Silk-backed Cherry bow - my 8th try

[Oosie]

Hello all;

I have this past weekend finished my newest bow, my eighth.

A Silk-backed Cherry bow built from a board.
She's 60" NTN, 31#@28". Finished with satin wipe-on poly.

Seeing as she is lasting a while longer than my previous attempts, she deserved a name.

Comments and ideas are welcome.

Pictures below. (Yes, that riser was salvaged from another failed attempt, hence the double glueline.)

[Roy from Pa]

Very nice tiller.

I don't know much about boards bows but if you are drawing it at 28' or more I would thing you need a longer bow than 60"...  Being that you had 8 failures you are probably over stressing the limbs... It looks like you got it bending nice though... Good Luck...  I hope she holds up for you...

[Roy from Pa]

60 inches is plenty long for a 28 inch draw.

Really??? For a board bow???  I thought you would need at least 66"...

[Oosie]

This stave had a knot right at 63" which forced me to cut it down to 62" and make the bow 60" NTN.

The "mother"-board is actually 74" long.

I have one long stave left with which I want to shoot for 45# @28". But I'll make that one 70"NTN.


Also have a 54" Oak bow in the pipeline for the Missus. That one only needs to draw 20# so it's a close shave.

So if you make a lighter weight bow you can go much smaller??  And a heavier weight bow go longer??

[Bowjunkie]

Good luck with that one. That's short, especially for a cherry bow. How long is the stiff handle section? How many shots through it so far?

[Oosie]

Originally posted by Bowjunkie:
Good luck with that one. That's short, especially for a cherry bow. How long is the stiff handle section? How many shots through it so far?

The one pictured has about 300 shots through it up to date.
On this bow the stiff handle section is 14".

Do you mean to say that this bow is short, or that the Oak bow I have planned will be short?    :confused:

[Oosie]

Originally posted by Shredd:
So if you make a lighter weight bow you can go much smaller??  And a heavier weight bow go longer??

As I understand it, it has to do with the elasticity of the wood. Shorter bow would be stiffer and longer would be bendier.
Secondly for a certain drawlength a certain bowlength is optimal.
For my 28" draw, IIRC the preferred length is 60--66".

[LittleBen]

It all boils down to this:
For a given type of wood and a given limb thickness, there is a minimum radius of curvature that the limb will handle.

So the wider, and/or lighter weight, and/or shorter draw, the shorter the bow can be.

this is a relatively light weight bow, and frankly that's probably why it looks so extreme, but for 30# it may be fine.

[Bowjunkie]

Yeah, that probably wouldn't survive at 55-60# @ 28". I made several cherry 60# bows before I got em to survive at least 1 5/8 wide and 68" long... backed with 1/16" quartersawn hickory. Cherry fails in compression relatively easily.

[mikkekeswick]

If you want to back cherry I recommend maple or ash. Silk is also very resistant to stretch and this will be contributing to some 'extra' compression on the belly.
Yes 60 inch and a 14 inch handle is pushing it a bit too much....especially with cherry!
Hope it holds together for you.