My latest work, Hophornbeam shorty(now more pictures)

[a finnish native]

real nice man. I have always wanted to try out that ironwood. the only thing is that it doesen't really grow here 

[Ryan_Gill_HuntPrimitive]

really great looking as always. i really like the dark color. you do a mighty fine job- Ryan

[Jbell]

Nice job! Looks great as usual. Love the stain and grip.

[Ryano]

Thanks for the nice coments everyone.
HHB grows pretty much every where around here.

[Dustybaer]

well, you done it again, my friend.  what a beauty.  love the way the grain shows.  how would you compare HHB to osage, performance wise?

[Ryano]

Marius, thank you friend.
Performance wise it can shoot just as fast if its designed/tillerd properly and kept Dry. Keeping them dry in the real world is the hard part. 

[PeteC]

Nice bow Ryan!! I agree,HHB is pretty good stuff,even for us osage fans. God Bless

[koan]

Sweet bow Ryan..ya got to bring that one to Pappys in May( I wanna fling some arrows thru it! )....Brian

[Canoe]

Howdy Ryano,

Wow!!  What a nice bow!!  Why,..  A deer would be proud to taken down by that one!

I have a HHB stave/log dried and waiting under my basement stairs, (I collected it right up near da U.P., in northern WI.), it's about 3-3/4" dia.   And, I have some time this weekend, maybe I'll pull it out and lay it out - at least.

On the design, I was thinking of making a longer bow - maybe about a 65" flat bow (ALB) for a 28" draw.  Do you recommend a shorter bow?  If so, why?  And if I go with this length, what width should I start with?

Can you tell us about the width(s) on your HHB?  What is the width near the fades, and how far out do you go before you start to narrow the limbs.  And, what is the width near the tips?


Thank you very much for the info, I hope you don't mind my asking.

Happy Holidays,
Canoe

[xin]

Excellent bow on a challenging piece of wood..  Beautiful work as usual.

[Ryano]

Thanks guys.
Brian, I'll bring it to Pappy's if I still have it.
Canoe, I personally like a bow about 64" ntn best.  56" was all I had to work with on this stave. 1 1/2" to 1 5/8" should be a good starting point for width, 1/2" at the tips.  I narrow my outer limbs as I tiller when I'm getting close to the weight I want I try to lose as much outer limb mass as possible.

[Canoe]

Howdy Ryano,

Thanks for the info. 
I'll probably go with 66" length and about 1-5/8" in width, and I may try to go a little narrower near the tips; 3/8 to 7/16" in width.
 
I like how you bent the tips.  Did you use a form of some sort to get a controlled bend in the tips, or...?

Thanks again,
Canoe

[George Tsoukalas]

Well done, Ryan, as usual. Excellent bow. Jawge

[Pappy]

Very nice Ryan,IW makes a mighty fine bow and you done that piece justice.Good job. 
   Pappy

[GregB]

That's a good looking bow Ryan, turned out really nice! Could you tell us what stain you used and your finishing process?

Thanks!