Saturday 1 December 2012

Repaired Bow Full Draw

Brian's Bow is now back to full draw, it's about 55# at 31" so I can loose a few pounds in the final clean up and finishing. I've shot 55 arrows through it at the full 31" draw.
I had been thinking of Chickening out and only drawing 30", but I must have the courage of my convictions so it's been back all the way.
I'm having to shoot 'in' the bow with my anchor point down near my right shoulder to reach the full 31", I'm getting used to it now and hitting my 2" square at 10 yards despite the low anchor.
Here's a still from the video I took to check the tiller.
You can see I've done the Mother of Pearl arrow plate, you can also see the extra thickness back and belly at the grip, this will be covered by the leather grip eventually.
I shall take a whisker off the inner third of the right (upper) limb as it looks a tad stiff to me. The left limb looks really sweet.
I was a bit nervous getting back this far, but when I'm actually shooting it I feel it could come back another inch!
I've now taken a whisker off the inner third of the upper limb (with a fine rasp), taken out the tool marks with a scraper and  sanded it down. It's now 48# at 30" which I feel is probably about right, better a hint over than under especially in this cold weather which can add a pound or two.
I shall shoot another 50 through it and then get the grip done... again!

Also been tidying up the Yew I cut on Thursday following my approval from the council. The main piece is almost 8' long and about 4" diameter in the middle. The heart wood is nice and dark with fairly thin clearly defined sapwood. The growth rings are very coarse, but that doesn't overly concern me, there doesn't seem to be any correlation between width of rings, colour or definition of heart/sap. Doubtless you can read otherwise elsewhere, this is just what I've found. There are a couple of scruffy bits from further up the limb, one of which may make a primitive stick bow, the other may come in handy for something, if only firewood.
Generally I think, when in doubt save it, you never know when you'll want to make a miniature or somesuch, and you can always throw it away when you have better wood.
I'll probably run the big piece through the bandsaw later this week, for now I've just painted the ends with PVA and left in in the garage where I can stub my toe on it.

2 comments:

  1. Hello Derek.
    Do you sell your bows?

    Cheers
    Jamie

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    Replies
    1. Hi, yes, I sell a few every year but only within the UK. IT very much depends what people want and if I have suitable wood.

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