First shot at short osage bendy handle

[mjwhitby]

This is my first attempt at a short bendy handle bow. It is 50" NTN and pulls 55# at 26". Let me know what you think. I can use all the advise I can get as I have a lot to learn!

[timbermoose]

man!! that is absolutely gorgeous!! great job! if you get bored of it, send it my way.

[soy]

I would say your first shot hit the mark  

[Bert Frelink]

Beautiful work!!! Nicely done, if that is your first you did very well my friend.
Congratulations on a fine looking bow!!
Bert.  

[BCWV]

Wow!! That's nice!

[Roy from Pa]

Very nice.

[John Scifres]

Very nice.  Only things I would recommend:  I would have a more circular tiller.  Midlimbs need to bend more.  Handle needs to bend less.  Also use a rope and pulley tillering system.  You'll get less set on your bows.

[LittleBen]

Looks excellent. maybe slightly stiff in the outer 1/3 but I'm really just saying that so you keep making more bows trying to improve. In reality that's as close to perfect as anyone gets. Great Job!

[LittleBen]

That's a heck of a fireplace BTW. Very nice as well.

[twitchstick]

Very nice!

[Red Tailed Hawk]

Looks great. Like that snakey osage.

[Igor]

Great looking especially for your 1st!


thanks for sharing

><>>
Glenn

[Alexander13]

Awesome!! Do you have a picture of the profile unstrung to show the R/D? Just learning and I can't wait to try my first selfbow like this.

Joel

[mjwhitby]

Thank you so much for all the kind words. Ive learned so much from you all on this site. I would have to say the bug has bit me. All I can think about is building bows. I'm wanting to try some kind of backed bow like  bamboo and Osage or ipe.
Mr Scrifes what is it about the rope and pulley that gets less set. That's got me really intrigued. I definitely want to try that.

[Trapper Rob]

Nice

[John Scifres]

Tillering, by its very nature, is done to expose flaws in the way a bow is bending.  These flaws are made up of places where the bow is bending relatively too much or too little.  Those flaws can lead to damage of the structure of the wood if the bow-to-be is bent for too long or too far with the flaw present.  

A pulley system allows you to watch a bow bending just small amounts for short periods of time, leading to less damage of the structure of the wood.

Alternatively, systems where you pull a bow-to-be to a certain draw length and hold it there while you evaluate it exacerbate the damage by bending those flaws longer than necessary.

Ideally, we would cut the bow out and it would be perfectly tillered and at the exact draw weight we want before it bends at all.  Since we function in reality though we have to minimize the negatives of our process.

[TimBoA]

"All I can think about is building bows."  You are in the right spot for sure!  

That bow looks great.  Everything about the finish details is perfect.  I especially like the tracks though!

[Draffish]

great looking bow

[mjwhitby]

Thanx for the info Mr Scifres. That make a lot of sense. Gonna give it a shot on the next one.

[red hill]

Nice bow, MJ! I like the artwork as well.
Where do you live in AR? I'm in El Dorado near the Louisiana state line.