Ok I got 2 great hickory staves in a horse trade at MOJAM. I think I want to try my first pyramid bow. I plan on making it 68" long 4" hand and 1.5 fades. (so riser 7") I plan on it being 2" wide tapering to .5" tips.
Any thoughts, going for 50-60lbs.
Can't wait to see it Kelly.
trapper I am going to start it while my trade bow is cooling. I am heating it now. going to clap it soon. Trying to get the string tracking a lot better.
I like to trap the back and temper the belly of my hickory pyramids. In addition, I store them where it's dry and cool. Otherwise I find they can be sluggish and take undue set in the summer months.
Kelly, I would start out a bit wider(1 3/4") but that's just me. You could always reduce the width later as you tiller if necessary.
Trapping is a good idea too.
looking forward to watching this one...it's a design I haven't done. Pat... I thought the same thing until I re-read his post...he is starting at 2" wide (using a 1 1/2" long fade) and tapering to 1/2" tips... :^)
I miss read it. Thanks for the correction, Bob.
As Curt said. Watch the humidity. I was working on one for my trade and it got humid and instantly the bow got soft. I stopped working it and will wait till the fall to finish it.
Kelly is in Kansas so humidity shouldn't be too much of a problem.
Kelly I just finished a hickory bow up for a raffle. 67" ntn, 55# @ 28. It finished at a fat 1 5/8" wide with 1/2" tips. I kept my limbs parallel for 15-16" though.
looking forward to seeing the progress...then you can start on your "FrankenBow"... :^)
I love hickory bows, it gets humid here, but I just store the bow inside where it's dry and don't hunt it more than a day or two in a row and the humididty doesn't seem to soak in fast enough to amke a difference.
I've also done most of mine as PearlDrums said with a parallel section, but pyramid works really well too ...
can;t wait to see it
Hickory is the way I go. Elm is good too. I have never went to 2" on a self bow. 1 1/2 at the most.
Mojam was good this year. Took 2 men that have never seen that stuff.
thanks for all the feed back so 2" is a bit wide. I have not removed any wood yet. I have been playing mechanic for folks I have scrapped a bit on my trad bow.
Yep Bob I have a good I deal for my frankin bow I am going to try and get me a yew billet and do a yew hedge take down. I think I will use the unbroken limb of my first bow.
Ok I had to replace my blade on my table saw it was burning through wood. Well got it off and a new on so I cut out the side profile for the limbs. So I got some work done. I have to heat my trade bow so I think I might get this one do a short string after that. I will use the saw to ensure that first run was not a fluke and the blade really is working so when I start on the hackberry I am using for a fence I know it is good.
I will take some pics if I get it to looking like a bow later.
Ok I have pulled this one back out.
I have it cut, Draw knifed and rasped down to my profile lines.
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e383/gillk/Archery/2014%20Hickory%20pyramid%20bow/20141109_172256_zpsvd5nqwkb.jpg)[/URL]
still a bit thinks but I have not started scraping yet.
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e383/gillk/Archery/2014%20Hickory%20pyramid%20bow/20141109_172401_zpsefoitgxz.jpg)[/URL]
Draw in the string nocks. I do .5" from the end on the back and 1" from the end on the back.
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e383/gillk/Archery/2014%20Hickory%20pyramid%20bow/20141109_172801_zpsjgmmcfuo.jpg)[/URL]
File them in.
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e383/gillk/Archery/2014%20Hickory%20pyramid%20bow/20141109_174613_zpstmhyn22o.jpg)[/URL]
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e383/gillk/Archery/2014%20Hickory%20pyramid%20bow/20141109_174554_zpsrp1msilx.jpg)[/URL]
Now I am ready to put a sting on it and see how she bends after I get a bit of wood scrapped of.
Ok here is where we are on this bow. It is not done and needs more wood to come off but the tips are moving. If all goes well it will be tillered out this weekend. I might toast the belly. I am also contemplating trapping the back. I think now is the time to do that.
If I do I think I would do a .25" of each edge. Don't know if I will but I need to make my mind up on that before i go any further, I don't need it to be light.
Here is the unstrung profile.
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e383/gillk/20150723_202630_zpswo9l0hpt.jpg) (http://s43.photobucket.com/user/gillk/media/20150723_202630_zpswo9l0hpt.jpg.html)
Back profile
The handle has some meat left on it, but that is what I was taught. Refine tips and handles last no need to waste that work if the stave does not want to be a bow.
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e383/gillk/20150723_202741_zpsokm1i40h.jpg) (http://s43.photobucket.com/user/gillk/media/20150723_202741_zpsokm1i40h.jpg.html)
So trap the back yes no?
Did you heat temper the belly?
Either way I would consider trapping it. There's no way that the clean (inviolate do) back of a hickory stave is going to fail in a long and wide design.
I would probably heat temper first, then go and trap, just to make sure any accidental toasting of the side of the limb/onto the back will be scraped off when trapping.
I might get it bending more before all this though .... I'd get at least a long string on first
Kelly, have you started bending it yet?
If you decide to trap it I'd go 1/8" on each side of the limbs. Be careful not to scorch the back at all. It will weaken it. You could add cooking oil to the back first to help prevent scorching and you could remove that oil later with alcohol or acetone.
Stay away from the tips if they are starting to bend already.
ps. remember you are not in Kansas anymore Dorothy! :knothead:
Thanks pat it is bending but not much. Quarter" total. I think i will trap it. The hole limb flexing but gaing it is not much.
Good to see ya building and posting again Kelly.
Hope all is well at your new location.
Missed ya at Mojam this year.
I would stick with the 2" width and take the tips down to 1/4". That tip wood is not doing much work and the wider wood near the fades is not putting mass where it will hurt you.
That's just my thoughts on it.
I got a Hickory stave at mojam also.
Rought down and Put in my bow room with 40* humidity in 2 days it lost 10 grams of moisture
I am not going to work on mine until the moisture gets out.
I got 4 osage also
QuoteOriginally posted by monterey:
I would stick with the 2" width and take the tips down to 1/4". That tip wood is not doing much work and the wider wood near the fades is not putting mass where it will hurt you.
That's just my thoughts on it.
Dead on the money.
I would be giving it a solid heat treatment now and planning to do it again when at about 20 - 22 inches of draw. Trapping the back will make a world of difference. I would be aiming to take a full 3/8ths off each side near the handle and reducing this as I went along the limb to about an 1/8th near the tips.
Ben no heat on the belly yet planned on it. Monterey
I may thin the tips but I was taught you start wide at the tips and handles so you can make adjustments in them to help the string track. So the tips will get norrow but it will be later. Well I have a date with a heat gun.
Ok I had a date with a heat gun.
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e383/gillk/20150725_190138_zpsjms120yc.jpg) (http://s43.photobucket.com/user/gillk/media/20150725_190138_zpsjms120yc.jpg.html)
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e383/gillk/20150725_193255_zpsktvggilo.jpg) (http://s43.photobucket.com/user/gillk/media/20150725_193255_zpsktvggilo.jpg.html)
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e383/gillk/20150725_193245_zps2yezjxxo.jpg) (http://s43.photobucket.com/user/gillk/media/20150725_193245_zps2yezjxxo.jpg.html)
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e383/gillk/20150725_193213_zpsug2o5rai.jpg) (http://s43.photobucket.com/user/gillk/media/20150725_193213_zpsug2o5rai.jpg.html)
Well I think she is nice and toasty. I will work on her this week end getting her tillered out.
Watch the angle at the bottom of the fade into the working limb it looks a little sharp to me?
Did you see the moisture coming out of the belly as you were heat treating? It looks like it wasn't dry enough without the heating. It might be an idea to keep it in a hot box when you aren't working on it too. I've found getting hickory drier than 'normal' makes quite a difference to it.
Thanks mike no moisture came out. It was a seasoned stave when I got it and i cut it down to a bow black back in NOV when I was still in KS, and I bet nothing dries them better then a dry KS winter.
Ok I have this bow bending the right limb needs some work on the inner 3rd. And the left is just stronger I think.
Brace
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e383/gillk/20150809_200709_zpspjkonpdx.jpg) (http://s43.photobucket.com/user/gillk/media/20150809_200709_zpspjkonpdx.jpg.html)
Near the full draw. I am within an inch or so. I am near the top of the draw weight so I am sure I can get a good tiller.
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e383/gillk/20150809_200947_zpsahytprpd.jpg) (http://s43.photobucket.com/user/gillk/media/20150809_200947_zpsahytprpd.jpg.html)
The string tracks just off the handle. So I will toast the belly and get the string closer to center.
With it being a pyramid width taper you should be aiming for an even bend everytwhere along the limb. Eg. the tiller should be arc of a circle with it perhaps a shade stiff out of the fads to prevent excess set there. Right now its bending way hard in the mid/outer limbs. You need to remove a reasonable bit of wood from the inner limbs. I personally wouldn't brace it yet until the tiller is sorted out.
QuoteOriginally posted by mikkekeswick:
With it being a pyramid width taper you should be aiming for an even bend everytwhere along the limb. Eg. the tiller should be arc of a circle with it perhaps a shade stiff out of the fads to prevent excess set there. Right now its bending way hard in the mid/outer limbs. You need to remove a reasonable bit of wood from the inner limbs. I personally wouldn't brace it yet until the tiller is sorted out.
In my last post I said about the moisture - if you look at your pics of the belly toasting you'll little darker 'dots' - those are caused when the moisture in the wood evaporates and the sugars in the sap are left behind.
thanks for the imput I was seeing the same thing on the limb then. To stiff on the inner 3rd or so.
Ok I let her set after putting some more heat on the belly. I tried to fix the string tracking but either I went too far or it did not take. I think I have the tiller under control.
Ok just off the heat.
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e383/gillk/20150829_162448_zpsrchuobbx.jpg) (http://s43.photobucket.com/user/gillk/media/20150829_162448_zpsrchuobbx.jpg.html)
She sets almost strait now. After shooting she has some string follow but it comes out after she has rested.
Braced
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e383/gillk/20150829_164803_zpslubrzhn9.jpg) (http://s43.photobucket.com/user/gillk/media/20150829_164803_zpslubrzhn9.jpg.html)
Checking tiller
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e383/gillk/20150829_170318_zpsjmwais0c.jpg) (http://s43.photobucket.com/user/gillk/media/20150829_170318_zpsjmwais0c.jpg.html)
And near full draw.
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e383/gillk/20150829_180013_zpsheyifc0c.jpg) (http://s43.photobucket.com/user/gillk/media/20150829_180013_zpsheyifc0c.jpg.html)
The rain came in yesterday and kept me from heating it up But I like the way this thing slings an arrow. It has better cast then any I have made.
oK here is the issue.
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e383/gillk/20150829_180411_zpsxfe3y8ge.jpg) (http://s43.photobucket.com/user/gillk/media/20150829_180411_zpsxfe3y8ge.jpg.html)
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e383/gillk/20150829_180358_zpsdoelivkw.jpg) (http://s43.photobucket.com/user/gillk/media/20150829_180358_zpsdoelivkw.jpg.html)
Ok if the weather holds she will get some bacon grease on her then heated up. To get it better.
Once I am sure I have that done I will work on the handle and tips. I have a big ole bull snake I got off the road last spring. Then tru oil and in a tube God willing next week.