New member and first bow

[lake flyer]

Hello, a new member here from Ohio. I used to own a bow, Bear recurve, but hadn't shot it in over 25+ years so gave it to a hunting friend. Then while in the library found the Traditional Bowyers Bible and got the idea to build my own bow. I am not an avid archer nor even what you would call an occasional archer, but the building a bow for some reason really appealed to me. Found a neat muzzleloaders shop nearby that had all four volumes so bought the first three volumes ot get started. I found this site (googled heat treating and bending a bow) just as I was in the finishing stages of my first bow. Wish I would have found it sooner. I am sure it could have saved me some mistakes along the way. I really enjoyed the process and am looking forward to making arrows now.

 This bow is white ash 67" nock to nock and 65" nock to nock when braced. Brace height I am not sure how to measure but from the back of the bow it is 6". Unbraced it follows the string about 1.75" and draws about 46# at 29".
I would appreciate some criticism and how to avoid or correct the mistakes that I made with my first bow. I can see some mistakes with tillering but would rather hear it from the experts. Looking forward to building my second bow out of either more ash or the osage orange. Thanks, looking forward to some advice and glad to be a member!

[AH]

First off: Hi! Welcome to the primitive archer community.

to me, it looks like the bow could be bending more mid-limb in the left limb, and the right limb has a hinge in the tiller near the tip.  but then, what do I know..

I would try printing out a photo and drawing a circle on the fulldraw , as a reference to see where it's bending too much or too little.

But don't beat yourself up over it. My first bow looked wayyyy worse.

[PaleoNinja]

This is very good for a first bow.  First of all it would be helpful to see the face of the bow, so we can see if it's bending at it's widest points.  That said, from this picture I can see that you're hinging about 10 inches from the tip of the right limb.

[darodalaf]

It -does- look like a bit of a hinge on the right limb, but its severity may be an optical illusion due to the intersection of the line from the clapboard behind it. The same area on the left limb is stiff by comparison.

I only have a half dozen bows under my belt, so take my opinion with a good grain of salt.

[blackhawk]

Welcome to the madness!!!  ...where ats in buckeye land you at?

[hilltophickory]

Looks like a nice first to me, I believe when we are talking Primitive Archery we can have a few  Imperfections, but that's just my opinion.

[lake flyer]

Thanks for the replies! It definitely has a hinge on the right limb, where I got carried away with a lockblade knife that I use as my scraper. I also suspected that the left limb needed a better tiller. Should I work on the mid limb or the outer end? It does not have as deep a bend as the other limb. I will also get some pics up of the belly and back sides of the bow. The tools I use are the lockblade knife, a rasp, Stanley surform, and a wood chisel. Any suggestions on helpful tools or techniques? My bow also has a slight propeller that developed when I dried the billet and it warped reflexed and slightly twisted. Any suggestion on fixing that or for the future preventing a billet from warping?

I made my bowstring out of old dacron fishing line 50# test, four strands flemish twisted. Got some good ideas to apply to  furling flyfishing leaders from making my own bowstring! Waxing the string really makes a furling a lot easier. I've got dozens of questions but I guess just doing it and making all  the mistakes is probably the best teacher.

 Hilltophickory, thanks for the comment, I read in one of the books Paul Comstock said nearly the same thing.
But I still regret getting that hinge in there.

 BTW I live in NE OH.

[Ken S]

Looks really good for a first bow.you should take a little more off the bottom limb,midlimb to the tip I think would help even it out.Do you have a pic of brace height.

[lake flyer]

Is there a way to fix or reduce the hinge? Also any advice on what type of finish/ varnish to use?

[k-hat]

Scrape on both sides of the hinge to get the limb bending more around it and less in the hinge.  You'll lose weight (i'd guess about 5#) when all is said and done because you'll have to reduce the other limb to match tiller.  Don't pull it any more until you take care of the hinge.  you can also strengthen the hinged area by tempering it a bit. 

As mentioned, we REALLY need to see or know what the front profile is... parallel, pyramid etc.. in order to assess the tiller.  If it's a pyramid, then as mentioned the left limb needs to bend more in the middle.  If it's parallel most of the length, then the inner third is doing too much and you need to scrape middle and outer thirds.

And... welcome to PA!!

[k-hat]

As for finish, do a search "finishes", that was a pretty lengthy thread hear about a month or two ago which will give you plenty to chew on

[lake flyer]

Here is a picture of the profile. 2 inches wide at the fades and out to midlimb, 17" from the tips. Width at the nock is 7/8".

 

Braced


Full draw 29"

[Ken S]

I would scrape the bottom limb before anything,even out the tiller & take some pressure off the top limb.

[Newindian]

To me it looks like he right limb needs some material taken from about 4-5" above he handle form the next ten inches or so,and the left limb needs the outer 3/4 reduced a little

[DuBois]

I am definitely not the guy to advise on tillering!
But, welcome and listen to these guys with experience cause they do some awesome stuff.
Just a warning; you may never return to life as you knew it HAHAHAHAH