tillering a backed board bow

[pondscum2]

been reading "jawges" drivel for quite some time. although he's a dedicated selfbow man, reading his posts etc sparked the need in me to try a board bow. found a perfect red oak board, backed it with 4 layers of sheetrock tape, & cut out the outline on a bandsaw. it was amazing watching this take shape over several days. built a tillering tree & went at it. was looking beautiful until the "twist" appeared on the tip of a limb. then, to add insult to the injury,i failed to wait for George to reply & took some bad advice. end result ? "POW!" i now bow to the northeast! his next post showed the folly of my erstwhile "advisor". i still dream of a DAS, but dang if sawdust aint nice too! even failure may conceal many lessons if you but look for them. :bow2: :amen: ps2

[Esquire]

Yep. I've learned that Jawge's drivel is always worth the wait. as the old saying goes: "An ounce of Jawge's drivel is worth a pound of cure!"

You gonna have another crack at it?

[Lane Puckett]

take another crack at.

I've built a few of the bows in red oak and found some interesting aspects around that wood. It probably is consistent with all the woods but what I found was you couldn't hold the bow at full draw for a long time while you checked out the curve of the limbs. I had one of mine on a weight scale while I was doing that at full draw and watched the bow scale slowly drop in weight about 5 pounds. Relaxed the bow, took the string off and it had taken a 2 inch set to the limbs where it only had a 1/2 or 3/4 inch set before. Now I know one reason why they recommend snap shooting the unbacked self bows.

It was a good learning experience and fun.

Lane

[pondscum2]

oh yeah, gotta try again! aint gonna let nothing as dumb as a board whup me...well, not over the long run anyway, LOL! now its "board-1 ps2-0". noticed the set it was taking myself, & it did it with backing on it too. didn't expect that but, "live & learn". or you can just grow old & be stupid i guess. naw, enough of that goin' around already! ps2

[George Tsoukalas]

Nice. I see we have a wooden bow forum. If I can do it anyone can. Pond, pick up another stave. That's the secret. persistence. Jawge

[CallMaker]

Keep at my friend. I've made far more kindling than I have bows, however every once in a while it comes together and it's worth the effort.

[Minuteman]

I had a pile of broken and aborted bows in the corner of my shop so big that I could hardly get my arms around 'em before I got one that even remotely resembled a bow. PERSISTENCE is the defining characteristic of a good bowyer, that and patience. Somewhere in the TBB it said that making your first bow is like walking blinfolded towards a cliff. Don't know how far is too far 'til its too late.
Hey Jawge!

[George Tsoukalas]

The tomato stakes in my garden and now my daughter's as well look suspiciously like bows that almost where. :) Jawge