Ozbow

I thought I'd share these photos with you after my first red oak bow snapped today. I knew it was coming after discovering crysals/frets a few months ago. On reflection the crysals problem was a result of bad tillering - when I finished the bow last year, right at the end of the build I noticed a slight hinge, well that hinge got worse and worse till this afternoon...

Back to the drawing board, or should I say red oak board - I am going to try a non-backed red oak board with straight grain and better attention to tillering....

Disappointing mate but you did get to shoot it for awhile so on your first attempt that is not so bad. I'm sure you learnt a lot from making it which will stand you in good stead with the making of the next one.

Jeff

Thanks Stickbow Hunter. Hopefully I'll get the next one right....

Bugger

That is why I am looking at buying a nice glass bow like yours Rod...

Shoot bad luck man, it looks like a nice bow.

May i ask the specs of it? length and poundage, Also where'd you find that red oak board?

Tom it was my first red oak bow. I bought the timber board from Masters Hardware here in Sydney - the length of the finished bow was 72 inches (tip to tip), and about 50# @ 28". I was drawing about 30inches, so I was probably pulling about 55-56# I guess, maybe a little less.

The look and feel was nice, but I made a mistake with the tillering (developed a slight hinge which I didn't notice until after I was varnishing the bow) - when I realised it, it was a little too late, so I kept shooting it and the hinge kept getting worse, until she finally gave in. Probably only shot 300 arrows through it, but I did learn a lot.

I am trying to find some Hickory now (I know, rare as rocking horse poo), but I hear it is pretty tough and actually hard to stuff up if tillered properly.

Hey Seven,

After seeing your post i went to masters and got two boards. One for my brother and One for me. My board was way too wide so i had to narrow it, this resulted in a long off-cut suitable for a kids bow.

I started working the small off-cut into a bow, Roughed out the outlines and just had at it with a bastard file
I was tillering the little bloke on the stick and all was going well, I actually tillered it to 24" which was quite incredible. On the last tillering stick test, out of no where it just exploded, When i had a close look at the broken bow, I saw that it was a tiny grain run-off that caused the bow to pop.

After seeing what happened to the little bow i did some research and a lot of people were saying backing red oak bows is the safest option. So what my brother and i have done now is lay out our bows then stop all work to back them. We're using the drywall tape and glue method.

I will try to get some pics.

As for the hickery situation, try a handle bow maybe? They're pretty cool a lot of people seem to be building them, I'm actually looking forward to making one myself. http://www.ozbow.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.p ... it=hickory

Drywall Tape Backing.






Broken Mini Bow

Hi, When selecting a suitable board from oak, you need to look not only at the growth rings, but also at the rays. The rays (darker short lines in plainsawn timber)show the path of the grain, as you can see in the photo of the limb which has broken diagonally. You want the straightest grain you can find on both the face and the edges.

How long and wide are the bows you have been making? I suspect if you widen and or lengthen the design you should get good shooters, with longevity. Also don't rush the tillering to avoid getting chrysalls.
Hamish.

Guys I backed by red oak bow with Jute, however run off wasn't my issue, it was bad tillering. The again I am not sure Red Oak is that good after all. I made 2 other bows around Xmas. Once a 35# and the other about 50# - the 30# bow came up ok, but the tillering could have been a little better, but the 50# bow was pretty spot on in terms of tiller. The funny thing was I think it was already developing Chrysalls even though the tiller was pretty good.

I am getting a feeling that red oak may simply be too brittle for our climate - I must say where I live in Sydney the temperature was quite hot and dry during the lead up to Xmas, I could feel how dry the timber was when I was shaping it. I am thinking red oak might not be such a good timber after all, thinking of Hickory? Spoke to a very reputable Bowyer recently who said that Pignut Hickory is probably the best self bow timber, very tough and not likely to develop Chrysalls.

Anyone know where you could obtain a 72 inch Hickory board here in Oz?

Sounds like you've been talking to Nick. He would know a source as he's used it on bows.

bigbob you are on the money....Nick recons Pignut Hickory is the go for self bows (and laminated bows).