Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Selfbowman on November 04, 2025, 02:57:23 pm
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I follow the grain on the back of the bow and keep it flat as possible. My question is this do you snake lovers thin the part of the limb that goes out from the center of the bow or keep the belly side as flat as possible following the grain. I have experienced with thinning the out side centering the mass more. What do the snake guys say? Here is a pic of where I would thin the limbs from the pencil mark out.
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Not exactly sure what you mean. Are you referring to cancelling slight amounts of propellor twist? If so I usually mirror what the back does,on the belly, follow the character no matter which dimension it goes, rather than impose a predetermined flatness like you would have on a board stave.
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I have not done any as snakey as the one your working on yet, but the ones I have built, like Hamish, I tried to match the back all the way as best I could.
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Only made a few snakey bows, but I would NOT remove wood outside those pencil lines. Looks like you have the shape just right already. If you remove that wood, you will greatly weaken those areas.
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Keep them coming guys. Jim I have done it in the past with good results. My thinking is that it helps keep ya he limb from torquing as it’s be nt
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Is that the back or belly we are looking at ?? I always am very careful to follow the longitudinal grain and be sure you have no run off in the working part of the limbs. Also very careful in the larger snakes when tillering , they for some reason take a hinge there if not careful. Also be careful when trying to take out propeller in them areas, little at a time or the can open up on the grain. Done a bunch of, some work out great and some don’t , just always take it slow, much slower than a normal straight limb bow, they can do strange things but love them and the challenge. Pappy
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I have made a lot of snaky bows, I leave the limb thickness square on the sides. I make my bows with slightly rounded belly, almost flat in the wider part of the limbs and more rounded past the taper and in the last foot of the limbs.
This just out from the fade;
(https://i.imgur.com/JkNlKK1.jpg)
Mid limb
(https://i.imgur.com/LfhqQnk.jpg)
A foot in from the tip;
(https://i.imgur.com/kfGHC29.jpg)
And 6" from the tip;
(https://i.imgur.com/1p4u0Ee.jpg)
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I would keep the limbs even thickness along the width. That’s what I try doing on the ones I’ve done and haven’t had any trouble yet
Kyle
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Arvin, are you suggesting that the extreme outside edges of the curves be thinned to force the strength of the wood (thickness & power) to be closer to the bow’s centerline (tip tp tip)? If that’s the case, dealing with limb twist would have to be “balanced” from side to side (curve to curve). If it worked, there would be a definite increase in efficiency. Interesting idea!
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Nonbacked that’s exactly what I’m talking about. I done it on a couple bows. Bob Barnes has one. Maybe he can measure the edges of the bends and shed some light on what I’m saying. Hello Bob! 🤠🤠
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Ok here is a pic to try to explain what I’m saying. The top of the T is the ticker part of the limb and the bottom of the T is thinner. A straight line all the way across the limb would be the same thickness all the way across the limb. The blue line represents the center of the limb.
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This tillering method would welcome Eric’s tillering gizmo.
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Check out the two growth rings on the end of the blank! Not my most favorable choice but we will see what comes from it.
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That will be a challenging stave to tiller. I made most of my snaky bows out of sister billets instead of staves, this way I could orientate limbs to be in line and have the snakes match better through the length of the stave.
You can see how the limbs match in this sister billet snake bow. In the picture I am putting the final finish over the skins.
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Eric I can see what you are talking about. Everything comes to rest the same less vibration.
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I have used a long snaky stave, cut it in half and re-orientate the limbs to line them up and take most of the twist out by the way I spliced the billets back together
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Nonbacked that’s exactly what I’m talking about. I done it on a couple bows. Bob Barnes has one. Maybe he can measure the edges of the bends and shed some light on what I’m saying. Hello Bob! 🤠🤠
That's a nice stave Arvin. Let me know what you need as far as measurements or pictures. I typically try to maintain a uniform belly, but I do make it slightly rounded like Eric does. The idea that you are exploring sounds like it might work on some squiggles, but my last one had a place or two that you couldn't make a "T" to follow.
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Ok Bob where the limb goes out past the string is the side closest the string thicker than the outside of the bend???is the section where the string is in the middle of the limb close to the same thickness all the way across. From looking at my growth ring below on the edges that’s what I see.is that your bow or the one I made you?? Regardless is the thickness like I ask question about?
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The side closest to the string is a little thicker, but it's hard to be exact since I've already slightly rounded the edges. It's about .01" thicker. The 45° bend just before the part that's off the string is where the limb rings opened up/separated.
I marked the spot where the string crosses the limbs, and they are the thicker parts. The back is almost flat.
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Arvin, I don’t know if this will help or not, but here is one I made. It shots fine with little hand shock, but it does twist a little in the hand on release I contribute to so much limb protuding out from the string on the upper limb. There is just more mass weight on the right side of center than left. Limb thickness is consistent all the way with the back tip to tip.
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More photos
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Arvin, on some snaky staves each snaky growth ring travels a different path. Many of those sneaky staves usually don't survive.
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Pat the survival rate is why I don’t build them very often. I will put tip overlays on this bow and put it on a long string and see how it bends at 4-8”.
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Arvin, a better way to say on mine above is it rolls in a loose grip. When just held in the hand unstrung it rolls in the hand because of the mass weight of wood favoring one side.
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I must be lucky; I have never had a snaky bow fail. I have one out there that probably has 100K arrows through it and is still shooting, others disappeared around the country and I don't know where they are now. When I make a snake bow, the new owner wants one with all the bells and whistles which includes snake skins, tip overlays and burl wood inlays in the sight window. I suspect these bows are babied somewhat and not everyday shooters. With that said, I never made a snake bow with wide sweeping curves like Arvin's project, my bows all had tighter snakes.
I did notice the other day that an old friend from long ago used one I made about 20 years ago to win the primitive class in the Bama state championship this year. Someone had take a picture of Tim out on the course and I noticed that he was still shooting the bow that I auctioned off to raise money for the Alabama Children's Hospital. His bid was so generous that I made a freebie BBO for his wife as a thank-you for his bid.
I put an inlayed a burl wood name plate in each of the bows, this was in the BBO.