Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: TimPotter on December 30, 2015, 07:21:44 am
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I made this bow for my niece's husband for Christmas. He had been over to my house several times and had mentioned wanting a real bow. So here is what I made for him. It is my 1st bow in quite awhile due to numerous other projects going on and I had simply not been that inspired to sculpt out any bows. 62" Nock to Nock. 57# at 28" And yes I'm making new arrows.
(http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z372/thimosabv2/Dec-15-H-1.jpg) (http://s1186.photobucket.com/user/thimosabv2/media/Dec-15-H-1.jpg.html)
(http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z372/thimosabv2/Dec-15-H-3.jpg) (http://s1186.photobucket.com/user/thimosabv2/media/Dec-15-H-3.jpg.html)
(http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z372/thimosabv2/Dec-15-H-2.jpg) (http://s1186.photobucket.com/user/thimosabv2/media/Dec-15-H-2.jpg.html)
I pretty much went after it with a hatchet and bowie knife to begin with.
(http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z372/thimosabv2/Day-2a.jpg) (http://s1186.photobucket.com/user/thimosabv2/media/Day-2a.jpg.html)
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Maybe an hour of hatchet work brought it to a good initial layout stage.
(http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z372/thimosabv2/Day2-d.jpg) (http://s1186.photobucket.com/user/thimosabv2/media/Day2-d.jpg.html)
(http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z372/thimosabv2/Day2-e.jpg) (http://s1186.photobucket.com/user/thimosabv2/media/Day2-e.jpg.html)
Then more refined work with the heavy knife.
(http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z372/thimosabv2/Day-2b.jpg) (http://s1186.photobucket.com/user/thimosabv2/media/Day-2b.jpg.html)
(http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z372/thimosabv2/Day-2c.jpg) (http://s1186.photobucket.com/user/thimosabv2/media/Day-2c.jpg.html)
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Then a quick heat session just to get some of the wonkiness out of the limbs.
(http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z372/thimosabv2/Dec16-1.jpg) (http://s1186.photobucket.com/user/thimosabv2/media/Dec16-1.jpg.html)
Here is pretty much the only tools used from here on out until sandpaper.
(http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z372/thimosabv2/12-21-15e.jpg) (http://s1186.photobucket.com/user/thimosabv2/media/12-21-15e.jpg.html)
Initial tiller check. Not 100% happy with outer tips, but ok with over full arc profile.
(http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z372/thimosabv2/solstice-1.jpg) (http://s1186.photobucket.com/user/thimosabv2/media/solstice-1.jpg.html)
After a bit more tweaking I gave it a true heat tempering. Nice and slow over entire belly, about 3 minutes per 3 fingers width.
(http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z372/thimosabv2/IMAG0705.jpg) (http://s1186.photobucket.com/user/thimosabv2/media/IMAG0705.jpg.html)
(http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z372/thimosabv2/IMAG0714.jpg) (http://s1186.photobucket.com/user/thimosabv2/media/IMAG0714.jpg.html)
Back of the bow.
(http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z372/thimosabv2/IMAG0713.jpg) (http://s1186.photobucket.com/user/thimosabv2/media/IMAG0713.jpg.html)
It still keeps a bit of it's reflex. I like that.
(http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z372/thimosabv2/IMAG0715.jpg) (http://s1186.photobucket.com/user/thimosabv2/media/IMAG0715.jpg.html)
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Very simple self nocks.
(http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z372/thimosabv2/IMAG0712.jpg) (http://s1186.photobucket.com/user/thimosabv2/media/IMAG0712.jpg.html)
I chose just a piece of brown leather and some hemp to stitch on the handle.
(http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z372/thimosabv2/IMAG0718.jpg) (http://s1186.photobucket.com/user/thimosabv2/media/IMAG0718.jpg.html)
(http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z372/thimosabv2/Dec24-15-a.jpg) (http://s1186.photobucket.com/user/thimosabv2/media/Dec24-15-a.jpg.html)
Over all I was pleased with the result. Nice speed and penetration on target. Smooth to draw as well.
(http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z372/thimosabv2/Dec24-15b.jpg) (http://s1186.photobucket.com/user/thimosabv2/media/Dec24-15b.jpg.html)
(http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/z372/thimosabv2/Dec24-15-c.jpg) (http://s1186.photobucket.com/user/thimosabv2/media/Dec24-15-c.jpg.html)
The real good news was my nieces husband (nephew-in-law is that a term?) loved it. And I'm back now officially bitten by the bow bug.
Cheers all and have a Happy New Year!
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Love it :)
Del
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Nice job of turning that wonky profiled stave into a bow with a beautiful arc at full draw. The bow has a cool primitive/natural look too, ya have to be happy with those results.
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Thank You guys. Yes I was happy to see the appreciation on his face as well. Hopefully I'll have him over for some target practice soon. Meanwhile I'm making my 12 year old son a better bow. It's fun being back in the woodshop.
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Welcome back, Thimo! The bow is excellent. Jawge
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Nice!... Brian
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Thank you Jawge. Always good to hear from you.
Thanks Koan.
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That is a killer bow.
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Great bend, all around sweet lookin stik.
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hello Tim, really nice now, like it a lot.
in the second picture, didnt you cut the lateral grain of the stave? shouldnt you have followed the natural curve of the grain? sorry for my questions, but i am still a rookie...
regards,
Joćo from Portugal
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Atta boy Thimo!!! :)
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that turned out great, congrats :)
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wow love the full draw........good job! Elm's on my bucket list..
DBar
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Thank you very much everyone. I've been out working on 2 crape-myrtle bows that I'll be showing here soon.
hello Tim, really nice now, like it a lot.
in the second picture, didnt you cut the lateral grain of the stave? shouldnt you have followed the natural curve of the grain? sorry for my questions, but i am still a rookie...
regards,
Joćo from Portugal
Joao, No I did not cut the lateral grain. One of the things I like about using hatchets, adzes and knives is usually the blades will follow the path of the grain when struck at a steep angle. The pictures are not that good at showing the whole story with the twisted grain, but I pretty much followed the natural flow of the wood.
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Thanks for the answer Tim.
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You accomplished your goal - you made him a real bow! Nice work. That may be my favorite kind of bow. I like the way you didn't try to iron out every wrinkle. That bow has character and a sweet bend.
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Awesome bow and thanks for taking us through the process! :)
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Nice bow, nice bend, well done.
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pso link=topic=55520.msg754883#msg754883 date=1451488571]
hello Tim, really nice now, like it a lot.
in the second picture, didnt you cut the lateral grain of the stave? shouldnt you have followed the natural curve of the grain? sorry for my questions, but i am still a rookie...
regards,
Joćo from Portugal
[/quote]
Hey, I can answer this question, although my answer may not be HIS answer....
First, elm is tough, stringy, and does not like to break unless really dry or eaten by bugs or fungus.
Second, the diameter of tree that came from gives you a pretty high crown on the back. It looks to me that he purposely used the CROWN of the stave as a centerline, rather than following the grain markings. This is good. Having the crown run down the middle of the bow saves all kinds of trouble, like avoiding side to side dips, or limbs that want to bend to one side, etc...
This works because elm is so strong in tension to begin with, AND the highest part of the crown experiences the most tension strain. As long as the grain at the crown is intact, it does not matter if it is a few degrees angle off of perfectly straight lengthwise. Obviously, a LOT of twist or a BIG wiggle you might want to follow it perfectly. But, the grain run off, if there is any, is away from the crown, wrapping from back toward belly where the bow is less thick, and once you round off the corners, it isn't under too much strain.
I use this strategy with "small" woods that twist or wiggle a lot where I live, like apple shoots from neglected apple trees, serviceberry, mulberry suckers, hawthorn, and stuff. I quit trying it if the twist is severe, or I follow the grain closely if the wiggle is severe.
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Thank you fellas.
Wow. Springbuck you described the reason I like working with that diameter of a tree and with elm in particular, for Holmegaards, better than I could myself. Thank You. I have a smaller narrower harvested elm sappling I'll be making a Eastern Woodlands style bow from soon. On that one I'll probably decrown a bit, but it'll have a sweet nature made arrow rest where a side branch used to be.
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really nice bow there! you did a awesome job on that bow.Tony
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Congrats on the bow. Nice gift by the way. Arvin
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Thank you very much.
It just feels good working on bows again. Even the smell of heat treating. Didn't know I missed it so much.