Gained some experience/Built bow !

[Shovelbuck]

Well, I didn't fell the tree this longbow was made out of but I did have a lot to do with the re-building of it.
The bow was given to me by a friend and while I was limbering it up, the Purple Heart backing broke and it's been sitting on a shelf for quite some time. I stripped the backing off and applied a hickory backing in it's place along with some Osage string nocks. I thought I would be able to just do the tillering on the hickory but was incorrect. After taking an 1/8 inch off the backing, the bow was still pulling 60 lbs. at just 15 or so inches! This thing was an animal!
So my "simple" project turned into a lesson on removing belly wood and tillering.
For you guys that build these things, I now have somewhat of an idea the sweat you put into them. And it's a lot!
I shot the bow today and to my suprise it shoots good with no handshock.
I used a piece of shed antler base for the rest, Tru Oil finish, and it ended up 65 lbs. at 28 inches. Hopefully now I'll have the nerve to start on an all osage bow.

 

[Full Quiver]

Great work as usual Jay! Looks great.

 

[JakeWym]

Looks like the hard wok paid off. Congrats

 

[bushman]

Looks great Jay!!!

 

[Rackaddict]

Jay you are truly a craftsman. Once again, great job! /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/cool.gif

 

[matchedset]

Shovelbuck the bowyer,,,,, hum sounds good to me.well done. now go grab that fine piece of osage and start hacking on it.go for it Jay.By the way Jay to have no handshock on the first try I would say you have a handle on the tillering.

 

[Skully]

Nice Jay! /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/cool.gif

"Quote" By the way Jay to have no hand shock on the first try I would say you have a handle on the tillering."Quote"

Have you shook Jay's hand? I don't think anything could shock him! /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif

 

[Iowabowtech]

No handshock on a true D-frame, that's impressive in and of itself. Great job and it looks killer.

 

[bowmaker]

Good job, Jay. You really do need to make one from scratch now, because what you just finished is at least as hard or maybe even just a little harder. Once you get the general shape cut out and established and the back set on a single growth ring all you have left is the tillering and break in. Pretty looking bow and neat to have saved it from the scrap pile. You may already know that the real key to hand shock is to keep the tips as small and light as possible but still maintain enough strength. If tillered properly the last few inches at the tip don't flex much at all with most of the bend coming in the mid-limb area.

Just jump in, the water won't be over your head, but the fun can suck you under, just like making arrows!

 

[Shovelbuck]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> the real key to hand shock is to keep the tips as small and light as possible but still maintain enough strength.</div></div>

That's what suprises me about this bow. The original design of this is that it has no working limb tips. The last foot or so are very thick and don't flex. All the flex and power is coming from about 16 inches of limb. When I was removing the belly wood I thought about changing that design but figured whoever built it originally knew a lot more than I did. I left the design the same, just removed a lot of wood to get the weight down.
I'm starting to think a lot of hand shock has to do with how the bow is held.
Anyway, thanks for the kind words. I can see where this could be habit forming. /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif But as hot and humid as it is getting, I don't see any more projects like this one for a while.