avery
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Post by avery on Jun 28, 2014 19:33:37 GMT
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Post by JGonzalez on Jun 28, 2014 20:17:18 GMT
Nice Work! I made my first three self bows out of 1x2 lumber from hardware stores. I spent a whole day a couple of times looking for just the right grain in each case. I have also used maple and I tried osage orange but I ruined the stave. All mine shot pretty well. I hope yours does too!
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Post by chrisperoni on Jun 28, 2014 20:18:44 GMT
Sweet! It's a blast shooting a bow you made yourself isn't it?!
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Post by Unit731 on Jun 28, 2014 21:03:11 GMT
Would you mind giving me step by step instructions on how to go about tillering the bow?
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Post by bigpete on Jun 28, 2014 21:41:23 GMT
Nice work ! I've only made a couple of bows since I was an adult, and neither of them lasted very long lol. Is it just the angle of the photo,or is the top limb a little more bowed than the bottom ?
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avery
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Post by avery on Jun 28, 2014 22:49:03 GMT
This one is the first one I've done out of oak; I gotta say I was skeptical at first but I've come to like it. Having said that, if I had it out of Hickory the draw weight would be closer to 50#. I've used maple, but haven't tried Osage Orange yet.
Oh yeah, damn sure is, lol. As I said above, I learned a bit from working with Red Oak. I'm going to do the next one with thicker limbs though. Will probably give this one away, draw weight is a little too weak for me. Although, I am bouncing around the idea of adding recurve.
Man, that's a hard thing to explain with pictures honestly. Tillering is something that you can only really learn by doing it or explaining it in person. I'll take more pictures on the next one and do my best to show the process. The hardest thing people have trouble with is going too fast and removing too much wood. Takes a bit of patience to get it right..... and "right" really just means the way you like it.
You are correct sir. I shoot what is called "three under"- meaning I hold 3 fingers under the arrow and none above. Shooting this way puts more stress on the lower limb, so I make mine to where the lower limb is a little stiffer.
I also noticed in the last pic that it looks there is a hinge in the upper limb. Must be the a trick in the picture though, I double checked and checked again, lol.
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Post by chrisperoni on Jun 29, 2014 0:14:14 GMT
Check out Poor Folk Bows for a great build along and lots of other great links to instructions all over his site
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Post by chrisperoni on Jun 29, 2014 0:16:18 GMT
--oh, and Avery - think you couild use your mod powers to finally get us that archery subforum
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Luka
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Post by Luka on Jun 29, 2014 0:21:52 GMT
I subscribe. Avery, that's a nice bow, I would love to see your take on a slight recurve longbow/flatbow...
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Post by bigpete on Jun 29, 2014 2:53:48 GMT
Yep,that makes sense for a 3 under shooter. Tried that method a few times over the years,let's you line up along the arrow a lot easier, but would never get used to it. Also my bows always seemed to be really noisy when I did it,probably coz they weren't tillered for it :-) . Was just thinking,if your not happy with the draw weight,you could either try shortening it a little,or try backing it with something.
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Aaron
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Post by Aaron on Jun 29, 2014 6:44:32 GMT
Nice work, Avery. Surprised the red oak is holding up without a backing, you must have found a pretty exceptional board.
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avery
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Post by avery on Jun 29, 2014 12:50:43 GMT
I'll see about it, can't make any promises though.
@ Luka - I'm figuring to do a recurve next, I'll post a better series of pics when I do.
@ Bigpete - I thought about shortening it, but cant really decide, lol. Not a big fan of using backing, always thought it takes away from the look.
@ Aaron - Yeah, I picked through 2 stacks of lumber to get a board with the best grain structure. I think that's the biggest mistake people make from the start; just grabbing a board without knots and thinking it'll work. My bow making skills have come a long way from making the one I brought down to Seans, lol.
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Post by johnwalter on Jun 29, 2014 22:32:17 GMT
Very nice Avery!
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Post by Brendan Olszowy on Jun 30, 2014 0:08:13 GMT
Nice work Avery. I've used Red Oak for my bow too (a 5' 10" flat bow - also 40# at 28"; I stand 5' 10"). It's a fine and recommended wood for them.
You're correct that one must search through the stack looking down the edges of the staves for one with grain that runs straight from one end to the other. If it runs off the side the bow will break there.
I do see a flaw in your grind which you might like to try to avoid on the next one. The upper limb about 8" from the grip bows harder then the rest of the limb, focussing stress on that spot rather than across the whole limb evenly. It's notable in the bottom photo but I can see it starting in tillering. The back of the bow around the grip should be parallel to the string - evenly tapering up at both limbs, but that spot is letting it down causing the string to run at an angle to the back.
Just constructive critique I hope you don't mind.
Props for your work! :-)
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Post by Bryan Heff on Jun 30, 2014 0:56:11 GMT
That's great work Avery. I can see where the grain of the wood is of utmost importance in making a bow...that's gotta be tough pulling that off. Nice job, looks awesome.
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Aaron
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Post by Aaron on Jun 30, 2014 11:34:53 GMT
The reason I mention a backing isn't *only* because of the typical board bow being of suspect quality, it's because red oak tends to not be very strong when in comes to tension. The backing helps alleviate this weakness in the wood.
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avery
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Post by avery on Jun 30, 2014 14:03:33 GMT
Hey Brenno, thanks man. And no, I don't mind at all. Yeah, the upper limb has a bit of a hinge in that spot, I couldn't get rid of all of it, but I learned a bit from it. I could still sand down the rest of the limb and even it out, but then I'd have to sand down the lower limb to match....honestly I'm just lazy, lol. Aaron - Oh yeah, I see where you're coming from. I'm thinking about adding a wooden backing on the next one from the start to hide it during the sanding. @bryan - thanks for the compliment, much appreciated.
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SanMarc
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Post by SanMarc on Jul 4, 2014 4:59:58 GMT
Nice Work!!!
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