Here's one I just finished. This one's for me. It was inspired by a bow Chackworth posted a while back http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=125;t=009968
Anyway, the bow is about 60" tip to tip, 1.375" wide at the fades, tapering to 3/8" tips. Bow draws roughly 40# @ 25". Hasn't been shot yet, so we'll see how the speed is, but I think it'll be fine with very light tips.
The riser is Shedua - white oak - shedua - curly maple - shedua - white oak - shedua. Plain maple riser overlay.
Limbs are white oak backing(.120" parallel), maple core (.120 .0025"/" taper), ipe belly (.0025"/" taper). Tip overlays are water buffalo horn. (I love that stuff)
I really like how the bow turned out. I did screw up one thing. The riser was supposed to have a nice curly maple I-Beam show in the sight window. Unfortunately the piece of curly maple had really nice figure on one end and a discolored portion on the other. Didnt pay enough attention and accidentally got the maple upside down so the sight window shows this weird orange-pink maple with very little figure ... Well live and learn I guess.
The back was stained to match the color of the shedua in the riser.
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/P1110092.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/P1110092.jpg.html)
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/P1110095.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/P1110095.jpg.html)
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/P1110097.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/P1110097.jpg.html)
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/P1110099.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/P1110099.jpg.html)
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/P1110105.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/P1110105.jpg.html)
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/P1110106.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/P1110106.jpg.html)
Very impressed with white oak for backing ... plus it was pretty cheap to go buy some white oak and have it resawn to 5/16" thickness. Then I grind it on my lam grinder. I think it came out to like $4 a backing strip or less. Alot less if you can do the resawing yourself.
Wow!Looks great!
Sweet looking bow :thumbsup:
That's nice! So its all wood, no glass? Very cool. Did you have to fine tiller it after glue up?
All wood, no glass. Yes I had to tiller but very little. I used super tiller to choose the stack thickness so the weight was close and the taper was nearly perfect ( luck). I just evened the limbs out and did some minor touch ups for tip alignment mainly. Hour tops to tiller it. For anyone curious the total limb thickness is .415 at the fades and .290 at the tips. Top limb is 3/4" longer so the thickness on bottom limb is slightly less than listed above.
You sure did a fine job on that one. I had one laid out very similar to that, but with a little more bend in the ipe to start with so the dish wouldn't cut it. I'd love to see a full draw pic.
I'll put up a full draw once I can get Dana to snap the photo or figure out how to use the timer on my camera
I guess it's Ok:)
Sharp!
Love the tips....thanks for sharing!
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Glenn
One of these days I'll make an osage bow Roy. Until then I understand your skepticism.
Ben how do you suppose that riser is going to stay put without fades in the core section? Be careful with it.
I'm not sure I understand exactly what you mean PD. I think the photo may be a bit deceiving. The riser is sandwiched in between the white oak backing strip and the maple core/ipe belly. White oak in front, then riser, then maple then ipe. Think of it like a really thick power lam.
Ben,
You seriously haven't shot it? It's not a bow until you shoot it.
Don't get me wrong because I think it's cool and you obviously worked hard and did a nice job on the finish and such. But dude, I hope it shoots for you. I really do.
John, No I seriously haven't shot it. Unfortunately I live in an Apt in the city so shooting is a planned event for me.
I agree though, its just a wall hanger until some arrows go through it.
It's just such a pain to get to the range I find it easier to build than shoot. Hopefully one of these days I'll get out of the city far enough to shoot at my home.
Ben Im just wondering what you think will keep those over and under lays (your riser) from popping off at full draw. Most bows all have fades off the core. Yours is parallel through meaning nothing but the glue joint is stopping the handle from bending. That only works for so long until something comes unscrewed. See what I mean? You can shoot all you want in an apartment. Shoot at a few paces just so you can see if the woodworking project can become a bow.
Ben can't tell you the number of times I shot bows in my,apartment,when I was in school.
Don't think I'd be,able to wait.
Good looking wood bow hope it's a shooter.
PD, The forward portion of the riser is sandwiched between the limb laminations.
In order from back to belly: maple overlay, white oak backing strip, Riser (thick power lam), maple, ipe, second riser block.
It's made just like this bow ... Again the picture is just deceiving, the maple handle overlay on the back makes it look in the picture liek the riser is just glued onto the backing. It is not. The riser is sandwiched between the limb laminations.
http://www.dryadbows.com/instock/images/SS18instk.jpg
I think I'm going to visit canopybow this week and the bow (woodworking project) will get some arrows through it.
When first started making bows, I lived in a tiny Cape Cod style house on a postage stamp yard. I could shoot in the yard if I shot towards the house but I got sick of shooting my vinyl siding (I was a really bad shot :) )
So I made a 15 foot "range" in the upper/attic level of my house until I shot several holes through the knotty pine. Got real scared of shooting through the window so I stopped.
So I guess I know what you mean. Good luck!
I'm not a recurve expert Pearly, but what about the longer riser extension on the back side of the riser? It extends out past the belly side of the riser end?
Yeah exactly Roy, the forward portion of the riser extends several inches beyond the belly side of the riser. It's the forward portion of the riser which is providing the fades. Again same way a power lam works ... this is just a really serious power lam. The belly side riser block is really just to allow for the high wrist grip.
I'll get a picture up when I get home that shows it more clearly.
I really like that bow LittleBen.
I shoot in the basement, I'm getting very good at 9 1/2 yards. :D
I'd shoot in the yard, but someone would likely call the police.
Dave.
Looking good. Should not be any problem with this one, looks very much like a Dryad design. Bue--.
Hopefully this shows how the fade out works more clearly. I don't wanna mislead anyone trying something like this that the riser is just stuck on there.
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/P1110100.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/P1110100.jpg.html)
really nice work
This took me forever, but here is a pic at what I call full draw (25") and a pic of a group shot at 40yards with this bow and some trusty Surewood Doug Fir arrows. Don't mind my crappy looking cardboard and duct tape quiver ... sometimes you just got no money ...
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/DSCF3199.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/DSCF3199.jpg.html)
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/DSCF3198.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/DSCF3198.jpg.html)
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/photo-121.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/photo-121.jpg.html)
Dave Grant also shot this bow at ~ 27" draw and tiller looked fine. I'll see if I can dig up a picture of that.
Turned out real nice Ben.
Thanks PD. I knew you'd be lurking on here somewhere. I've had a couple really heartbreaking failures recently so it was nice to get this one shooting nicely.
One of those failures I should tell you was the hickory backed takedown you told me had too much grain runout. You were right and the bottom limb exploded. Made a new set of limbs, tillered them as cleanly and slowly as I could, and the white oak backing on those broke too ... at least it wasn;t catastrophic explosion like th first set.
I think I'm going back to hickory and bamboo permanently because I've never had a problem with really straight grained hickory backing nor with bamboo
Decent grained hickory is HARD to beat with anything, but fiberglass. Its consistent from piece to piece and certainly isn't finicky like plant backings get. That 3 piece will be cool once you get a good set of limbs for it. Id do up some hick backed yew or osage......MMMMM!
I know! I've been wanting to do some osage, and yew also but it's so expensive. I need a source for yew boards for backing.
I made a takedown for the bow swap, don't knw if you saw it, but it was a 68" with the same size riser, and R/D longbow limbs, and it worked much better. I think I'm going to go to a nice R?D longbow limb for any takedowns for now on. The recurve is just too much stress in a short limb on a takedown. Plus honestly I think a good R/D is just as fast for a wood limb.
I think I may just do up a nice new riser to match them though. Osage and walnut or something like that. Also I drilled the holes for the limb bolts and alignment pins at a distance of only 1.75" and I'd rather go to 2.5" or 3" for ease of alignment.
I've shot over a hunded arrows through every wooden bow I've made prior to final sanding, stain, and finish. On occasion, I've had to give a scrape here and a little sanding there, then shoot some more, etc. before I could accept it as done being made.
I'm with you on that Bowjunkie. Just being so far from the range now, I usually do all the finish sandin, try to give a real good workout on the tillering tree etc. Being summer and humid I also put on the finish to protect it during the shooting session. If I do some scraping, I just add some more finish on it. I've been using wipe on poly so it's pretty quick.
15 months left in the city and I can move back to NY and I'll have my own range ... how I can;t wait.
Hey, you're making it work with what you have available and that's what counts. We're all in different situations and some of us are lucky to have the space available for bowmaking, shooting, hunting, etc. Nice bow either way. Keep up the good work!
Had to go back and look at your bow again because it amazes me that it's all wood. That's just beautiful work. Well done!
Thanks Gregg, this one has been treating me really well. Been shooting it quite a bit. Probably has 400 shots or so through it. Has taken about 1" of string follow at rest.
Settled into just about 40# @25" and was chrono'd at 138-140fps @ 25" draw with 515gr arrow.
Oh I guess its ok:)
Those full draw shots look terrific. Great achievement all round!
This bow is cool.
Very nice, Ben.....
That's a great result. One to be proud of.
Ben I have never seen a bow you built that I didn't like. Amazing workmanship. I think you must see it shooting as you build.
Thank you all for the kind words.
Looks great man. I always find is funny how shocked people can be when you make a glass lam looking bow from just wood. Killer work. Corners of your limb edges make me nervous from the pics tho. Rather sharp looking.
I just now saw this. That is a sweet lookin bow!
Wakolbinger, the belly side is rather sharp yes. I could definately round them more, but I've never had a problem so I don;t worry too much.
The backing is actually very rounded over on the corners. I stained the backing, then rounded the corners, so the edge between the stained back surface and the unstained rounded edge makes a very sharp looking line, but actually it's rounded to about the radius of about 1/8". You're right on though, always round the corners of the backing well. I guess its also safer to round the belly more as well.
Chackworth, glad you approve, I was inspired by a forward handle bow you had posted which was a nice bocote handle. I had never done a forward handle before so I drew a little inspiration from your bow.
A work of Art.
Though I should post an update on this one.
The oak backing served well for maybe 400 shots but eventually started developing a crack across the back of the bottom limb. Still can't believe it didn't just explode.
Anyway, this bow really got me started on tri-lams and I love it so I needed to come up with a fix. Also the draw weight settled in to about 38# after many days of shooting in hot humid Virginia weather. Lastly it was sitting at 1-1.5" of set at rest.
Three goals:
1) make it shoot able again.
2) make it huntable again (50# @ 25")
3) give her back some reflex
I calculated that I would need to add approximately .040" of limb thickness which I determined was too thin for a hickory back to be applied over the oak. I thought about removing the oak backing with heat (TBIII was used) but I was worried about complete delamination.
I finally decided to sinew the thing with 1 good course and add some reflex in the process. I strung the bow backwards into about 2" reflex IIRC, and applied the sinew with hide glue. I also added some water based leather dye into the hide glue to give it a darkened color so I could just leave the sinew with no skins or anything and it'd be semi-camouflaged.
Here are the results ...
She holds a hair of reflex at rest, probably less than 1/2", draws 51-52#@26" and doesn't explode when you draw it so I'm happy. Being as cold as it is, it's not been shot since reworking it, but will be soon. I will chronograph to determine if any arrow speed was gained, or if the added limb mass negates any gains.
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_0067.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_0067.jpg.html)
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_0068.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_0068.jpg.html)
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_0069.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_0069.jpg.html)
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_0070.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_0070.jpg.html)
No assistant, so this is probably 22" draw
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_0072.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_0072.jpg.html)
Looks good Ben.
Hope your fix is in fact a FIX.
Me too. You can see a small fret on the belly there at a know, but it hasn't been progressing.
I can't imagine that sinew letting go, so I'm hopeful.
Yeah..I noticed that too.
fingers crossed... :pray: