Short and Simple HHB bow

[upstatenybowyer]

Just a few more questions:
Did you make the limbs equal length?
Did you taper the thickness or just the width?
Was the stave from a larger log since it doesn't appear to have much of a crown?
Were you worried about the string cutting into the wood that you didn't go for self nocks?

Again I think this is one of your best bows you have made so far. I will try to make one similar as well. I had trouble in the past in making short HHB bows without breaking them.

The limbs are equal length with the handle right in the middle
The handle is a tad narrower and thicker
The width is a constant 1 3/4" out of the handle all the way out 2/3 on both limbs then tapering to 3/8" tips. (I did this to keep set to a minimum)
I'm sure self nocks would have been fine, I had some small pieces of horn lying around so I figured why not?
It came from a tree with about a 4-5" in diameter.
 

[BowEd]

Nice work.Powerful little bow there.

[loon]

Awesome. Seems to have plenty of brace height..

[diliviu]

The bow looks great, and 67 at 25 for 50 ntn is really not easy to get!
Regarding the tillering, if my eyes don't trick me I would have given the bow just a tad less bend in the handle, considering the handle is a little narrowed. But, again, the way it came out is fine and the specs confirm this once again.

[upstatenybowyer]

Bead, it is a little whippersnapper. Kinda reminds me of a few of my 5th graders
loon, I remembered your and ajooter's observations that I tend to brace low. Glad you noticed I tried to fix that. 
diliviu, I hear you about the bend in the handle. Short bows leave very little room for error, and I was getting the draw weight I wanted without too much set, so I left it alone.

[Gorzideudeus]

I love the birch bark on the back. Actually, now I may do that to my black locust bow in progress.

[osage outlaw]

Nice D bow.

[make-n-break]

Man, you're really turning them out!! I feel like you've built more this month that I have all year! Another beauty. Keep up the good work.

[upstatenybowyer]

Thank you once more to all. I know I post a lot of um, so I really appreciate you folks bearing with me.

If anyone's wondering how I find the time, I'm always searching for wood and roughing them out. They dry much faster this way, although I realize it may not be the best way to season wood.

With a consistent supply of ready-to-tiller bows, I've always got one to work on. I spend about 2-3 hours on weeknights and about 4 hours a day on weekends.   

[Springbuck]

I've never made anything, out of any wood, that powerful, that short.  Fine work!

[Aaron H]

Nice little bow upstate.

P.s.  I love that stained glass door

[loon]

loon, I remembered your and ajooter's observations that I tend to brace low. Glad you noticed I tried to fix that. 

w-well, a low brace strains the wood less and can sometimes perform better? .. Glad that it worked out though

[Philipp A]

I think this beautiful short bow is an illustration in point verses the recurved HHB bow that just broke. I think with HHB the more heavily crowned staves, present much bigger challenges verses the flatter staves. The fact that you were able to make such a fantastic heavy draw bow from such a small stave speaks to the quality of the stave and your skill.

I have come to the conclusion that one has to be very selective on the type of HHB trees you use for bow wood in order to have a long lasting good bow. I am also halving and quartering my HHB staves almost immediately after cutting the trees in order to prevent longitudinal cracking from drying. I also immediately seal the ends with white wood glue.

[upstatenybowyer]

Thanks Philipp. 

Points well made about HHB. However, that recurve you mentioned actually wasn't HHB  . It was a relative, called American Hornbeam. The wood is quite similar in density, workability, and reaction to heat treating. The main difference (as far as I know) is that the surface of AH has much deeper grooves and ridges, which poses a considerable threat to the back splitting, as the tension isn't evenly distributed across the surface. I'm pretty sure that is what caused the failure.

Here's a better picture of the ridges

[Philipp A]

Hi,

Point taken  . I am posting a pic of my HHB bow that shows how deep the trenches are on my favourite HHB bow and that it has no issues with cracking (it however bends through the handle). I am still thinking that the primary reason for the breakage might have been the shorter area that is subject to bending with the recurves and a stiff handle.  Do you have a close up of the area where it broke?

Cheers,

Phil