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I gathered the ash log (image 1, below) many years ago when doing
some coppicing. It was split into two billets. I made one half into a light bow
in the style of a Native American bow (flattish elliptical section to the
limbs).This shot smoothly and could be drawn back a long way, but was rather
weak. So, I decided to make a more powerful version backed with sinew. This was
something I'd wanted to try out for ages. I also wanted to try some steam
bending.
The bulk of the work is done with an axe (image 2, below). There were
a few small knots to work around, but I tried to keep these in the centre of
the limbs (image 3, below).
I tillered the bow (image 4, below), slowly pulling it back
further each time, reducing the draw weight, and trying to keep an even bend on
the limbs. Image 5 shows it at 25" draw with a slightly over-length string. This
illustrates the ludicrous draw I was going for at 28". It also shows that the
left limb needs taking down a tad.
I made a steam chest from some aluminium-clad foam insulation
board which I had spare and generated steam using a wallpaper stripper (image
6, below). This is where the problems and mistakes started creeping in. Basically, the
bow is too short for the poundage and amount of recurve I tried to get out of
it. Much of the recurve was just bent out of the bow when I pulled it back. I
also didn't let it dry out enough after the steaming.
When I steam-bent one of the limbs, it took a slight kink (just
visible in image 7, below) where there was a knot, and the tip of the limb felt very
soft and puddingy. I recovered the situation by applying some Araldite and
using a hot air gun to turn it runny and let it soak in. This was very
successful and a good lesson learned.
I sinew-backed the bow, as this would make it smash-proof,
and helped it to withstand the huge bend I was asking of it. I used modern glue
Titebond III (image 8, below), which can be applied cold as opposed to the traditional hide
glue. I had some excellent discussion as to the merits of each on Archery
Interchange, an excellent Web site
There appears to be a bloke called Del the Cat on there, too. How strange!
Del
Editor's Note: CR4 would like to thank Del the Cat for contributing this story.
Cheers, Del! Click here for Part 2.
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Re: Bow Making Exploits (Part 1)
