Wednesday 19 April 2017

In Danger of Overthink!

I've been fiddling and fettling this bow to a point where I've told myself to step away from the bow, make a string and get the bow shot in before I fiddle anymore!
The tiller was looking good but it was a tad underweight (42# at 28")... but then why am I aiming for 50# @ 30" ?
I've just pulled that figure out of thin air. Maybe the lady will get back to 28" or 29" will she really get back to 30" (prob' not). So 45# at 28" is prob a better figure.
Anyhow, I heat treated/recurved the outer limbs a tad and it's got the weight up a bit (almost 50# at 28" which give me room for some minor tweaking).
However the recurve on the lower limb is a bit harsher and makes it look a bit stiff tipped Even though you can see it is flexing, having almost pulled straight at full draw. There also looks to be a bit of a weak point/hinge... but if you look at the unbraced bow you will see it's natural bend... so should I mess with the tiller?
.. I found myself taking a scrape here and there until I gave myself a good slap and stopped.
I'll get that string made and shoot 50 arrows through it! Then I can fiddle, fettle and fine tune it.
Update:-
Got the string made and done a little bit of heating to ease out/stiffen up that deflex bend a whisker. What I've done may be very subtle, I didn't want to go mad and try and straighten it right out as it's on a knot. I just gave it some heat from the hot air gun for about 10 mins (with the back and sides covered with copious masking tape and clamped it to a straight edge with a slip of hard board under where I wanted the bend. So we're talking probably just maybe pulling down an inch, most of which will spring back, but the heat will also stiffen it.
Sometimes it's hard to know when to quit, but it's the fiddling around that can get you from a bow, to a good bow.
Oh, yes and by the way, I had a test shot before messing with the heat and it seemed pretty smooth and clean, not blisteringly fast, but then I prob only drew it 27" so it would be just over 40#

2 comments:

  1. Brilliant del :)you are so much help to an aspiring bow maker. Thanks for all or vids and blogs most appreciated:))

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  2. Cheers. It's good to know I'm "passing it on". :-)

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