bamboo/ipe/ sinew composite
Hi everyone at atarn, I live in Wales UK and have been making bows about 5 years, but mostly american style flat bows with wood belly and bamboo back and some with various degrees of recurve. Heres some pics of my latest, most troublesome,most difficult and most time consuming bow, it isn't finished yet, needs tillering (not quite sure how to do that yet) and all the finishing touches, but thought it might be of some interest to you and I might even get some good advice. I've never tried a bow like this before, but I had to give it a go.
It is 56" ntn. bamboo belly, ipe core ,sinew back, and oak siyas, the origanol siyas where much more extreme, but one broke and I managed to repace them. It has a modest 7" of reflex of which it didn't lose any after about 10 shots, but the tiller went right out so I stopped shooting, it also felt sloppy,so I tested the moisture ,it had risen to 13% so I'm hoping drying it out will sharpen it up. This is my first asian style bow and I would appreciate help on how to adjust the tiller please, and also the string easily pops out of its groove!!! but there is no twisting of the bow! these types of knock are new to me, and mine feel not so safe!!!
It is 56" ntn. bamboo belly, ipe core ,sinew back, and oak siyas, the origanol siyas where much more extreme, but one broke and I managed to repace them. It has a modest 7" of reflex of which it didn't lose any after about 10 shots, but the tiller went right out so I stopped shooting, it also felt sloppy,so I tested the moisture ,it had risen to 13% so I'm hoping drying it out will sharpen it up. This is my first asian style bow and I would appreciate help on how to adjust the tiller please, and also the string easily pops out of its groove!!! but there is no twisting of the bow! these types of knock are new to me, and mine feel not so safe!!!
The tiller does not look bad - the limbs seem to be balanced. If you meant the limbs lost the reflex, it will be hard to correct now and not really needed in this style of bow. The loops can be shortened and the nocks deepened to keep the string in place.
Adam
Adam
It looks as if you might get close to the one on the cover of Jim Bradbury's 'Medieval Archer'. Well done. Reit neis, rwan!
S
S
You got that one right close Mr Selby :D :D
JonR
JonR
Welcome Dragonman, good to see you here too.
Adam is right, not too much need to work on the tiller. Wait till the bow is more dry, I know that you guys are too impatient for to give the "drying" the time it really needs.
"Time is a healer, but where is the patient" T.S.Elliot
Michael
Adam is right, not too much need to work on the tiller. Wait till the bow is more dry, I know that you guys are too impatient for to give the "drying" the time it really needs.
"Time is a healer, but where is the patient" T.S.Elliot
Michael
thanks guys but you need to see the full draw pic to see what I mean! I'll try to post it now. You where right Adam that the bow is definately understressed, it needs to be shorter and more reflexed to get the best out of this combination of materials, I've only got experience of wooden bows and I did'nt realize how flexible and how much stress these bows can take!!
Hi,
on this foto you hold the bow not really on the grip, but at the beginning of the lower limb. Try to hold the bow in the mid of the grip. Its nearly normal, that the lower limb bends a little more; if the upper limb is stronger, you too can turn the bow upside down. Perhaps this helps.
Peter
on this foto you hold the bow not really on the grip, but at the beginning of the lower limb. Try to hold the bow in the mid of the grip. Its nearly normal, that the lower limb bends a little more; if the upper limb is stronger, you too can turn the bow upside down. Perhaps this helps.
Peter
Sorry, I missed the pic of the unstrung bow. Do the siyahs have exactly the same curve and size? The left siyah(lower) seems to have a sharper curve than the right siyah(upper)? This could cause the different tiller in the limbs.
But anyway let the bow dry a bit more. Drawweight will rise definitely.
Heat- treating the belly or adding another layer of sinew could also be done for to get a balance.
Michael
But anyway let the bow dry a bit more. Drawweight will rise definitely.
Heat- treating the belly or adding another layer of sinew could also be done for to get a balance.
Michael
It does look like a bab hand position in the photo but I was only holding it between the thumb and forefinger at the exact halfway mark to avoid puling it unevenly, the heel of the hand isnt touching. However this is its first full draw and I was more stressed than the bow, these arent the original siyas, first it had more extreme siyas, and on reaching full draw one exploded and nearly gave me a heart attack,( and just missed my head), I soaked the sinew from the tips and managed to replace them, so this hopefully explains any bad posture, I wasn't very relaxed, I wanted a photo before it broke again, but it feels quite solid this time. Redhawk, both siyas are identical, they are taken side by side from a curved oak branch, adding sinew to the weaker limb sounds like a good solution, thanks