Primitive Archer

Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: shamus on May 17, 2008, 12:10:22 pm

Title: She shoots her first selfbow and......
Post by: shamus on May 17, 2008, 12:10:22 pm
...she loved it!

After getting my True Love started on an Pearson All American recurve, I made her a white oak selfbow. The bow is 62" long, 23# @26".  Cane grip. 4 coats of helmsman spar urethane. She likes the selfbow a lot better than the recurve. I went for a more elliptical tiller in order to eke some extra performance from the lighter draw weight.

more details here: http://analogperiphery.blogspot.com/2008/05/m-shoots-her-first-selfbow.html

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v222/shamus005/marcher252008.jpg)
Title: Re: She shoots her first selfbow and......
Post by: OldBow on May 17, 2008, 12:35:03 pm
Good looking limbs ;) And bookmarked for May Self Bow of the Month
Title: Re: She shoots her first selfbow and......
Post by: shamus on May 17, 2008, 01:41:50 pm
the grip:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v222/shamus005/woakriserside.jpg)


bow details: This bow does not have a narrowed handle. The handle and the widest area of the limbs are both 1" wide. A half inch from the handle fades, the limbs taper in width to just under .5 at the nocks.  The middle The handle is 3.5" long, 1.25" deep. Bow length is 62".

The bow is clean and straight, and pretty much tillered itself. The limbs gradually taper in their width, and this usually makes for easier tillering; an advantage of using this design. The limb still has to taper in thickness, but not so much as a limb without a width taper. This modified pyramid design of a gradual width taper has served me well. It makes for a fast bow, and easier tillering.

The bow took a tad more set (string follow) than anticipated. The set increased as the bow broke itself in. It was never stressed over its intended draw weight during tillering, and has a low draw weight to begin with. Theoretically, wider limbs would have prevented string follow, but wide limbs would have made made the limb thickness very thin. Very thin limbs can go out of tiller, and twist easily. This is why youth and ladies' bows have a reputation of being hard to make. A very thin limb might have given me lower string follow, but it would have been at a sacrifice. I opted for limb stability and endurance over raw performance. Bowyery is about compromise.
Title: Re: She shoots her first selfbow and......
Post by: Dano on May 17, 2008, 02:00:10 pm
Great looking bow, love the handle wrap.
Title: Re: She shoots her first selfbow and......
Post by: Justin Snyder on May 17, 2008, 02:46:44 pm
Good work.  Justin
Title: Re: She shoots her first selfbow and......
Post by: recurve shooter on May 17, 2008, 03:08:09 pm
yup. real cool bow. gonna have to go oak hunting now. dose anyone know if water oak (dunno what yall would call it up yonder) will make a bow?

by the way, real cool grip.
Title: Re: She shoots her first selfbow and......
Post by: Hillbilly on May 17, 2008, 05:51:09 pm
Great looking bow.
Title: Re: She shoots her first selfbow and......
Post by: cowboy on May 17, 2008, 06:33:04 pm
Nice bow - love that tiller!
Title: Re: She shoots her first selfbow and......
Post by: DanaM on May 18, 2008, 09:15:47 am
Looks like she likes it and knows what she's doing with it also. Well done.
Title: Re: She shoots her first selfbow and......
Post by: shamus on May 18, 2008, 12:11:18 pm
thanks everyone for the compliments. I'm already trying to think about what her next bow is going to be.

I think her recurve is going to start collecting dust.
Title: Re: She shoots her first selfbow and......
Post by: Pappy on May 21, 2008, 07:42:12 am
Very nice job,love the grip,I know she will enjoy that.  :)
   Pappy
Title: Re: She shoots her first selfbow and......
Post by: bootboy on May 21, 2008, 10:33:43 am
how do I make a cane grip?