Fred Arnold 2017 Bow Trade, Pictures Please, housekeeping issues

[DuBois]

Did you use any oil on it when dry heating? Not sure but it may help absorb the heat better. I don't know anything about laurel though.

[PatM]

Remember his laurel is not a laurel at all. More like a plum or cherry.

[Swamp Thang]

Hey guys haven't checked in I've had a gnarly cold running fever the whole 9 yards yall see me this weekend!

[stuckinthemud]

Wife out for the evening, laurel steamed for hour, left/right bend all gone. So, how far should I set back the handle?

[Limbwalker]

Hello all, I must apologise for my absence. More time has gone by than I realised; well my grandfather died a few weeks ago and it took me by complete surprise. Everything came to a halt as I headed off to Texas to say goodbye and visit with family. I was close with him and though I wasn't ready for his passing, that is how life goes. I spent my Summer's in New England with him as a child and he taught me how to steer a canoe and shoot a gun, you know, the good stuff. Anyway I'm back into my routine and am home now. I have a couple bows I'm working on for his trade. I kind of forgot about everything at first, but realise now I maybe should have given you all a heads up. There is some real neat stuff going on here, as usual, take care.

[bushboy]

Sorry for your loss limbwalker.my best seasoned elm received some mildew damage a couple of years ago so I took it down a ring revealing a nice yellow one.this ring passed the bend test brilliantly! I cut the shape out and reduced it consideralby .gonna let it sit for a couple days before proceeding.

[DuBois]

Hey Bushy, lookin forward to the elm progress. I've never done a elm bow.

Sorry to hear about your grandpa. Sounds like he lived well and left a good legacy.

[Mo_coon-catcher]

I got it cleaned up and thinned down. I've gotta do a little tweaking of the string alignment. But it's close enough to start tillering. And here is the first bend in the long string. It's not bad but still very stiff only pulling to about 15" at 50#. But it doesn't seem to be flexing much in the inner 1/3. I'm going to do some scrapung on the inners to get them bending noticably and do a total limb scraping to get it moving a bit further. I want it 50# at 20" before I low brace then quickly jump to full brace. So I want it bending more in the inner kimbs while on ye long string. So when I brace it up and ye bend shifts it will be close to how it should be. That way it'll be close to full draw when I get it braced for lower stress. I have the profile traced on that 2x to track the set. This one will be fun. There is avout 1" of difference in the forward tip alignment.

Kyle

[Mo_coon-catcher]

I measured and it was only pulling 11-12" initially. But I got it to 18" on a 1" braces longstring. And now I've got family stuff to do so Ivgurss in done for the weekend. But it has no temporary set yet at that pull. It's not much stress yet, but Atleast a good sign with t being walnut. I Just rasped and scraped the limbs again without checking. So next time Ill check it and probably do oneore limb weakening before I brace it up fully. As long as it looks good.

Kyle

[upstatenybowyer]

Lookin' good so far Mo_coon. Those whoop-de-doos make it hard to tiller. It's awesome that you've taken on such a challenging stave. Just go slow and you'll nail it. 

[Mo_coon-catcher]

I don't think I know how to go slow anymore. Though this one is slowing me down a bit to stop and think about what's going on.

I've got it back to 20" at 50# with a 5.25" brace. Right now it has 1/2" of set immediately after unstringing. The set is only in the mid limb. It drops down to 1/4" after a couple minutes. The pics are it at brace and at 20", yhen if you can zoom in enough its up against its initial online. I think it's going well. Tomorrow when I work on it im going to do another weight drop scrape. Which is rasping an even amount of scratches across the limb then scraping them clean. It's gaining me about 1" each time I do it. Though it'll probably go quicker now. Then I'll heat treat before carrying on, before any real amount of set kicks in. Since I don't think I can copy this profile to pull it back out a bit.

Kyle

[Swampman]

Kyle, that is coming along nicely.  That one limb sure looks tricky.  Good luck with. 

Mike

[PatM]

I'm chipping away but can't currently post pics so......trust me.

[Mo_coon-catcher]

Working on steaming the handle to get the string centered up. I coated the wood with veggy oil, then wet paper towels, and coated it on foil. I had to show the colors of the oiled wood whil I'm at it.

Kyle

[wizardgoat]

I'm working on a batch of yew bows at the moment. Unsure which one my guy will get, but I'm fairly certain it's gonna be a heavy one.