Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: barebo on January 27, 2018, 11:01:49 am
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I have one very nice Hop Hornbeam stave left, and have it worked down to near floor tiller. I'm going to boil the tips and bend some short statics and want to add about 4" of reflex to hopefully give it a bit more "zip".
I have a nice 2x6" that will make a caul and am hoping for a similar profile to Marc St. Louis style recurves.
Do I put it on the caul and induce the reflex with heat now, or get it to short brace and then heat treat into reflex? I've done a few straight limb recurves, but want to give this a go.
Any advice is much appreciated!
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I usually do it when I have the tiller pretty well evened out and drawing my target weight on the long string at about 16" or 18"
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I'd wait until after first low brace so you can see how things line up. You can do ant straightening along with adding reflex all at the same time.
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This stave came from a 12-14" tree so there is hardly any crown. Right now, it's 65" overall and just 1-3/4" wide. Looking for 45-50#@27".
The limbs are just starting to bend some - I haven't done any work on the belly - just cut the profile out carefully on the bandsaw. I used to do it all with rasp and drawknife, but can pretty much tell how thick the limbs need to be. I'm sure that the heat gun will bump the poundage up as well.
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I left the tips wide and fairly thick to insure plenty material to bend in statics. I'm also wondering if I should do a gradual straight taper from the fades, or leave it full width till the last 8-10"?
Thanks Badger and Pat B.
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Gradual taper from mid limb or just a little farther out is a good happy medium.