The making of fast bows, or the making of bows, fast

[otis.drum]

yep, agreed.

[yeoman]

A few more pics.

It seems this bow is going at glacial speed. Kinda annoying. Next wednesday hopefully I'll get a good chunk of time on it.

The yellow string (steel clothes line, and the bow STILL stretches it!) is the one applying tension to the bow. The white string is to make it easier to see the bend.



Got the short string on to a brace of zero, but with muchos tension. Here it is drawn a little:



And drawn a little more. The lighting in the shed was poor, but the contrast outside was bad too.



Reflexed bows are notoriously hard at this stage. They do NOT under any circumstances, like to take the short string. They will stretch even some of the most stout strings.

Another thing that's annoying is the fact these don't have regular side nocks: they have tied on back nocks, which makes them more difficult to string.

Till next time,

D

[looseplucker]

Coming along nicely Dave.

[Stickbow Hunter]

All lookin' good so far Dave.

Jeff

[yeoman]

I finally did it! I got the short string properly on the bow. As usual, the first stringing is a little ugly. My advice to bowyers is not to worry too much about the shape with the string on at first. Rather, draw the bow a little (a LITTLE) and then base your tillering on the bend of a slightly drawn bow. I reserve the right to withdraw that advice as time goes on.



With only a couple of moments under the rasp, it all starts to come together.



Sometimes I like to try new things:



I will not try this again.

So anyway, the bow is now pulling 24# @ 15.5". Not perfect curvature, but it's bending evenly. That's all for today.



Dave

[yeoman]

I got a couple more hours in on the bow today.

Progress:



More progress:



A little more:



If I haven't said it already, I'll say it now: Once you get the short string on, tillering is a quick process. All that took about an hour of tillering, taking my time.

Of interest is how orientation can distort one's perspective. That last pic looks as if the limbs are on the margins of bending too much, and too round in the handle. The same picture, turned on its side, can look quite different:



That's why I like to use a digital camera as a tillering aid. It lets one do these sorts of things without leaving the bow drawn while you analyse the shape.

Of note: the stave still has just over an inch of reflex, and I only need to get it drawn another inch and a half to get it to full draw.

Back to the shed!

[Stickbow Hunter]

The bend in that bow is looking real nice. It sure was interesting seeing how the bow looked in the two different photos.

Jeff

[yeoman]

Goes to show why people like me should always wear vertical stripes, eh?

[Stickbow Hunter]

Jeff