Hickory bow build.

[Selfbowman]

Cool you had some big ones

[superdav95]

Arvin.  Ya I had some that worked good.  22.5” long.  Glue up went well.  I rasped off some of the glue lines and all looks good.  I had enough clamps I guess.  With the weight of all the hardware and clamps in place I gained a few more inches of reflex.   It’s now at 14.5”.  Not too concerned about this as I am sure the horn is good for it.  The top limb tip got very slightly twisted to the left.  Luckily with horn it’s possible to make minor low heat corrections.  I’ll see if it’s necessary to do when I get to that point.  Glue lines seem pretty good as far I can tell right now.  Here’s some pics.  Thanks for looking

[superdav95]

Couple more…

[Selfbowman]

Nice!! That’s serious reflex. And horn tools so nicely. Could you have trapped the back before when you ran low on belly wood? Just curious.

[superdav95]

Nice!! That’s serious reflex. And horn tools so nicely. Could you have trapped the back before when you ran low on belly wood? Just curious.

Thanks Arvin.  I don’t think so.  To do so I would have had to do that before the sinew and hog gut covering over the sinew.  The back has a slight crown on it with the addition of the sinew.  To do a trap of back now may violate the carefully laid sinew.  I guess it could be done in theory but the sinew held so strong and should be a good balance with the horn.  We shall see anyway.  I’m hoping for it to be around 800 grams in weight which is similar to my build from last year and it’s a screamer.   

[bjrogg]

Things are looking good again 

Bjrogg

[superdav95]

Things are looking good again 

Bjrogg

Yup. I think it will bow.  Will get back at it Monday. 

[Selfbowman]

Nice!! That’s serious reflex. And horn tools so nicely. Could you have trapped the back before when you ran low on belly wood? Just curious.

Thanks Arvin.  I don’t think so.  To do so I would have had to do that before the sinew and hog gut covering over the sinew.  The back has a slight crown on it with the addition of the sinew.  To do a trap of back now may violate the carefully laid sinew.  I guess it could be done in theory but the sinew held so strong and should be a good balance with the horn.  We shall see anyway.  I’m hoping for it to be around 800 grams in weight which is similar to my build from last year and it’s a screamer.

I was speaking of trapping before the  hickory got to thin. But thanks for the explanation.

[superdav95]

Nice!! That’s serious reflex. And horn tools so nicely. Could you have trapped the back before when you ran low on belly wood? Just curious.

Thanks Arvin.  I don’t think so.  To do so I would have had to do that before the sinew and hog gut covering over the sinew.  The back has a slight crown on it with the addition of the sinew.  To do a trap of back now may violate the carefully laid sinew.  I guess it could be done in theory but the sinew held so strong and should be a good balance with the horn.  We shall see anyway.  I’m hoping for it to be around 800 grams in weight which is similar to my build from last year and it’s a screamer.

I was speaking of trapping before the  hickory got to thin. But thanks for the explanation.

Ah yes. Gotcha.  Ya I never expected it to get so thin. That may have been an option to consider.  Oh well it will get sorted now with the horn I think. 

[Gordon]

That bow is coming along really nicely.

[Pat B]

Looking good, Dave. How much weight do you think the horn belly will add?

[superdav95]

That bow is coming along really nicely.

Thanks Gordon. 

[superdav95]

Looking good, Dave. How much weight do you think the horn belly will add?

Thanks Pat.  If I were to guess right now it’s somewhere above 70#.  Likley close to 80.  This is ok as I’m not going to force it this time.  I had put it into my vise sideways and was measuring each limb separately to get an idea of where some removal needs to occur and measured each limb around 45lbs not even to very low brace height.  Still got some scraping to do to get bend looking good but I’m not shooting for 45-48lbs final draw.   Sometimes we have an idea in our heads of what We want and the bow tells us different.  I was trying to fit a square into a round peg with this one and learned a lesson that I may not be able to impose my will on this guy.  It let me know it too.  Sometimes listening is not my best quality even if it’s inanimate objects . 

[superdav95]

Did some shaping of the horn on this bow.  It’s still a little heavy and will be taking it carefully on reducing weight.  I will be getting the bend looking good and letting the bow tell me what it wants to be for draw weight.  I had also added some hood wedges at the bends near the tips to beef up this area to take the strain of added weight.  There is a good ratio of sinew/wood/horn now but still heavier then my initial target draw weight.  About 1/3 for each wood sinew and horn. Have a look.  Here’s some pics. 

[Pappy]

Really have enjoyed watching this, I think your persistence and skill will pay off sooner or later you said you wasn't forcing your will but you kind of are , it wasn't going to be the bow you wanted it to be so now you are forcing it to be. Hope it finely given in and listens. I am rooting for ya.
 Pappy