Recommended layout for hickory bows part DEUX!

[ssrhythm]

So, there is a similar thread from earlier asking about layout/design for making a hickory board bow.  I’m going to be making a few hickory bows from staves, and all I’ve ever worked with is Osage.  Being in Wyoming and primarily hunting in this super dry climate, the idea of making a fire-hardened hickory longbow or recurve selfbow is very appealing. 

My compound bow DL is 28.25” and best I can tell, I draw my trad and primitive bows to ~27 inches.  I’d like to back off the 57# @28 trad bow I used to hunt with and the 60 to 68# @28” (depending on humidity and weather as it is sinew backed) Osage recurve I currently hunt with and make something ~50-52# @ 28”.

I like a pistol grip with fairly large sight window above a cut in shelf (mainly as this is only design I’ve ever bought or made…so definitely a stiff handle bow, but I’m certainly open to an oval handle bow with a glued on wedge of an arrow shelf.

What would you recommend as far as design that you think would be the most efficient/fastest for poundage bow?  I’d prefer to go longbow, as all my bows are recurves, and I just want to try a longbow for a change.  Slightly reflexed limbs to tips…sure, but not true recurves.

Help me with overall dimensions….length, length of handle, handle layout,  length of fades, width at fades, limb profile etc.   Let me hear opinions on what y’all think would be the bee’s knees of hickory hunting bow design and your thoughts on why.

Thanks in advance for any much appreciated advice!

[willie]

68"ntn with pryamid limbs?

hickory likes dry but I guess if you are talking about firehardening also, I would be careful you dont get the back too dry.
Draweight gain with time might indicate over drying or starting with not quite dry staves

the bowyers bible reccomended design widths proportional to the SG of the stave materiel. since you have a lot of materiel to work with from the same log, I would play around with drying samples and measuring specific gravities that could relate to limb widths

if you have a pencil sized samples of dried wood, you can measure the length overall and divide that length by the length that is immersed when the sample is floated vertically.   keeping the sample a consistent width and thickness like you would be able to obtain from a table saw ripping would be neccesary for consistency of measurement. also weighing the samples seasonally on a grain scale can tell you a lot about moisture loss or uptake.
see tbb4 for a few chapters with more specifics

[Will B]

I’ve made a number of fire-hardened, shagbark and pignut hickory bows (longbows and recurves) that were ~50# @ 28”. I make them 67”-68” in length with a 4” handle (1-1/2” thick) and two inch fades. I agree with Willie…the easiest design is a straight pyramid; 2” wide at the fades tapered to 1/2” at the tips. I use brush-on shellac on the back of the bow blanks to reduce potential for checking. I rough the limbs out to 0.4” thickness and clamp on my reflex forms for a week to dry before fire-hardening.

I’ve been very impressed with how these bows hold most of their reflex during tillering and shooting the bows in.
Good luck!