We are having a nice rainy daty today so I got some shop time in. I have her bending to 50#@20" now. I had to allign one limb tip and get a bit of twist out on one limb. Will check it later.
 In the mean time here are a few pics of what I did today. The double pics are of either side of the bow at low brace...




...and at 14 1/2" draw...

These next pics are the relaxed bow after unbracing. You see she has a little set but I will take care of that later.
 

Other pics of tip and limb twist corrections...






You will notice the big pipe wrench in the last pic. I have hung all my clamps on it to help remove the twist.

Nice work Pat, looking forward to the "fulldraw" pic's.
Take your time ....
Bert.

Looking good Pat

Sure looks nice.

Great build along! Are you adding heat along with the pipe wrench/clamps weight at the handle to remove the twist?
Great job on the article in Primitive Archer as well. This bow will be special as well. Thanks for showing us how to do it.

Bert, now you've got me nervous. d;^)  
 thanks Ranger and old guy.
Bruce, yes I started at the tip end and began heating the limb and moved down the limb to the fades, clamping as I went(in appropriate places). With the cutout area in the form I supported the handle area with a small wood block and attached the wrench to the blocky handle. I heated the inner limb well then let the whole thing cool for 3 or 4 house before removing the clamps. I'll wait at least until tomorrow before I stress it.

Thats looking sweet Pat. Should make a beautiful full draw.

I think so, Keenan. I like this elm. Great bow wood so far.

I hope it works out Pat cause we have tons of it around here.
Lookin good!

Your shop looks vaguely familiar.........kinda like my own. I'm no neat freak either, but I usually know where everything is at. LOL

Looks like it's coming along very nicely!

That's fantastic looking; pretty incredible design. I haven't seen anything like this before. I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out

I feel so inferior.  Awsome job. God Bless you, Steve

Looking better and better each time I check in on you Pat! You still thinking about heat treating that baby? Art

I think so, Art but not sure to what extent yet. I'll know when it happens! d;^)
Semo, Marc St Louis uses lots of elm in his highly stressed recurves with great results so  give it a try. If I were to clean up my shop I'd spend a half of a year just looking for stuff...although I might find stuff that has been missing for a while. d;^)
 It may be a few more days before I can got more work done but I'm also looking forward to seeing the full draw pics!

QuoteOriginally posted by Pat B:
These next pics are the relaxed bow after unbracing. You see she has a little set but I will take care of that later.
   

How are going to remove the set please?    

Looks good but don't know if I like you useing elm. Folks on here are already looking at them for thier next bow But please not cut down all the elms! That is where the Morrells like to grow! They go good with any wild game or by themselves.

Tenbrook, I will temper the belly while on a reflex form. It hasn't taken too much set so I think tempering it in reflex should ultimately give it a bit of reflex or at least a flat profile. Won't know until then though!

Is tempering done with dry heat?  Could you explain the process to me please.

Yes, dry heat only and no oil!  Basically you scorch the belly wood to increase compression strength. Marc St Louis wrote a chapter in TBBIV on Heat Treating(tempering) wood bows. He did a lot of research on the matter and explains it quite well, better than I can. Marc has a thread on PA explaining his technique.
 What I've done with tempering is to scorch the belly wood(not the sides or back) to a chocolate brown color and then give the bow plenty of time to rehydrate(3 days or longer depending on the R/H in your area)before stressing the bow.  I hold the heat gun nozzle about 1" above the bows belly and move it about 6" back and forth until the wood scorches to the degree I'm looking for. I then move the heat gun out the limb but keep the heat moving evenly so each session overlaps the previous one. You only need to do this in the working section of each limb.
 When Marc does it he has a heat gun holder that sits on the belly of the bow with the nozzle at about 5" above the belly. Marc will leave the heat in one spot for up to 5 minutes before moving it. He claims this makes it penetrate deeper into the wood unlike my method that only penetrated a shallow section of the belly. Marc says the shallow tempering is only temporary but so far for me it seems to work well. I generally do the tempering at the very end of a build and add reflex at the same time. I leave the bow clamped for at least 3 to 4 hours(longer is better) before removing it from the form. I don't stress the bow for at least a week, especially this time of year when the air is the dryest around here.