Help please with unfinished long bow...

[Jonah L. Archer]

You my friend are welcome. Make sure you post some pictures of it when you are done. Forgot to mention a couple of things, before you sand the bow you will need to scrape the wax like surface of the bamboo. If you want to sand the nodes down, don't worry it won't affect the bow. If you decide you want the bow to be darker, I find that leather dye works very well on the bamboo giving it a very rich coffee color. I use the Fiebings leather dye in light brown.

I was planning on a dark hickory wood stain... would this work ok? Will the bamboo take the stain as well as the hickory? Also, I'm assuming that 550 cord is strong enough for a tillering string...(I know it's not for a finished bowstring, wouldn't even consider it!) is that correct?

[KS49]

Don't overdraw the bow when tillering. Only draw to the weight you intend or a bit less until you are near the end of the process. The safest procedure is to remove some material (scraper and/or rasp) draw until your scale reches the desired weight, look at the shape of the bend. Keep doing this with a tillering string attacjed until you are gettimg a good bend and the nocks are down a good 8-10 inches. At this point you can string the bow and keep following the above tillering procedure until you reach drawlength at your target poundage.

The benefit of this method os that you never overstress the wood.

Take ot slow. Near the end, you'll want to take off too much wood. Whwn this happens, stop and go soak your head in a bucket of oce water. The difference between a 50lb and a 40 lb bow os onlyabout 1/64" of wood.

Ken S

[postman]

So, how's the bow coming???

[MrKnobbie]

I suppose my imput is a bit late, and all I can do is reiterate other but...
Tiller first. I can't pull a "floor tillered" bow until it gets down to the 75lb range anyway. pull to 8-10 inches first, then move up to to 14, then 16, then 18-20, etc. I don't even start checking the wieght until I think I'm in the low 70's (I draw 27.5 inches and like a 50-56 lb bow). This is when I start using a short brace, like 3-4 inches. I don't go to a high brace until I'm almost ready to finish, and don't draw to 28 or farther until I'm real close to done.

I don't think that design is meant to have a bigger (deeper center cut) shelf. Add a wedge to the handle if you really need after it is finished.
I fear if you cut the shelf much you might weaken the handle.

tips don't need much mass. rounded, smooth on all sides, tapered to match the bow, and enough to keep the string from slipping off is probably all you need. too much mass can cause hand shock.

I got a great finish using some spray laquer. Sand up to 350 grit. The bamboo will accept stain if it is lightly sanded (be careful here) and it is stain (not other stuff too). It won't be anywhere near as dark as the hickory using the same stain in my albiet limited experience.

FYI-do you have/ have you made a tillering gizmo?
You can take pictures, upload to your computer, and use the oval making funtion on Paintbrush to check the uniformity of the tiller.
I also use a hand plane for the early work rather than giving myself a new bout of tendonitis using a scraper and a rasp.
Remember to shoot it in (100 arrows should be oaky) before you finish.
71 inches is fine for anyone so long as it doesn't scape the ground when aiming. It will stack less than a 60" bow, at least in theory.

[Jonah L. Archer]

So, how's the bow coming???

Slowly at the moment... I'm still building a tillering tree (something I wasn't planning on to start with) but should have it finished by Friday, and then the fun can really begin. I originally had plans to use a friends tillering stick, but he neglected to mention to me that he sold it. After doing some research, a tillering tree seemed to make more sense and almost as easy to build, so there I am! Thank you for asking and I will keep you guys updated when I get started!

I suppose my imput is a bit late, and all I can do is reiterate other but...
Tiller first. I can't pull a "floor tillered" bow until it gets down to the 75lb range anyway. pull to 8-10 inches first, then move up to to 14, then 16, then 18-20, etc. I don't even start checking the wieght until I think I'm in the low 70's (I draw 27.5 inches and like a 50-56 lb bow). This is when I start using a short brace, like 3-4 inches. I don't go to a high brace until I'm almost ready to finish, and don't draw to 28 or farther until I'm real close to done.

I don't think that design is meant to have a bigger (deeper center cut) shelf. Add a wedge to the handle if you really need after it is finished.
I fear if you cut the shelf much you might weaken the handle.

tips don't need much mass. rounded, smooth on all sides, tapered to match the bow, and enough to keep the string from slipping off is probably all you need. too much mass can cause hand shock.

I got a great finish using some spray laquer. Sand up to 350 grit. The bamboo will accept stain if it is lightly sanded (be careful here) and it is stain (not other stuff too). It won't be anywhere near as dark as the hickory using the same stain in my albiet limited experience.

FYI-do you have/ have you made a tillering gizmo?
You can take pictures, upload to your computer, and use the oval making funtion on Paintbrush to check the uniformity of the tiller.
I also use a hand plane for the early work rather than giving myself a new bout of tendonitis using a scraper and a rasp.
Remember to shoot it in (100 arrows should be oaky) before you finish.
71 inches is fine for anyone so long as it doesn't scape the ground when aiming. It will stack less than a 60" bow, at least in theory.

Your input is right on time. The whole post was excellent, but the two tid-bits that I highlighted are of extra special interest to me. Thank you very much for your input!

[tim martin]

you should watch this video about ed scott he is great imo. you can skip to part 4 if you want, that is where he starts to make a bow. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWVrN...B7B5ED3609B651

[Jonah L. Archer]

you should watch this video about ed scott he is great imo. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWVrN...B7B5ED3609B651

Thanks for the link! Unfortunately I'm not able to watch videos at the moment, but when I get the chance, I'll check it out!

[Jonah L. Archer]

So, how's the bow coming???

Well, I got my tillering tree done today. Put the bow in it, and found out that the lower limb is not flexing nearly as much as the upper limb, but I only made a little progress on it before my daughter woke up from her nap. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to put a couple hours of work into it tomorrow. If I do, I'll take some pics and get 'em up! Thanks again for everyone's help!