My old locust bow...RIP (pg 4)

[Pat B]

I built this locust bow in 2003. It was my best locust build. Note the cut in shelf. I haven't done that in years. One of the tip overlays popped off years ago and I never fixed it or shot it again. Recently, as I was going through my bow collection I saw this one and wondered about sinew backing it. It is 55 1/2" t/t, is just over 2" at it's widest and draws 47#@24". The belly had developed some very fine frets at mid limb on both limbs but not bad. I thought about adding recurves to the end of the limbs but decided to just leave them straight. I will repair the tip overlay then I think I will sinew back it.
Here are a few pics...

[Mad Max]

Will sinew help stop the frets form going any further?
Nice Pat

[4 point]

That is a very nice bow pat! Definitely worth bringing back to life. Friend of mine just reduced weight on a gorgeous Osage bow he'd built in the 90s that had got to heavy for him and had just been hanging on the wall. Sad to see great bows go unused!

[Flem]

Cool bow Pat I never have made decent Locust bow and thats not for a lack of effort

Is the nice brown color from age or had you stained it?

[Pat B]

Mark, I don't know but hope so. I've heard it relieves compression strain.
Flem, I cut my teeth on locust and it usually kicked my butt. This was one of my few successful locust bows.
Thanks, 4 point. I'm hoping to bring this one back.

[Roy from Pa]

Nice Pat

I have my first bow hanging in the shop.

I cut down a shagbark hickory tree off my property and made a bow out of it with the help of Bowjunkie back in the late 90's.

[Bowjunkie]

Ahh, the good old days 

[Roy from Pa]

 

[Pat B]

I remover the handle wrap and scraped and sanded the old finish off today.


You can see how the belly developed a concavity over the years. Ironically the limb with the frets had the most concavity. What that indicates, if anything I don't know.



Next I heated and removed the remaining tip overlay. I think I used gel superglue on it but not sure. As soon as it was hot enough I got a blade under the overlay and it came right up...




Then I clamped the limb to a reflex caul and put the heat to it...



I'll check on this a bit later today and get the other limb on the form. Stay tuned.

[Mad Max]

Explain the sinew process while you are going along.
Sinew for dummies 

[Pat B]

Will do, Mark. 

[Mad Max]

 

[Pat B]

The first limb I bent on the form didn't react too much to the heat. I even went back over and heated until it changed color...a dark purple. When I clamped the other limb I could see the first limb has a twist. I hadn't noticed it before so I don't know if it happened in the heating or it was there all along.
I've just done the other limb. I took this one to the color as I heated the limb from handle to tip. We'll see how it turns out.

[Roy from Pa]

 

[Carpdaddy]

Interesting, I'll be watching and learning! Don't know why though, I'll forget everything I learn. Will be fun to watch though. 

[Shredd]

I think it's cool you are refinishing it... But wouldn't backing it increase compression on the belly?? It is a heavy bow being 47# @ 24"... Why not scrape the belly, get rid of the frets and bring it down a few lbs so that there is less stress on the belly??

[Pat B]

Shedd, I've heard that sinew backings decrease the compression strains on the belly. That's one reason I wanted to sinew back this bow. Other backings like boo and hickory would increase the compression strains. I'll have to retiller the bow anyway after the sinew is all cured out so I may eliminate the frets anyway.
I took the bow off the form this morning. Although it didn't add much reflex it did even out the limbs and I got a pretty good belly tempering so that will help with the compression too. I also added lemonwood tip overlays. I did that now so if necessary I can wrap the end of the sinew backing and the bottom of the overlay to smooth that transition and add some strength to the overlays. I used TBIII to glue the overlays. I was going to use Weldwood Plastic Resin but it had become a brick in the Ball jar I had it stored in. Must have been humid when I put it in the jar. 

[Roy from Pa]

Looking good there, Pat.

[Pat B]

I got the tips reshaped after adding the overlays and cut in string grooves...

...and what good are string grooves without a string so I low braced the bow for the first time in many years.


The bow is surprisingly strong. I didn't check the weight with a scale but I wanted to sweat, exercise and reeducate the bow to bend before I pulled it too far. Then I will start with the sinewing.

[Roy from Pa]

I like it...