some help even if the punky stuff is no longer there.
Once you have the width established clean up the sides of the bow and make them smooth and 'square' to the back. Put some marks on the limbs edges at,1/8th,1/4",/3/8",1/2" and 5/8ths (from the back). Then using your finger as a guide, connect the marks to give you a series of parallel lines running along the edges of your limbs 1/8th apart. Now as you tiller you will have a visual guide to keep your wood removal even (from one side of the limb to othe other) and it also makes establishing a thickness taper easy. Follow any dips in the grain and avoid taking the 'tops' off any high spots.
Go and find some black locust and cut yourself some nice clean staves. B.Locust is one of my absolute favourite woods. Top notch stuff.

[Tim P]

So my respect for the guys making a bow in a day has grown tremendously yesterday.

In the morning, I thought I was almost at bracing height. After 8 hours of shaving and tillering, I have a floor full of wood curls, an aching back and gained maybe 2 inch on the tiller. Still not able to brace it. (I did notice that I will need to order some string material, because the rope that I am using is stretching too much.)

The sides are becoming very thin in some spots. Just a few millimeters. So I will have to change my design. I was hoping to make a robust wide paddle bow, but it seems it will end up to be more of a piramid design if I have to narrow the limbs.

Current dimensions:

68" Nock to Nock (measured between where the nock grooves ends on the belly)
2" wide overall (tapering smaller on the outer thirds)
thickness mid limb: 1/2"  in the middle, 1/8 inch on the edges

Almost all of the side knots are completely gone. Just one spot with strange grain is left now. I should probably thin this a bit more.

I like how it looks now with the limbs narrowed between the knots
Thanks for the helpful tips so far, I learned a lot already!


Tillering tree:



Thin spot at the sides:


Strange grain:


More pics:

[Tim P]

Limbs are getting thin (and I am getting scared of breaking it  )

Not sure where to go from here... It seems really stiff in the handle and then bend a lot after the fades

Pulled until 35#

Overlay:


Individual pics:

[scp]

If you stick to scraping, you will have more than enough chances to make nice even curves. It might help if you trace the lines on the paper, before bracing and after bracing, and then compare the current curve to them as you are pulling on the bow. Use long even strokes, as much as possible, please.

[Tim P]

So a few months passed away from my workshop, but today I continued the work.

The aim was 45# but I'll be happy with anything that shoots arrows (and doesn't break) for a first bow...

Pulled to 35#


- I was working on the right arm, but it still seems a bit too stiff.
- the handle and the fades are quite solid. Should I thin the handle and fades and try to get them to work a bit too?

The string lies well out of the centre:



The tips are still 1 inch wide (and too thick).
Should I  try to narrow the tips and try to align the string first that way? Or try to play with the thickness of the arm and try to have it bend more to the other side? I believe one side is stiffer than the other, making it bend uneven at the moment

[Del the cat]

Plan A:- Push the string across to one side of the tip and see if that improves the alingment. If so you can narrow the tip as required (just the last couple of inches.
Plan B:- narrow the grip a tad (from the side which will help string alignment.
Plan C:- do a bit of a heat bend at the grip.
Often there are several solutions and it requires a little of each A+B+C.
Del

[scp]

Its right upper limb appears to be too stiff. I would scrape the belly of stronger side of that  section. IMHO, for natural staves, the limbs do not have to have exactly same thickness on both sides. That section can bend more and twist a little to the center line.

[Tim P]

Its right upper limb appears to be too stiff. I would scrape the belly of stronger side of that  section. IMHO, for natural staves, the limbs do not have to have exactly same thickness on both sides. That section can bend more and twist a little to the center line.

Thats what I was thinking too. Thanks for confirming!

[Tim P]

And so, when everything seemed to go well, suddenly I noticed huge chrysals on both limbs 

They are on the edge and stretch into the back:
Belly:

Back:


So it's probably firewood now.... Or any way to salvage it?


I'm not sure how it happened and how to avoid it the next time. Tiller was finally getting better and I was confident that I was near the finish line
The last time on the tillering tree was 20 inch at 35#


Of course I made rookie mistakes building this bow:
- Forced it too hard when trying to brace it the first time
- Accidentally pulled it too hard when it was on the tree (55#)
- Pulled it too far before I noticed there was a hinge
=> with this in the past, I expected the bow to have given out earlier. I am surprised that it did when I was finally getting the tiller sort of sorted.

Any ideas on what went wrong?

Just a pic of the final result. I like how the handle was turning out with that groove from the spongy inner bit 

[lleroy]

Is the twist in the limbs increasing as you draw or does it stay fixed?
If it's fixed, you could steam the twist out some, and that might improve the centering of the string on the handle.
If it's increasing, you may need to scrape on the side it's bending toward to counter the twisting.

(where in Europe are you from?)

[scp]

How thin is the edge with chrysals? Less than 1/4 inch? Chrysals on the back do not make any sense, unless the edge is way too thin and the limb is twisted enough to turn the edge into a belly.

I would heat treat the belly and narrow the limbs to get rid of all chrysals. It just became a youth bow. No big deal, unless you want a game hunting bow.

[simk]

look at your grain - its a thin spot

this, the sharp edges and the rough surfaces attracts the chrysals.

Always watch your grain when tillering, round edges and make a smooth surface before any bending.

Limbs tend to twist when one side of the limb is thicker than the other. Maybe check that as well.

(-;

[lleroy]

I am in Europe and we don't have hickory or maple (only sycamore 'Acer pseudoplatanus'). There is plenty of oak but thats always very gnarly.
We have a lot of black locus though, so I might try that next. Or maybe a fruit tree like cherry, apple or pear.

Sycamore (Gewone Esdoorn and Noorse Esdoorn) is good for making bows, not as good as Ash (Es) and Elm (Olm) but reasonably good. Don't dismiss it - and it's common and relatively easy to find good straight saplings.