Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: wazabodark on September 24, 2014, 09:25:51 pm
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I have literally killed a dozen bows before ever shooting them so please help me out here. This bow is Bodark, 64"ntn,1 1/4"at the fades tapering to 1/2"at the tips, 5/8"at the fades to1/2"at the tips belly taper. Mostly symmetrical. I'm shooting for 50#at 28". Right now I have it at a low brace and I'm reading 23# at 10".my question is, what now? I'm at that part where I usually wind up destroying my bow, and I've really got allot of hope for this one. Can Someone please help me before make yet another batch of yellow toothpicks? Here's some pictures.
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Okay, we'll tackle this one problem at a time. Can someone tell me how to post my pictures?
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Are the limbs bending evenly? Any hinges or stiff areas? If so, get them evened up.
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Use photobucket to upload pictures.
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Bodark.......bodark! Where you from?
That's what we call Osage here in Oklahoma.
E
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Some pics will really help with getting you some proper advice. There are some really knowledgeable folks on this site that can help. Go slow and make sure that you have not violated the back of the bow - if you do a good job chasing a ring and have that back all slicked up and your limbs are bending evenly, it's hard to bust a good piece of osage. I save my photos to my desktop first. Click on Attachments and other options. Open it and save it in your post. You may have to resize your pics down so that they will fit. Good luck with it and hang in there. You have come to the right place.
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Alright, let's try this.https://www.dropbox.com/sc/2hcbsshgq6bue9h/AABA5FrOE0ozW6EJ7Lpi7KqJa
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And BTW, Indian Guy, here In Texas, where the tree is originally from, we call it Bodark, because that's proper. You can't kidnap a Texas native, change his name, and expect us not to recognize him for one of our own.
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And BTW, Indian Guy, here In Texas, where the tree is originally from, we call it Bodark, because that's proper. You can't kidnap a Texas native, change his name, and expect us not to recognize him for one of our own.lol try rounding off those squared edges. Take a few pictures of the belly and back will help a lot too.
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Bodark comes from the French name for the tree:
The trees acquired the name bois d'arc, or "bow-wood", from early French settlers who observed the wood being used for war clubs and bow-making by Native Americans.[9]
off of the Maclura pomifera page on Wikipedia
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Looks like a good start to me. An unbraced pic would help. Just go slow and steady.
It would help if the pictures were here where everyone could see them. If you'd like, I could walk you through the process via pm.
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Looks pretty good to me, i never really put a pre tapper on the limbs,especially on a pyramid design,I just get the limbs bending even and let the wood tell me where to take it off.Some rely IMO to much on that instead of remembering it is just wood and pre anything don't work most of the time. Just keep doing what you are doing,slow and easy,like was said pictures on site would help and more would look,usually if they aren't here I don't look,just curious this morning I guess. ;) ;D ;D
Pappy
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yes but in east texas we call it Horse Apple :)
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(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/sc/2hcbsshgq6bue9h/AACViR80ld7Hk9W2QCDO7Et_a/1?token_hash=AAGn7mQjDIaNlA4Ejk7EBdwK9zR4kBVRVWxGsdeqntl9zw&expiry=1411674215)
It looks pretty good already. I don't see anything that can't be corrected, but there are some small issues that should be fixed before you continue.
- Those string grooves are cut into the back of the bow, which is a big no-no. You can file grooves into the sides of the bow, but not into the back, UNLESS you apply nock overlays. Since I don't see overlays, you need to fix those nocks. File the back flat again to get rid of that groove. Then glue on a small piece of wood (osage is fine as well) as to create a small additional thickness. Then file grooves into the sides of the bow, slowly curving into the back.
- The corners appears sharp and square. At this point, once the width taper is accurate, make sure all four corners of the limbs are rounded to about the size of a pea.
- The left limb appears a bit stiff near the handle. It's difficult to say for sure, since you didn't include an unbraced picture. But I'd scrape the inner half of the lefthand limb a bit.
- From this point onwards, put away the draw knife, rasp, spoke shave and SurForm. Use only tools that remove small amounts of wood. A scraper tool is excellent, especially when combined with a fine (half round) file. Re-check the tiller often, after every ten minutes of scraping at least. Keep applying the same amount of draw weight, but monitor how much the draw length increases after each successive wood removal.
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Mark a nice big pencil line at the end of the fades and watch that area as you begin to pull to 10" that area should start to move.
If you are doing a pyramid design it should appear more circular in tiller. That means you need to get that near handle wood out to mid limb moving more.
You should now be suing a scraper-like tool.
More on my site. Jawge
http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/
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Take a straightedge, 4-6 inches long or so. Run it along the belly at 10 inches of draw and observe the gap between it and the belly. Get the gap even from just outside the fade to just before the tip (last 4-6 inches on mine stay stiff). Now check the other limb and do the same. If they started out close to one another they should still be close. Make minor adjustments to bring them (each limb) into sink with one another other. Get the gap right first and you can avoid any hinges later as you fine tune it. Now begin increasing the draw length a few inches at a time and repeat the process. At 15-16 inches it should be really close. Take it off the tree and draw by hand from there on. Good luck with it!
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I agree with George. From fades to midlimbs need to bend more. Scrape slowly and check often. Leave last 8" to tips alittle stiff. Left limb looks like might need a few more scrapes than the right.
I have made 8 bows of this style and limb thickness is less than 1/2". I have 1 57#@28" 63"NTN. The others are 50# @28" 66"ntn. Shoot 1 character 50# almost exclusively for 3 1/2 years at least 2 3-D shoots a month with no problem yet.
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alright, folks, i talked my wife into letting me use the real computer so I'm hoping I can get some pics directly to this page now. if that goes right then these should be of the back of the bow
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and the belly
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some profiles and a shot showing refllex
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Finally some shots of where I am in the tillering process. 31#@14". My goal is 50#@28", so I think I'm good so far. For the record, I've read and re-read everyone's posts so far, so I know to round off the edges and add tip overlays. I have a mess of antlers laying around that I need to do something with anyway. Thanks to all of you for your input. More input is welcome.
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BTW, it's not really a true pyramid taper. It runs 1 1/4 at the fades to 1" at mid limb to 1/2" at the tips. and I put away the drawknife and rasp a long time ago. I'm doing all my wood removal with a piece of glass at this point.
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The bow is looking really good. The most important advise I can give you is enjoy the process. That's what it's all about really.
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Looks good :)
One more piece of advice: if you are aiming for a specific draw weight, you should be applying that amount of draw weight to the bow early on. Right now, you have still only pulled the bow to 30#, while you want it to be 50# in the end. You should pull full force on the bow, even if that means on 10" of draw length. You'll still need a good tiller of course, before you continue, so don't just pull it to 50# without judging the tiller and making corrections to it. Right now, you are at maybe 60#-70# at 28". It does not take a lot of wood removal to get to 50#!
The left limb has a small weak spot about two thirds out, right where that vertical line in the background is. The tiller will be better when you scrape the left midlimb a bit. Then, when the tiller looks good, continue to exercise the bow (20 pulls at each successive inch of draw length). Pull it to your goal of 50#, and see what draw length you're at.