Tinkering in 'Paint'

Is the tiller an arc of a circle? I just messed about a bit in paint drawing circles.

Full Draw

The tiller is much better now, still slightly squareish (I'm being fussy and you may not see it or agree with my analysis).
There are reasons for this, a) because I've left it slightly stiff in the handle as there is a groove in the belly from where the log was split, and I don't want this to become a weak point and a focus for failure, so I've left extra wood around it. b) The natural deflex is at about the midpoint of each limb (where the corners of my imaginary square are, see the pic on the post of June 13th).
Anyhow, here's the pic. 40 pounds at 28".
The pic was a bit rushed this morning, so it's not quite square in the frame (note to self...wear glasses next time!).
Also the bow is supported fractionally too far to the right. Oh dear I'm getting a tad precious about it all now..

Looking between this and the last two pics is a good illustration of the tillering process. Doesn't that first shot look awful now!

Getting Smoother

The tillering is coming on, it's now at full bracing height (or thereabouts). It's pulling 36 pounds at 24".
You can see the uneveness is still there but has been reduced considerably.
It has a slightly squareish look to the curve too, but you have to allow for the unstrung deflex reflex shape.

I still neeed to work on the final third of the right limb. Work needs to slow right down now, I may look for 40 pounds at 28" as this can be worked down.
The original spec' is 35-40, I wasn't sure how it would turn out at first, but there is a fair amount of defex and no real sign of string follow. I'll take it steady and see how it goes.
I may be tempted to try a 24" arrow out of it just to see how it feels.

Now that the tips are a bit thinner and narrower, since taking the pic' I've steamed a tad more reflex in to add a bit of weight match them better. Being thinner there is less strain on the wood, I only steamed the last 4" or so, by shoving the bow through the side of the steam chest. It should improve the look of that right limb a bit too.

Starting to Tiller

I've taken it back to 35 pounds at about 22".
You can see the right limb is stiff at the end half. but it's still early in the process and I'm trying to maximise the heart wood still while leaving the last 4" or so stiff to maintain the little bit of recurve. (I may even put in just a hint more on the naturally curved limb to match it up.
It's braced at about 4"
Enough chat, here's the pic!
It's taken at a slight angle which makes it look even more assymetric, but it's just a quick pic before I get my dinner.

Steam Bending the Yew

I did the bending last Wednesday which gave the wood all weekend to dry out again while I was away for a few days.
The straight limb has been steam bent to match the curve of the naturally deflex/reflex limb.

First I traced the curve of the limbs onto a sheet of paper.

Then I sketched the curve I wanted for the wooden former that I would clamp the limb to. You have to put in a bit of extra bend as the limb will recover slightly. The former is an chunk of old rough sawn pine, I traced the curve onto it and cut it on my band saw, a scrap of sheet steel acts as a strap to hold the tip of the bow down as it is clamped .

When I did the bend (30mins steaming, clamp to the form then 1 hour to cool) I found the bend at the tip was a bit severe. Hmm, should I leave it or tinker with it? Eventually I decided to put it back into the steamer to relax a bit for 15 minutes.
Good decision, it came out with a smoother bend which is a pretty good match to the naturally curved limb.
Well it's certainly close enough for a 'primitive' !

When it's hot the wood bends easilly, I put the tip under the metal band and just bent it over with a little hand pressure, the clamps held it down into the concave section of the former, note the strip of wood between the metal clamp and the bow, it's there to spread the load and avoid damaging the wood.
Next job is to cut some shallow nocks and to start drawing it back a bit.

The primitive Yew bow is coming along, it's nervy work as there isn't a great depth of heart wood at the edges, at the centre there is a good amount as it follows the curve of the growth rings.
Of course this curve of the heart wood can only be seen at the end of the stave.
To maximise the amount of heartwood, I'm working down through the sapwood, carefully trying to follow the growth rings. I took off a fair depth early on ripping through 3 or 4 rings at a time with the drawknife, but now I'm having to work more cautiously.
The figure on the belly is going to look splendid.
The handle has a lovely curve to it but it isn't very thick, because of this I've got to thin down the limbs before I can start to tiller it.
Obviously the grip needs to be the thickest part of the bow else it will just snap in the middle. Hopefully this process won't lose too much draw weight and I'll be thinking of getting a tillering string on it soon.
Slow and steady, a little and often is the key.
I think I'm all bowed out for the day!
More pictures next time!

Primitive Yew Bow

I've had a commission for a primitive bow, I have a piece of Yew split from the other side of the log in the previous entry which might just do the job. It's only 59" long and not quite as wide as I'd like, but it has loads of character, and being Yew should out perform the other wood I have available...so it's worth a try.
You can see the same wiggle in the pith line as the previous stave, and that there isn't much width of much heart wood to spare, but the fun is in the challenge.

The weather has been so glorious I took my workmate and tools outside and have been roughing it out off and on all morning. It's not a job to rush at when there's so little wood, so it's do a bit, stop and think and look at it, make a few pencil marks, have a cuppa... check my E-mail, then do a bit more. The stave has some natural deflex with a bit of reflex at the far end. I had intended to put a sharp little reflex near each tip (flip the tips as the guys on Primitive Archer would say) However there is a knot through the middle of the limb right where I would bend it and to attempt a tight bend would be foolhardy. What I shall do instead is to put a smoother reflex into the limb which I'm holding to match the natural curve in t'other. With a bow like this, it's all about working with the stave rather than fighting it.
Hmmm, I s'pose I should say what I'm aiming for?
Let's say 35-40pounds draw weight at 28", tested to 29". Tillered to bend through the handle to give an arc of a circle centered on the nock of the arrow at full draw.
I'm being a tad foolhardy here specifying that amount of detail but it will be interesting to see how close it comes.