Ipe/american maple/hickory D warbow

[Mikkolaht]

105lb @32'' 74inches long. Ipe Belly, American maple core, Hickory backing.
The bow shoots really fast.
When i started this bow, i made the ipe lamination way too thick, i would have ended up with 140lb bow atleast.
I reduced it to almost half and started to work again.
The limbs are so thin, yet so powerful.



The bow has kind of reflex deflex profile when unstrung.

The reason for that is the bow's tips were flat when i glued the laminations, while the middle was reflexed to 2''.

Wax finish made it shiny!


I kept the horn nocks rough looking, i kinda like it.
I screwed up the bottom nock, but it still works, a little bit of wood is peaking at the tip.





I really like ipe.

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

[DC]

Very nice! The dog doesn't seem too impressed though

[peacefullymadewarbows]

That's some really dark ipe. Beautiful colors and wonderfully slim bow. Great job.

[Mikkolaht]

Yeah All she cares about are the horn nocks
I have heard that all that matters in ipe is the colour so i picked the darkest boards possible!

Thank you guys

[Del the cat]

Nice, the wood peeking through is much better than having not enough wood inside the horn, or the string too close to where the wood enters the horn and splitting down.
Functionality first, plenty of time to tinker with aesthetics later!
Being narrow did you have any trouble with it trying to bend sideways on you during tillering?
Del

[Loganic]

Absolutely stunning! Beautiful combo. I am so going to try this myself next time I get some more wood from Woodworkers' Source.

Question: What benefit does the core of maple provide? Does it make it more resilient than if that was Ipe?

[Mikkolaht]

I totally agree with you Del, functionality before the looks.
I might change the horn if i had the time, but if it works it is good!

And yes, i kinda had to rely on my instinct when reaching for the brace height.
If the brace was too low(below 4'' about) the tips would try to flip back to reflex, almost happened once.
But now that the bow is fully tillered it doesn't do that.

Loganic, great, Ipe is a real joy to work with! It feels like -, and looks like frozen chocolate, peels of really smoothly with cabinet scraper.
In fact cabinet scraper was my only tool on tiller!

From my understanding it makes the limbs lighter, compared to ipe, thus it will cast the arrow faster.
This bow is 695 grams in total weight.

Maple is also very hard (and cheaper than ipe), which is good a good quality for core wood.
It also takes tension well, it makes the bow more resilient.

On top of that maple is excellent at absorbing glue, making it a great core wood to sandwich between two woods.

My piece of maple had quite many runoffs but as core it won't hurt.

Thank you two for the kind words!

[Pat B]

Cool bow. Hickory and ipe makes a good combo. I like hickory better than bamboo because it's easier to deal with and I don't think you loose all that much performance with hickory vs. boo.
 I made a hickory backed ipe flat bow many years ago. It was 62" long and about 1 3/4" wide out 2/3 each limb and tapering to 3/8" tips. With a 1/8" hickory backing I had to remove most of the ipe getting it tillered to my desired 55#@26". The ipe was way thinner than the hickory backing.
 I've never used maple but it has been used in bows for many years, for selfbows, all wood lam bows and FG lam bows so it must be pretty good bow wood, at least core and backings.

[Mikkolaht]

Thank you
Ipe is really strong wood indeed.
I have sone bamboo too, I will test these same dimensions with bamboo to see the difference.
From previous experience i agree with you.
Hickory is more enjoyable to prepare and work with than bamboo.

How did the flatbow perform?

[Pat B]

That hickory/ipe flat bow shot very well.
 My most successful backed ipe bows were all narrow, between 1" wide to about 1 3/8"  wide. I did make one hickory/ ipe longbow that fretted all the way through the ipe but I'm sure I was more the problem than the ipe with bad tillering.

[Sidewinder]

Nicely done. Looks like a heck of shooter. Hurts me just looking at your young self pulling that thing back.

[Mikkolaht]

Thanks!

HAh when i'm an old man in the future, i can enjoy my broken shoulders. And tell stories about bows to my grand children while they play with super computers.

[Mikkolaht]

Shooting at Yyteri beach, Finland.
I shot at one of those nudist beach signs, went clean through.

[meanewood]

Great work on the bow and I love the action shots!

It's good to see young guys getting into warbows and sharing as much as possible.

I have to make the effort to start posting more, I'm guilty of just taking and not giving but I hope to change that soon with some interesting bows I'm working on.

[DC]

I have to make the effort to start posting more, I'm guilty of just taking and not giving but I hope to change that soon with some interesting bows I'm working on.

That would be nice. "Warbows" needs a little more activity