New bow.

wood carver 2 · August 19, 2011, 07:25:00 PM

Hi Gang. I finally have pictures of my second longbow. After my last attempt failed due to the core wood warping and becoming a total loss, I went back to what worked for me before. I built this one with a 5/16" walnut core that tapers to 1/16", a 27" long X 1/4" power lam, I/8" bamboo flooring belly and 1/8" natural bamboo back. The riser is made from salvaged white oak from a friends' fireplace mantel.I had built him a new one and he was going to trash the original which was over 100 years old. It has accent strips of maple, walnut and cherry. The bow is 1 1/4" wide at the fades and 3/8" at the tips, 63" long and 62" ntn.I was aiming (hoping) :D for 50# to55# and it came in at 53#. I'm not that good, just lucked out. I learned something about bamboo flooring while building this one. Don't use the woven strand type unless it's going to be in the core. I found a couple of small splinters lifted after drawing the bow a few times. I thought that a careful scraping and sanding followed by the sealer would end that , but it still has them.

Any critiques/comments would be appreciated as I try to learn from each experience.
Dave.

Roy from Pa · August 19, 2011, 08:43:00 PM

I guess it's ok:)

bjansen · August 19, 2011, 09:41:00 PM

Nice job....so it is an all wood bow (no fiberglass). Funny thing is that I made my second longbow bow from an old white oak fireplace mantle that my friend was trashing as well.

DVSHUNTER · August 19, 2011, 10:58:00 PM

Awesome looking bow. Thinner tips will give you more speed and less handshock. Reduce the thickness of you overlays and it might help. Very clean lines and lots of talent there.

red hill · August 19, 2011, 11:07:00 PM

Nice bow, Wood Carver. Like the all natural bows.

KellyG · August 20, 2011, 04:06:00 AM

thats a nice looking bow for sure.

okie64 · August 20, 2011, 07:27:00 AM

Great lookin bow. Tiller looks great.

swtchbckshtr · August 20, 2011, 09:50:00 AM

very nice bow, and has some story behind it at that. thanks for sharing

BenBow · August 20, 2011, 10:05:00 AM

Nice full draw curve and good looking bow.

wood carver 2 · August 20, 2011, 10:07:00 AM

Thanks everyone for your kind words. Every bow build is a learning experience, even (especially) the failures. DVSHUNTER, I agree that the tips are kind of clunky and that's something I'll be working on for my next bow.
Bjansen, it's amazing what people will throw away. That piece of white oak was a mantel shelf for so long that it's really dry and light as a feather. At first I wasn't even sure it was oak. It makes this bow real light in my hand.
Thanks again all.
Dave.