Ozbow

Evening guys,

Been building up to starting this one for about 3 weeks now and I've finally started making dust on it.

Its a Warbow for a bloke in the states and hes after 130lb@32"

I glued up a stave of Hickory for the back, Lemonwood in the core and an Ipé belly which I think will make the weight we're after. Cut it to 80" ntn so its a tad shorter than my 140lb bow and a 115 I made a while back at 84" but its about the same dimensions as the 115lb. Careful tillering and it should make weight I hope.

So far I have only rough cut the tapers, profile and belly, to square. Will crown the back Saturday and see if I'm up to rounding the belly as well. Ipé is hard stuff and its a big bow so rounding the belly makes you break a sweat.

Neil, you'll be able to watch a monster come to life on Monday while you're here mate

As you can see its just a small stick!!
More to come as I get more done on it.

Colin

hunterguy1991 wrote:Neil, you'll be able to watch a monster come to life on Monday while you're here mate

I look forward to it! Just don't ask me to draw it

Big bit of wood there, would take an impressive set of muscles to get it bending...

if your going to pull that back ,make sure your wearing very tight jocks so nothing falls out

Look forward to seeing progress on that.

How do you go getting timbers like that locally?

That's a lotta bow mate, looking forward to more pics.

be careful handling the Ipe, Col although I'm sure you already would be aware of it as it has some nasty properties for some people bringing on allergic reactions and respiratory problems.Keen to see how it progresses.

Just have to lean on the rope neil haha its certainly a good back workout tillering bows this big.

i have a heavier one that i used to shoot, will see if i can dig up a photo at full draw.

Cadet i can get the lemonwood and ipe fairly easily but the hickory can be tough to find.

Yep in aware of the possible health issues Bob, got a good mask to wear when in rounding the belly over. Tillering i do in a fairly open spot so i should be right there.

more photos tomorrow hopefully.

Colin

re the hickory, John Mc Donald [Amso128] had some hickory billets a little while back They were only short so would have to do a splice but might be worth checking out. His details on front of this website.

I don't know if I would risk a spliced back on some thing this heavy Bob... need to contact the place I got the first piece I've been using and see if they have or can get more for me. Still got a fair few lams worth left here at the moment tho Started playing with bamboo backs a lot more recently and they're growing on me quickly. Still prefer the Hickory on the warbows tho.

Evening all,

Got a little bit done today on the big girl. Rasped in the crown and belly round early this morning and then put some nocks in it ready for first bend.

Long string and this is what I got for initial shape.
Left limb is stiff (designated bottom) but too stiff to be left how it was.

Bit of rasping on the belly and I evened it up and pushed it down to around brace height.
Left limb still slightly stiff so still bottom but they're much more even. Pulling 70lbs to get the tips down that far so I'm fairly confident it will make weight and yet to lose any reflex.

Short string and a low brace in the morning and should have it at full draw by lunchtime with any luck. Love making these big bows!

More to come.

Colin

Finished the tiller this morning... Ended up 77"ntn and 124#@32" Didn't make the 130 mark but after consulting the customer he was happy with 124lbs.

I think that is about limit for this timber combo...
Now to scrape, sand, tips on and then finish it.

Colin

Nice work. Holy crap that was a fast tiller. I guess with a bow that big you mainly have to work on the form and not worry about reducing weight much if any?
How thick was the ipe ?
Sounds like the shoulder is healing well?
Hamish.

Tillering big bows to a very high weight doesn't take too long with a rasp. This one was under and to bring it up just required shortening it... not much was needed to keep the shape the way it is even as it was shortened.

Ipe was about 16mm mate, I would have liked it a bit thicker but the lam was cut from flooring that had grooves in it an unfortunately a groove was right up the guts of it so I lost a little bit. Probly why it didn't make weight initially. 1 or 2mm thickness makes a BIG difference with these bows.

Shoulder is still crap, Wont be shooting this bow before it goes over seas. Can barely get a dozen shots out of a 40lber at present so still a long recovery to go.

Hi Colin, Are you going to get pic's of the bow all polished up, before it goes off to its new owner?

Hey mate,

I certainly will yes. Will be doing all that stuff over the weekend so Sunday night I should have some photos of it finished or close to.


I still have to make a set of arrows for him as well to go with it so it will be here for a little while yet.

Colin

B#%st@#d fretted on me on the last weight check on the tiller after finishing!!!

Tiny knot in the lower limb that was behaving just fine previously decided that it wanted to go on me today after I put finish coats on the bow.

Fret is only tiny and has no effect on the shot at all but still unsalable now unfortunately and I have to start from scratch

Ah Colin, that's a bummer. Some serious timber and time invested in that beast. Any chance of saving the core and back or not worth the effort?

Think I had put around 10 hours work into it so far...

I probably could cut them off and re use them but I think i'll just shoot it to death when I can shoot them again... the fret is tiny and wont do anything to the bow I don't think.

She was a bit of a beast, that one. It's impressive that you get these timbers stressed as far as you do! Better luck next time!

Thanks mate, I managed to actually shoot it today and Sh#t its got some go!! Fret didn't get worse either so I'll just add it to the collection and maybe set some Aus records with it yet

This was taken from a video I got of it in action. Definitely a freak of a bow fret and all. It Comes back to straight and then a little reflexed within an hour of shooting it!!

I got all the lams cut for the new one today so I will get stuck into it while I'm waiting for the new horn tips to arrive, usually takes a couple weeks.