Well, finally got a new bow done for myself, to my liking. It's been about eight months since I've gotten one done that I liked, so I've had very high expectations.
It's bamboo backed crabapple. I got the bamboo from nokswimmer I believe (thanks by the way
!). I had started it a few weeks ago, but it came out to brace much too light, and just drawing it I ddin't feel it had much in the way of cast to it. So I set it aside and waited.
Finally I got the urge to make a bow so badly I grabbed it from the corner and set to work. I pike it, heat treated in 1 1/2" of reflex, and redid the overlays (whcih it turns out, were very necessary to keep the string from splitting the boo). I also narrowed the handle, having had such good success with the "Ishi style" handle I did on "Sparrow Hawk".
Once retillered it came out under weight again, after breaking in. I attirbute this to the fact I didn't leave the bow wide enough (this will be my last attempt at such narrow whitewood longbows that I want to pull in excess of 65#). Fortunately, it performs much better than I had hoped, and is only a few paces short of the cast of my 80# hickory longbow.
So here it is. She's 70" overall, 70# at 27". 1 1/2" wide at the widest, 1 1/8" at the grip. The tips are red bulleta, and it's braced about 6". I did most of the final tillering with sandpaper, as the crabaple was cut, not split, and so wanted to gouge with the use of any tool except the scraper. I finished it up with 440 and then lightly burnished it, and topped it off with floor wax and a leatehr grip for comfort and looks. I have no complaints with this bow- it is fast, accurate (I've already managed a Robin Hood with it) and is a perfect hunting bow. I'm very pleased. This is the first bow I have finished that I have tried to make it look as nice as it shoots. I still need some work, but it does look much ebtter than my others
.
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