Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: straightarrow on October 27, 2010, 10:55:38 pm
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Just finished up this American Hornbeam R/D…..aka Blue Beech…aka musclewood. I have made several HHB bows and wanted to try the other Hornbeam. I couldn’t find a bone straight tree but was able to find a 3” sapling that would make a bow. I removed the bark and sealed the back just after cutting. The bark was tricky to remove and I wouldn’t even want to try it on a dry stave. After the stave was dry enough to work I ran a center line with string and tape. I took the measurement from the string (center line) and laid the bow out. The reason I used the string was because of all the dips and crevices on the back. Using the string was also nice because there was no line to try and sand off later. I followed the highest part of the crown, which is why the limbs are snaky. As snaky as the limbs are the tips line up almost perfectly and the string rides in the center of the handle. The stave had about 1 ½” of natural deflex.The bottom limb had a pretty nasty kink with reflex, but most of it came out with heat treating but not all of it. You can see the kink in the tiller pick. After some tweaking I flipped the tips and things seemed to match a little better. I tillered the bow to 24” then heat treated again. This is my first time heat treating and read it gives the bow higher performance and gains a few pounds to the weight. In this case it gained 2 lbs. It was still looking like I the bow was gonna come out lighter then I wanted, so piked it to 62” and lost some of my reflex….then I retillered. After the heat treating and shooting the bow at short draw I made my final adjustments to the tiller. The bow ended up with 2 ” of deflex (about a half inch of set) and 1 ¼” of reflex. The bow finished weight was 18.4 oz. And seems very fast, but haven’t shot it thru the chronograph yet. The tips were tapered to about 3/8” and I added some antler for looks. The 5” handle is also overlayed with antler. The side plate and shelf is made of thin brain tan. I did a little artwork on the belly and finished with 5 coats of Tru-oil. The bow is 62” long and is 60# @ 27”. I signed the bow on the 25th of October which has always been my favorite day to hunt. I thought it was appropriate to name the bow “whitetail dreams” because of the antler accents and this time of the year is just awesome to me. Took the bow today on its first hunt…that’s where I took the pics. Gonna take more pics later
Jon
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one more
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Beautiful...I've spotted out a muscle wood tree in my back woods. I love the look of the wood. Looks RIPPED!!!!
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Awesome Bow!
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Beautiful!
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Very cool,beautiful bow out of a challenging piece of wood. Nice work.
Pappy
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Great looking bow and cool wood.
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Like everybody else said.....very nicely done. Like the belly decoration too.
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Great work on that bow! Excellent. Jawge
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full draws my favorite pic. nice bow
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would love to see more detailed pics of your art work and handle, That looks great man, outsanding job! did you have to chase a ring on that bumpy back or just remove the bark? I couldn't imagine attempting the prior ;D ;D
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I posted before, but thought it was for a different link, that bow looks excellent, it is reminding me of some of the Australian Pine that I'm working on - the color and the back character, that is.
Really nice bow!
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That's pretty cool, Jon! Love them tips and the arrow graphic.
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Great bow I like the shape and as mentioned the decoration as well!
Russ
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Sweeeet!! ;D can I vote now?
Jeff
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hey, that`s a wonderful bow
very good
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I sure like the looks of the antler tips!
David
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Thank you anzboi...the wood does have that ripped look...definatly will make another
Thank you David, Medicinewheel, Pappy, mullet for the nice compliments!
Thank You halfeye...this was my first time drawing on a bow
Thank you Jawge and Ken
Thank you Aries... You just have to remove the bark and cambium and that you back. American Hornbeam has very tight rings. I included some more pics of the artwork
Thank you Parnell, postman, ancient archer, jeff, nature bow and snag.
Thanks to everyone..your words mean alot!!!
Here are a few more pics
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Wow that is nice!Excellent job!
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Thank You youngbowyer...I appreciate you comments...
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WOW! That wood is so white it looks like Bone or Ivory!!! Very pretty...
StraightArrow - is it still shooting these days???
OneBow
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That puppy sure finished up nicely. Great job :)
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That bows back is off the chain, had to be a lot of work! Nice bend 8)
Don
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Awesome bow....got lots of muscle wood around here, so it's now on the list.....Thanks
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That's it! I'm going to go down to the creek and cut down a hornbeam I scouted out last year. Very nice work and bow!
Tracy
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Wow that's one of the cooler ones i've seen on here. Really like how rustic and durable it looks. That back looks like real muscle :o
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Great bow. The tips are stunning. Very good idea. :)
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She's a looker no doubt 8)
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Downright sweet.
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Wow I'm surprised to see this bow pop up 3 1/2 years later.. I was just getting my feet wet then. The bow is still holding up, although I don't shoot it much. That muscle wood is cool stuff. I may cut another this spring. I found a nice patch where it's remarkably straight
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Jon