Primitive Archer

Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: WarBird on March 05, 2013, 02:39:12 pm

Title: Help with a recurve takedown
Post by: WarBird on March 05, 2013, 02:39:12 pm
Hey guys, I've been working on a takedown bow, I've got the riser all finished up and it turned out wonderful but it's the limbs I'm having the most trouble with. I used some pretty good, straight grained red wood pieces I found at the box store, they were 1.5" wide and 1/4" thick. I steamed some reflex into them but the draw weight is really nonexistent... I shortened the limbs (the bow was 78" ntn so I knew I had some room to knock a bit off) but I know this isn't going to give me a whole lot. Was 1/4" red oak just a waste of time or would doubling up make a decent # draw? My tools are limited to a handsaw, drill and rasp and my budget is itty bitty, what kind of suggestions do you guys have to make these limbs pack a wallop?
Title: Re: Help with a recurve takedown
Post by: autologus on March 05, 2013, 03:06:52 pm
Were they 1/4" red oak slats? If so they are way too thin to make a decent draw weight bow, they are good for 20# kids bows though.  You would need to use the 1" boards to make a hunting weight bow.  Limb thickness will vary depending on design and weight desired.  Look for the build along that Bubby has posted, he used Maple but red oak should work as well.  It is very good and should produce a hunting weight bow.  He uses a table saw but you can achieve the same results with the rasp but with more effort required.

Grady
Title: Re: Help with a recurve takedown
Post by: WarBird on March 05, 2013, 03:16:22 pm
Yeah they were the 1/4" slats, thought when I was buying them they might be too thin. So one inch boards with a good taper then is the best way to go?
Title: Re: Help with a recurve takedown
Post by: autologus on March 05, 2013, 03:32:10 pm
Here is a good build along, it is loaded with good advice and a step by step.

http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,35312.msg465818.html#msg465818 (http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,35312.msg465818.html#msg465818)

Grady
Title: Re: Help with a recurve takedown
Post by: blackhawk on March 05, 2013, 03:35:49 pm
Are you trying to make a 3 piece takedown recurve  with boards  :o. How many "real" bows have you made?
Title: Re: Help with a recurve takedown
Post by: WarBird on March 05, 2013, 03:42:02 pm
Haha... only 1 blackhawk. The riser was made from a block but I'm trying to make the limbs from boards. Is that an awful idea?  :-[
Title: Re: Help with a recurve takedown
Post by: blackhawk on March 05, 2013, 03:50:19 pm
To a lot of folks yes its an awful idea...and your getting waaaaaaaaaaay ahead of yourself trying to make such a complex bow right off the bat....its not your fault ...its a disease called fiberglass mentality....and if you were to attempt this there is much better types of wood to use for limbs...I'm not going to get into the details of it all...but yeah...bad idea IMHO. Learn the basics first,then start evolving ....you don't need a riser to build a sweet bow...now that I've been doing this for awhile I think the risers on three piece glass bows are bulky ugly pieces of sin...one day I might make a three piece all wood bow..but it doesn't really interest me much
Title: Re: Help with a recurve takedown
Post by: autologus on March 05, 2013, 04:00:33 pm
Listen to blackhawk, he knows what he is talking about (I believe he could talk a mule through a successful self bow build).  Start out with a simple self bow following any of the many build alongs you can find on this site by searching and then move up to something more complex.  There are probably many accomplished bowyers on this site with years of experience that have not made a take down yet.

Grady
Title: Re: Help with a recurve takedown
Post by: WarBird on March 05, 2013, 04:03:15 pm
Yeah... I think maybe I've started at the wrong end of things. My first bow was a mollegabet bow, turned out decent but then again it was from a red oak board. Haven't had the luck of working with a stave yet. I have Osage that grows around here but it's all on either private land or national forest and I don't have money to buy staves ready to go unfortunately  :'( . And I agree that risers can get pretty hideous with bulkiness and after working with this bow I gotta say I'm more attracted to selfbows. But anyway, this is what I've done so far but I may just put it aside until I've got more bows under my belt and actually got half a clue what I'm doing  :P

Title: Re: Help with a recurve takedown
Post by: autologus on March 05, 2013, 04:10:02 pm
That riser looks nice, If you want to make limbs for it you could, just use thicker limbs to increase the draw weight.

Grady
Title: Re: Help with a recurve takedown
Post by: blackhawk on March 05, 2013, 04:18:23 pm
OMG...I just lost my lunch....lol  :laugh:   kidding  ;)   did you make the riser or is it off an old bow?

If you have osage around you and no money...all you have to do is ask for permission to cut it...and guess what I have never been denied...most folks will let you cut it if you go up to there door and ask, and be polite,half civilized,n well mannered because its a nuisance to most folks nowadays...id use osage for the limbs or bamboo backed osage imo
Title: Re: Help with a recurve takedown
Post by: Onebowonder on March 05, 2013, 04:19:02 pm
That riser looks nice, If you want to make limbs for it you could, just use thicker limbs to increase the draw weight.

Grady

...Or just lam up your Oak slats!  Three of those boys glued up would have a good deal of power.  ...and you could glue in some reflex as well if you built a simple caul to clamp them to.

...but as has already been said, the tillering is the thing.  Start there.  This might just a "put it on the shelf for now" project.  (
I've got dozens of those lying about!)

OneBow
Title: Re: Help with a recurve takedown
Post by: WarBird on March 05, 2013, 04:47:01 pm
No, I made it. I've never owned any bows except the one I made. I'll have to change into a clean shirt, put some pants on and slick my hair down and go knock on a door or two  ;D . I don't have a jig Onebowonder, I just steamed them with some foil and a pot and shaped them around another pot, then clamped them together side by side to make sure they had the same amount of rebound as possible. I might just convert the limbs into an atlatl  8) then when I get some experience, turn out some wicked osage limbs for this riser...
Title: Re: Help with a recurve takedown
Post by: PatM on March 05, 2013, 04:48:04 pm
I disagree that it's much harder to make. You're just making the same type of thing except in sections.  Glue two lams up for each limb with a reflex and you'll boost the weight enough.
 Marc St Louis has posted a few three piece bows with toilet bowl bolts holding the limbs to the riser.
Title: Re: Help with a recurve takedown
Post by: Buckeye Guy on March 05, 2013, 08:37:45 pm
WarBird
Tell me how you came up with the design for the riser ,and how you decided on the angles for the limbs  ?
There seams to be a big difference between the design for it vs the design for the limbs !
With that riser you can easily build the rest from boards!
Guy
Title: Re: Help with a recurve takedown
Post by: WarBird on March 05, 2013, 09:26:19 pm
Came up with the riser design after researching a bunch, and the angle I wanted to have so that if I needed to adjust the weight I could with extra washers/spacers or a wedge. Unfortunately those 1/4" limbs are just nowhere close but I found some wood about 1" thick that may work...
Title: Re: Help with a recurve takedown
Post by: PatM on March 05, 2013, 09:30:46 pm
Trust me on the lamination of two pieces 1/4 inch thick....
Title: Re: Help with a recurve takedown
Post by: Buckeye Guy on March 05, 2013, 10:50:53 pm
I think you can do this  !
Pat says use two strips glued together so go for it ,I am not a red oak fan so if you can find hickory I would feel better about your possibility of doing this !
I have some red elm that I am dreaming of doing a build like this with !
I hope to get at it this summer !
Have fun !
Guy
Title: Re: Help with a recurve takedown
Post by: bubby on March 06, 2013, 04:57:23 pm
I also think your wanting to run before you walk but I don't think ALL t/d bow risers are ugly blackhawk >:Dhttp://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,24354.0.html
Title: Re: Help with a recurve takedown
Post by: PatM on March 06, 2013, 05:24:45 pm
I think  a three piece with simple lams is actually easier to make in many ways. It eliminates much of the roughing out that makes a beginner impatient and completely eliminates the tricky handle transitions with dips and flares into working limb etc.
 It makes the process a bit more like a recipe with putting stuff together rather than the essential tearing down in a controlled manner that produces a normal self bow.
 I think we can agree that a lam bow with already flattened surfaces and pieces that are naturally close to finished dimensions presents far less of a challenge than a chunk of wood that demands a person be more of a sculptor than a carpenter.
Title: Re: Help with a recurve takedown
Post by: bubby on March 06, 2013, 07:18:42 pm
pat with all due respect unless he's just gonna drill some holes thru the whole works and have a bolt sticking out both sides I disagree, the limbs are the least of the problems, I've only made half a dozen all wood 3 pc bows but that has been my experience, Bub
Title: Re: Help with a recurve takedown
Post by: PatM on March 06, 2013, 07:44:47 pm
Which is totally fine apart from being unsightly.  Drilling a hole and gluing in an insert is little challenge and a flush mounted Chicago bolt is a perfectly feasible solution as a middle ground.
Title: Re: Help with a recurve takedown
Post by: bubby on March 06, 2013, 09:06:01 pm
yeah it will work but like you said look's like crap, I used none of those methods on mine and took a little skill
Title: Re: Help with a recurve takedown
Post by: WarBird on March 07, 2013, 12:33:09 pm
Well I have another board bow to work on for now and I've decided to use the other two 1/4" slats to make a simple kids lamination bow for my son because I contacted the forester for the DGIF and was told that there is some osage and other good woods that have been cleared in my area that he thinks would make great bow wood! All it takes is a phone call to tell him when and the wood is mine so I will now be able to get to work making some selfbows for real from staves and one day I'll break that riser back out and craft some proper limbs for it. I know I could make it work with some thicker boards or by laminating but I seriously don't want to make what turned out to be a decently attractive riser into Frankenstein with bolts hanging out  ;D
Title: Re: Help with a recurve takedown
Post by: Sidewinder on March 07, 2013, 03:52:13 pm
Warbird I think thats a great idea. You did a nice job on it and it will still be waiting for you when you have some bows under your belt. If you have osage growing around yo then there is no reason why you can't find some good staves. Be sure and read the bark to try and find stuff thats relatively straight. I have never had anyone tell me no when I asked to cut on their property for osage. Especially when I tell them I make self bows and don't do it commercially. I also offer to make them a bow in exchange if I find something worth cutting. I also ask if they bow hunt or would they just like a wallnanger. Most of them just want a wall hanger, so save alll your bows that have too much set and you can finish them up nicely and they will hang strung on their wall as art, no body will be any worse for the wear. Welcome to the addiction.   Danny