Meet Miss Copperhead - New Selfbow (BOM entry)

[Ranger B]

Miss Copperhead is made of Osage with Copperhead Skins.  She is 66" nock to nock and pulls 57# @ 27"
I used deer antler on the tips.  This bow has the most curve in the tips that I've done so far.  Hope you like her.
Ranger B (Jimmy)

[radius]

well, Ranger B...are you sure it's finished?  It's not too late to even out the tiller:  the upper limb doesn't bend enough, in my opinion...You would have to settle for a few pounds lost in weight, but the force would be delivered to the arrow more evenly, and might result in a better shooting bow.

IMHO

[adb]

I agree with Scott. Looks like a hinge right at the upper limb fade, and again at the top recurve. The mid section of the top limb is very flat.

[El Destructo]

Yep...I have to agree....seems to be bending a lot by the knot in the Top Limb...and not enough in the Mid Limb area....a very nice looking Bow...but I would address the Limb so I could have the Bow around for a Long Time

[FlintWalker]

Yep, she needs to bend a little more from the horses lower jaw down to the brass tag on the picture.  Saw Filer

[radius]

well said!

won't take long, either...maybe half an hour...come on, man!

[radius]

even the bottom limb:  from the lower trim on the mantle to the top of the fireplace grate, in the lower picture...

[DanaM]

I have to agree with the rest, looks like a few scrapes will fix it up, sometimes its hard to tell in a picture what the
tiller really looks like especially a character stave. The unbraced profile looks to be excellent and I like the copperhead skins Jimmy.

[Ranger B]

Ok I've worked on it some more.  I see what you guys are saying on the upper limb but now my measurements are getting a bit off.  Take a look and these two pics and I appreciate any feedback.
Jimmy

[Eric Krewson]

How does the bow look when you flip it upside down. If the limbs are the same length this is an option I use sometimes to keep from loosing poundage and minimize scraping to get a bow in tiller. You could also cut an inch or more off the lower limb to get some positive tiller on the top limb but this might compromise you snake skin length.

One of the bow making gurus said I was a disgrace to the true art of bow making for using such tactics.

I build bows with what I call "Eric's goof proof method". This amounts to anticipating the normal anomalies we find in bow making and having a plan to correct them built into the bow from the start.

[Eric Krewson]

You posted just before me. Your bow looks much better now.

[330bull]

Tiller looks much better now.  Nice job!  I LOVE those copperhead skins man, gorgeous bow! 

Since I learned "the hard way" when tillering once before, I highly recommend taking a picture @ full draw and then overlaying an ellipse in WORD or PowerPoint to determine any more tiller tweaks.  I did that with your last pic and it looks really solid! 

BTW - Did you notice any less handshock after the tiller adjustment?

Congrats!!!  Joe

[cowboy]

That's turned into a fine lookin bow Jimmy - even better now . Man, I gotta lay hands on some copperheads - dead one's .

[OldBow]

A little advise from the forum has really shaped up this fine bow. We'll look at it again for June Self BOM.

[Pat B]

Beautiful recurve, Ranger. You got those tips bending nicely. I love copperhead skins on bows but watch out for Brown Thrashers and other ground birds. I was run out of my tree stand 2 evenings in a row by a Brown Thrasher while hunting with a copperhead skinned bow a few years back.      Pat