Thank you Marc, Bj, Jeff, Ed, Steve and Hrothgar.
Thanks Don! I have, even as a kid, had an interest in making use of what I could find as far as natural resources. I think that natural thought process fits right in with primitive archery. So I been trying to combine it all together as best I can. I have picked up a lot good information here on PA about things I didn't know.
Thanks Mike, the one you got just kinda worked out easy, I had to work on this one a bit more. 1st time at F/D it had more of a "thump in the hand" then I was going to tolerate. Took me some time of scraping, shooting, scraping....removing a small amount of mass at the tips made all the difference. Real happy with it now. Better to be lucky than good sometimes
Thanks WB and Jake. I'm sure there are others with a deeper understanding then myself, but will go from my own experience and thoughts here. The scallops are more for show than functional. Its important to keep the back and belly of the excess in the neutral plane or non working part of the limb. Nothing exaggerated but just enough. That's easy for the back if you have a slight crown in the rings. Stave selection is so important, one knot or wave to the grain in the wrong place will mess you up as well, that is where I have seen people fail at this design. I suppose some would say they just add un-needed weight. For that reason I keep them shallow, it dose not take much wood removal to see the appearance of the scallop. I tiller out to about 16 inches before I do any side carving, if not farther. I figure adding the scallops will gain me 3-5 inches at the same weight in draw. that leaves ~4-6" of draw to hit my mark. I use a pencil, block of wood and sandpaper to keep the belly even after this point. Just a scraper alone will make washboard pattern on the belly. IMHO scallops on both sides is an easier design than single sided. When I cut them in on this bow, the working part of the limb was thicker on that side because of a slight crown in the rings that led to some twist. I had to readjust for even thickness at that point, something I didn't consider before then. that all said...as far as performance, bottom line- I think they hit hard and shoot well. Yes Jake I have though of some guy with a sharp piece of chert and a block of hand flattened sandstone working on one of them....I like my steel tools:)
Hope that answered things. That was a lot of typing at one time and should proof read but maybe later
Thanks, Mike
