Shortbow builders

[thomas h]

enjoy  while you can  the  time with him  is priceless  great looking young man and really cool bow.

[ken75]

Lee the paddle bow is 54 inches , 1 1/2 at the widest
thanks gentlemen for the compliments

[Traxx]

Sorry,but im a bit confused here.I see a Flatbow in Kens pics,not a Paddle bow.A paddle bow,is widest at mid limb.

[ken75]

Traxx my first one failed so i stretched that one a tad , may not be a true paddle bow but it was my attempt . also my last try

[fusizoli]

Paddle bows are nightmare to tiller 

Here is the next attempt on the same ash with the same 41.5 ntn lenght. It is in the 40-45# range on 22.5 draw.
It takes more set than the other but this is narower 2.9cm. Will let the ash ones wider....Bottom limb have some natural deflex.
Painted with the same earth pigments and waxed.






That 25.5 is far away yet  May with osage...

[Lee Slikkers]

Dang, sure do love your work Sir!  Keep em coming!

[blackhawk]

Nice one Fusi....

[Pat B]

At the Tenn. Classic this year Gary Davis gave me a 53" osage kids bow stave. He had it markes for a 35# bow but it felt way stronger than that to me. After giving it a good once over I decided to sinew back it and see if I can get a hunting weight bow out of it. It is stiff enough on it's own so as soon as I can get around to working on it I will put 2 or 3 layers of sinew on it. Looking for 50# to 55#@26". I'll post pics of the progress as I go.

[ken75]

beautiful bow fuszioli

[fusizoli]

Thank you guys 

This is a projet to me. Like to see what could I do on this lenght & like to make that 25-25.5 draw as Rich did 

Now at first make some ash bows. Have two more attempt for that 25. Hope I could do it  Than will try some other woods too.
I'm shure that deflex handle will do the work and moderate the set on ash.

[medicinewheel]

Really nice bow fusizoli, like all about it, tiller and finish!

[blackhawk]

Well...here's what happened with my lil Osage. 

Here's the unbraced profile. 29.5"ntn.




Here it is low braced






And here's the money shot 





 
She let loose at that knot and it split and ran vertically through the whole bow. I was pulling it 9"@50lbs on the long string and had the tiller looking good. So I went to brace it and I got her down to 40lbs@15" and snap she went. Weird it went at that weight when I had been pulling her to 50 on the long string.


So it was a good learning lesson. I know it didn't make the cut here but I thought id post it for discussion and why it failed. Too short? Too much recurved tips? The knot? It was a waste cut. Id think a good piece of Osage wood handle it or if this was sinew backed.


It still pulls back to 12" and I shot some arrows for fun. Im not even bummed or mad. I think its amusing 

[half eye]

Hey Blackhawk,  Quite a few NA short bows were sinew wrapped around the bow limbs to prevent that very thing, but I've seen pictures of a few that got that centerline crack and apparently shot fine anyways......fyi

Fuszioli, dang dude ya got almost 23" draw out of a self bow that should only draw 20" tops.....(if it was backed) I think that little bow rocks.......
rich

[blackhawk]

She's def a goner Rich. That crack went to deep and in one spot went all the way thru to the back for two inches at that knot. I wonder what this design wood do at 40" ?  I bet someone could get 25" with it.  Maybe?

Obviously I recurved the tips almost 90 and deflexed the handle area. And the limbs had slight natural reflex in them.

[ken75]

Blackhawk bummer it failed , but then that was short. i like the design , im like you ,curious what it would look like and perform like at 40 .
sweet attempt though thanks for showing it

fusizoli , i wouldnt worry bout 25 inches looks like thats close to full draw for you and i think you have proven ash as an excellent wood