Tri laminate ELB....revisited now with No2!!!

[mikaluger]

Hi Guys,
Been awhile, and after being overseas for a month or so, I thought it is time for another bow. As I have been visiting family in UK, I decided to make an English long bow, I have just glued up a couple of staves, Ash belly 22mm, wenge core 6mm and hickory back 6mm. Staves are 79" long at the moment. I will mark it out and take some more photo's later in the week. They are curing in the bathroom with the heater on, as it is only 8 degrees here in melbourne today. Missus is not impressed

[bigbob]

Love to see a few progress shots, sounds really good. Funny thing about females isnt it. Just no sense of proportion about the necessary things in life.

[Gilly]

Looks interesting!!
Looking forward to updates.

It's not only us girls that get upset about things not in the right place, my ex-husband would complain everytime I brought my motorbike into the lounge to work on it! We did not have a garage and it was in cold and wet England, what else was I to do????

[Stickbow Hunter]

All the best with the bows and I look forward to the progress reports.

Jeff

[bigbob]

Looks interesting!!
Looking forward to updates.

It's not only us girls that get upset about things not in the right place, my ex-husband would complain everytime I brought my motorbike into the lounge to work on it! We did not have a garage and it was in cold and wet England, what else was I to do????

[rodlonq]

Looking forward to your future posts mate.

[mikaluger]

Ok,
Did a little bit today.
Ran the staves thru the thickness planer, glue lines look nice. Marked out one long bow, leaving the other stave for another time.
Using the templates from my Steve Stratton video for this bow, Bow stave is 79" so I will be looking at 78"NtN.
If I get time I will cut out later in the week, other wise I will wait till I get back to tafe where I teach, to get access to the workshop.

[bigbob]

How do you reckon the wenge core will go, I know its used as core material. Quite expensive too!

[mikaluger]

Only one way to find out Bob!
It's hardwood and it's fibrous, thats what you want for a tri laminate core, so time will tell.
At least it will look nice.
It cost me $20 and I have enough for another 4 bow cores and some pieces for risers on Flatbows!

[bigbob]

Bloody hell ! I paid $43 for a piece 50 x 50 x 1000mm! Half your luck!.

[Dennis La Varenne]

What sort of Ash did you use for the belly?? The European stuff is a bit stronger in compression than the American stuff.

[mikaluger]

I would love to say it is euro ash but it is american ash. These staves have very tight growth rings, so I'm hoping this helps and I don't have compression problems in the belly. I have 2 nice elm belly's that I am planning to use soon, they are not quite long enough for what I wanted here.
Do you have any suggestions Dennis, of some locally available timber that is suitable for ELB belly's?
I doo have a couple of nice staves of hickory, could I use these for bellys?

[mikaluger]

Did a bit more today. I couldn't wait to go back to tafe, so I cut the stave tapers with my power saw to within 2mm and then finished off to the taper lines with the No5 handplane. Next will be to round off the edges with the spoke shave and sandpaper, ( I dont have a linisher yet!) and then she will be ready for tillering. I may have to organise a boat winch for this bow, she feels heavy!!!!!........Draw weight is suppossed to be between 85 and 100lb @ 32 according to the specs on the DVD, we will see.

[bigbob]

Man you'll get a hernia at those poundages.

[mikaluger]

I'll be right mate. I've got good barrel chested pommie blood in me son!!!!
Having said that, I may crap myself. lol
Tillering is going to be challenging and then
I have to work out where to get arrows, or make my own!!!
It's all good fun anyway!

[Stickbow Hunter]

That is some intended draw weight alright!

Jeff

[bigbob]

I'll be right mate. I've got good barrel chested pommie blood in me son!!!!
Having said that, I may crap myself. lol
Tillering is going to be challenging and then
I have to work out where to get arrows, or make my own!!!
It's all good fun anyway!

Just get some reo bar from a construction site

[stringnstik]

Bow looking good mate,
Dont worry about these whimpy blokes that shy away from decent poundages (having said that im currently not allowed to draw my 42lbr The 110lbr sits on the rack for now. They just dont get that us poms have built in shoulder ratchets

as for arrows I get shafts from S Wallace(little arrows) He has had a lot of experience making "broom handles".
and has some great tipsntricks. worth a call.

Wenge looks nice in the core, interested to see how that goes.

Tillering: I use a boat winch bolted to a frame. I can stay a good 2m away from possible explosions that way If you want a grand tillering big bows story, give Nick Lintern (Norseman bows) a call. Always good value/laugh.

[mikaluger]

Yes tillering,
that is what i am thinking about next, I priced a winch today, $85 from supacheap. Problem is I dont have enough room for a winch set up. Bow is gonna be to big to hand tiller, like i have been doing. Hmmmmmm...........

[stringnstik]

I take my winch(ill get some details for you where I got it. was no cheaper than super cheap but a much much better rig) outside and mount the bow/tiller stick winch frame on the shed wall.

Id take some photos but its dark b4 and after I get home from work at the mo.

[stringnstik]

no winch in this shot but you get the idea
http://www.ozbow.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=12249
scroll down a bit.
the winch now attaches to the bottom of the tiller stick as shown.
the love of this is that by resting ur foot on the cable (from winch to stick) you can apply pressure by gentle pumps and exercise the "beast" in a well controlled way.

BTW there is this technique to at least get ya started.
http://www.ozbow.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=12238

[stringnstik]

ahh I found this from the Stratton workshop.

[mikaluger]

Thanks mate that looks great, I just need somewhere to set it up.!

[bigbob]

I have a set up somewhat similar except mine traverses a table with a grid section laid out on the table The limb tips can hang over the table if need be. the winch on mine is a direct pull,ie no pulley blocks but works fine.

[mikaluger]

Hi Guy's,
Finished early today because of rain, so I did the initial shaping and mucked around with the long string on. I am waiting for a new string then I will have her at brace height, it is just about there.
I have to work out a tillering rig now so i can tiller the bow properly ( thanks for the photos stringnstik) just need to find some space!
The Wenge is holding up brilliantly so far, and the bow looks fantastic, cant wait to put the horn knocks on, and some oil.
Still not sure on the poundage, to early to tell.

[Gilly]

Starting to look good!
Good on you for going for a good poundage, we never know our limits if we don't test them now and again!!

[bigbob]

Looking good.

[Stickbow Hunter]

All is looking good so far.

Jeff

[mikaluger]

OK,
Learned a bit yesterday, when I glued up the stave, I set it to dry with a bit of reflex, when I say a bit I think it was TOO much as now I have had problems tillering the bow, mainly getting the bow round from reflex through the centre of the bow, this and the fact that I think I cut the belly tapers a bit too fine at the nocks.
All this means is that I have had to remove a lot more belly wood than I normally wood to tiller the bow, let's just say she ain't a warbow.

This morning I carefully tillered the bow out to 32", the bow is a bit stiff in the handle for an ELB, but I dare not remove any more timber.
We have an English Longbow at 50lb @ 28" and 60lb @32" , 79" NtN. I have test fired the bow and it has surprised me. It is fast and smooth as butter, maybe that is because of it's length.
This afternoon I will heat treat the belly, fit the horn nocks, then check the tiller one more time before finishing off.

Pics below

Test shoot
At 32" Top limb is too the right
At 28" Ditto
Brace height

[Stickbow Hunter]

Mick,

IMO you need to get your tiller right before you do anything else. That bottom limb is bending badly and not at all like the top limb and I think it will cause you problems sooner rather than later. I also think you should do more work on both limbs and get them bending more into the handle. You will loose some weight but you have plenty of length so you can cut it shorter to increase the draw weight again once you correct the tiller.

Jeff