Pat B, on your bow did you remove the sapwood?

James, Yes! I'm sure with the right piece of locust you could leave a ring or 2 of sapwood but I didn't on this bow.

Ok, I super glued and clamped the crack and I got it scraped down and bending pretty well on the floor.

I heated it twice the last few days between shifts at work, but am still not completley satisfied with the straightness. It is much better but still not quite there yet. I am going to give it another heat clamp ritual tonight. This locust seems much more difficult to straighten then osage. This may be from the age of the stave though, propbably drier than anything I have tried before.

I will get some pictures up tomorrow. Hopefully tomorrow I can also file in some nocks and get it braced low around 3 inches or so and then go from there.

Ok I got her to low brace today of about 3 3/4 inches.



Here's the string alignment after 4 sessions of heating and clamping. It's much better then when I first started but still about 1/8 off from true center of the handle. So I plan on making the top limb specific to favor it being to one side. It will put the arrow closer to the string that way. That probably makes no sense but you all know what I mean!

 

Anyone see any issues right off? I am going to scrape the top limb just a bit as it appears just a tad stiffer then increase the brace height a bit. I will post more pictures when I get to that point.

And ignore that fancy string..........poor people have poor ways!

Got her to a brace of 7 1/4 inches measureing from the back of the bow.

The right limb is what I am hoping for the top limb. It still looks a bit stiffer than the left to me what do you think?

Looking real good there...

Its hard to tell just looking at it at brace height. They look about dead even to me. Maybe try taking a pic of it on the tiller tree.

Okie, I am trying to not use a tree on this one. Just gonna use a pully system with a scale like Gary Davis does. My last two came out pretty heavy as I just used a tree and no scale 62 and 64 pounds to be exact!

I will get a picture of it on the pully here before long as I have not bent it other than floor tillering and braceing yet.

Do you guys think it looks close enough now to start bending a bit on the pully?

Let it set braced like you have it now for 30-40 minutes to let some initial weight drop. After that, start drawing by hand a few inches at a time. Recheck tiller measurements after each drawing session. It's OK to check and see how the limb's bending on the tree from time to time, but once you have an even tiller, it's pretty much just getting the weight where you want it. Good luck.....Art

Hey Dennis, looking good!

My only ? is, the 71/4", is that from back of handle? I recommend a brace height of about 6.5" or around, lower myself, for selfbows.

Looking foward to the Shooter!

Steve, Yes from the back of the handle. I didn't measure from the belly side of the handle but would guess it's just shy of 6" there.

I may start bending it a bit this evening, right now I got some boys who have talked me into raiding another tradgangers swimming pool for a few hours.

Dennis, I'm still a novice but I think you're right about the right limb looking a little stronger.

Pat B, I've read several suggestions of using "thinned super glue" to fill a crack. What do you thin the super glue with?

I scraped the right limb some more then strung it up and let it set for awhile.

Strung it up and started bening it a little on my pully/scale. Right limb which is going to be the top is still stiff on the inside third for sure and maybe a bit on the outer third as well.

Please speak up and let me know if thats correct!

The lighting in my garage is terrible for pictures after sundown but hopefully this will give you an idea of where i am at.



It's right at 50# at 19 inches in the picture according to my scale.

I think you're right on where to scrape.

Red, super glue comes in two forms that I know of...thin and gel. I use the thin to go into checks, cracks, knots and voids. You can heat the wood a little and that will allow the glue to penetrate better.
 If it were mine I'd use the right limb for the bottom limb. I never shape the handle until I have tillered out the bow so I can choose which limb will be which by the way the wood bends. Alsao I make all of my bows symmetrical these days for this reason and I can see proper tiller better with a symmetrical bow design.

adeeden, I've been following but just came back from Denton. I could not see with and length of the stave. It does look like you need to get more near handle wood moving. For the record, I've never bought into leaving layers of sapwood on osage and BL because it looks good. I've left layers of sapwood only when I didn't have enough heartwood for a bow. It has been a few years since i made a BL bow. I need to get bak to my roots and I have some staves getting ready. Jawge

What draw length are yo heading too. I apologize if I missed it.    Jawge

Jawge, I believe he said he was going for 45# at 27" draw.

Jawge, who said anything about sapwood?        

Thinking out loud again?  :D  

Your on track, Dennis. 50lb at 19" gives you plenty to work on good tiller and reach your desired weight!

Look at the string angle in the pic. This also tells alot of what's going on!