Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Marc St Louis on January 12, 2010, 08:16:16 pm
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Here's a couple pictures of a bow I just finished for a member in Sweden, he wanted a short static recurve for hunting. This bow is 58" N to N and pulls 55# @ 26", his draw length. I did tiller the bow to 27" because he's working on stretching his draw. The limbs are 1 1/2" wide that taper to just under 1/2" at the recurves. The Elm that I used is one of the better species and is very elastic, fortunately I have enough of this wood left to make a few more bows. The growth rings are very uniform and not too thin, what I have found to be the best with Elm. It started out with about 4 1/2" of heat-treated reflex and it has kept more than half of that. I shot the bow a few times with a 600 grain arrow and it is fast. Here's a few pictures
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v355/Marc-St-Louis/Selfbows/Elm%20Bows/Static%20Recurve%20for%20Henrik/HandleOverlay.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v355/Marc-St-Louis/Selfbows/Elm%20Bows/Static%20Recurve%20for%20Henrik/Limbbelly.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v355/Marc-St-Louis/Selfbows/Elm%20Bows/Static%20Recurve%20for%20Henrik/Braced.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v355/Marc-St-Louis/Selfbows/Elm%20Bows/Static%20Recurve%20for%20Henrik/FullDraw.jpg)
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Everything looks perfect to me Marc - as always! Forever inspiring - he aughta love it!!
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WOW :o thats sweet,tiller looks dead on too(duh,like you would make a bad one lol)
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WOW!! Nice bow. The member you made that bow for, is in for a good treat. I really like the looks of that bow. I also like elm.
great job.
Tell
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What species was the elm Marc?
Bow does indeed looks fast, well done :)
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It always amazes me how much bend you can get out of that wood. The design is great with low sting angles and awesome tiller. Inspiring as always.
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Wow Mark, I love those recurves that you make. That one is a beaut and the tip and handle accents are a real eye catcher. Excellent in every way as always.
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Amazes me each time I see one of Mark's bows. Little wonder you seldom if ever see them copied. Steve
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Another fantastic bow Marc. I love that design.
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Eye candy, as usual. :o Your work is truly inspiring. You should consider writing a book, to share your vast knowledge.
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Thanks guys
As I said, this is pretty good Elm. I didn't put a leather wrap on this bow because he wants to do that himself.
I know it's not White Elm, Dana. Besides that I couldn't tell you. There are so many subspecies of Elm that I've given up trying to positively identify them. It's fairly dense and as I said very elastic wood.
Perhaps I will Adam. My wife keeps telling me I should also.
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Mark, listen to your wife. You have a good book in you that could be a valuable tool for future builders. Steve
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I second that...and I want to put in a requsest for one of the first copies that rolls off of the Presses...Autographed ...mind you.... ;D
I take that back...I don't want a thing........ >:(
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That design is outstanding Marc. Great bow.
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i am gonna have to try and build one of those marc. I have re-read your article in PA several times. certainly looks like lots of work. i have several billets of osage i may use. Such a great design you've made there!!!
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that is one fine bow, good job as usual. I have trouble making recurves because of tip alignment, do you have a trick to getting the tips aligned? I always seem to get a twist. love the full draw pic, incredible bend, but is that a aluminum arrow???? ???
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Marc, that's a beauty! Very nicely done. Jawge
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That's another beautiful bow Marc. You get an amazing amount of bend out of that heat treated elm. Do you think it's a variety of red, or grey elm, or some hybrid? I never learned much about the different species. Where I grew up in Vermont, we were at enough elevation to be just outside the range of anything but white elm, and all the big ones died out in the mid 80s. I probably had red elm on my property in the Champlain Islsnds and didn't know it. I just remember the heartwood was pretty dark on alot of the standing dead ones I used for firewood. I had a beautiful 4 acre stand of white ash with elms scattered through it. Wish I had never sold it now, but I wasn't making bows back then. 20-20 hindsight strikes again.
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That's another great bow Mark!
Would you show us how you do these handle splices??
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Beautiful bow Marc,very well done as usuall.I love you bows. :) He should love that,bet it will fling an arrow. :)
Pappy
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Thanks again guys
A book may be a future project, I just don't have the time right now.
J J. Leave the tips wide at first and use heat to tweak alignment. I have marks on the aluminum arrow indicating draw length and its full length is 32". Works well for tillering
Jude. There's actually no such species as Red or Grey Elm. Those are just trade names. There's American, Slippery, Rock, Winged plus a couple more
Frank. I did write an article on these splices. It's 3 or 4 issues back
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That is a very nice bow there Marc, your work is so inspiring. I am currently working on a hickory backed red oak deflex recurve similar in design and inspired by your bows and if it turns out HALF as good as this one I would be very very happy! ;D -josh
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I love it ! I'm going to have to shoot one of those someday Marc. I'm working on a D/R osage self bow right now myself. I'm loving this type of design. Whats the chances of you comming to the T classic some day? ;D
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That is an awsome looking bow and design, Mark. I'd love to chrono a carbon arrow out of it.
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This is a gorgeous shape. You are the only one I've seen who can develop it so well. I'd be inclined to call it a "Magnum Recurve"
Bookmarked under January Self Bows, too, for BOM
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Another nice bow Marc. I've been seeing your bows for a while now and each time , I think wow I'm gonna make one of those ( or try at least!!) They look to me like some of the fastest wooden bows around. I have one question, do you think the life span of these bows is the same as none heat treated bows , all else being equal? you should have a good idea by now? There is a lot of small diameter elm around here for me to try,not sure how hard it is though? I think the hardest over here is wych elm, but like you say its hard to distinguish all the sub-species.
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I can only echo everyone else's response - simply beautiful in every respect !!! The profile is what I dream about being able to attain someday. WOW!!!!
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Dido on the book... ;)
Not much else to say that hasn't been already; another great one. Like the triangle at brace - looks egyptian!
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Having all those heated in curves match up in alignment is an accomplishment I can really appreciate. Pretty amazing.
Dave
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Anyone who says white woods can't make an insanely fast bow obviously hasn't seen or shot one of Marc's creations.. I have ;D, and what I really like about this one is the shape of the handle section.. Very cool...
Rich
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Thanks guys
By all means Ryan.
It's not really set up for shooting light arrows Eddie. Henrik wanted a reliable hunting bow and this one should do the job. For light arrows I would want to tweak the recurves a bit.
I have quite a few heat-treated bows out there dragonman. Most are still working. Most all Elm work great but occasionally you run across one that is flawed
Richard. You must have tried one of the bows I sent down to Steve.
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Fine looking bow Marc.
Dry heat or steam for the curves?
You do need to come to Pappy's place this year.
David
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:o Love those curves :o Thats spliced in the handle right?
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RR. I use steam for bending recurves. Be nice to go but it's a long way from here and I would have to get a passport now, something I've never had before.
Yes Jesse the bow is made from billets
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Be nice to go but it's a long way from here and I would have to get a passport now, something I've never had before.
Well at least you woudn't need a Letter from the Prime Minister to come Visit.......like someone I know does in order to go to Canada........ ;)
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Very nice. Excellent work
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Another outstanding, beautiful recurve.That design of yours has got it goin'on.Great work. God Bless
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Sweet,sweet bow love the profille that thing must have great zipCan I send some of my elm your way so I can have one like that!.Hammertime
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Awesome work as always. Thanks for sharing.
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Thanks Guys
What species of Elm do you have Hammer?
This bow could easily handle a 29" draw but 27" was all he needed and reliability is important for hunting and for me
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I am really happy with the bow Marc made for me ;)
I know why they are really never copied, Its tricky bows to do, but I hope I can learn some things about bowmaking when I get it.
A true masterpiece Marc, I will try to do it justice in April-May when I am hunting on NZ
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wow,what a beauty!!
i think you should do the book too marc ,your bows are works of art!!it would be up there with the bowyers bibles and billetts to bow and hunting the osage bow a must have addition !! sorry im rambling lol.fabulous job anyway marc.which issue of PA has the article about the splice job for a recurve??ive started collecting back issues but im only up to volume 2 so far?
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Marc, Listen to your wife. Writing a book would be a great help for guys like me just starting out. What a wealth of information it would be. Rgds, Red Pony
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Marc, Did you bend your limbs before or after you spliced. I can see you can get the angle you want if you bent them first. Would you post a picture of your caul? Great job, beautiful bow! Tommy
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ive made a couple large static recurve's like this(not as high quality of course ;D) before, the main issue i usually have is getting my tips to line up properly after i bend them, i would also appreciate a picture of your jig if possible ;) and how wide do you leave your tips during the bending process?
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Thanks again guys
The mag that has the splicing article is Vol 17 issue 2
Tommy, sometimes I reflex the limbs first and sometimes I do it after I glue the splice together. This time I did it before I glued the bow together. The first thing I do though is steam the recurves in, that is easier done with just billets.
Aries, I leave the tips between 3/4" and 1" wide. The jig I use most of the time is quite simple. Here's an old picture as I was heat-treating a bow from a few years ago.
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