#maple bow

Maple flatbow; I decided to add a grip to this bow for the wifey. This bow was previously for a right handed shooter, but has been converted to a lefty. I think my grips are very “blah”, I need to work on improving the end product. But, I don’t really like to use a grip covering on my own bows so I’m not very great at cutting these out and stitching them up. I guess I’ll have to do more of them. This is just some deer hide suede.

Maple flat bow: And here is the arrow shelf. Just requires some sanding and to apply stain again. I also decided to reduce the limb tip mass while I had this bow on the table. The limbs used to be straight for 3/4 of the length. I started the taper sooner by using a file and sanding block to remove wood from the edges of the limbs. I sanded a radii on the edges next. After removing some limb wood, the tiller has changed and the top limb is no longer positive. We shoot three under, so the top limb needs to be positive. I’ll do that in the next few days. It is fun to tinker!

Maple flat bow: my wife has decided that she is a left handed bow shooter. I removed the suede handle wrap off her bow and drew on a left handed arrow shelf. I suggest this arrow shelf shape above all else; highest at the belly and angling down. I’ve never had a problem with this shelf shape ever. I pencil in a rough guide and use a file to remove wood. 1.11.18

I don’t typically bother backing bows, because I make them correctly for a specific draw length. This incident has made me reconsider backing all my bows with rawhide as extra security against those who think they are English Longbowmen of ye olde days.

12.02.17: I checked the tiller and sanded out a few rough spots today. The bow pulls spot on as I had hoped; 50 @ 26” and 55 @ 28”.

11/24/17: Maple mollegabet - I pulled this bow out of my storage after moving houses. I cleaned it up a bit and worked on tillering the bow. The limb tip overlays are going to be sanded down after I have the tiller balanced. The growth rings on the Maple are really nice looking. The handle is still “blocky” during the tiller process. This lets the stave sit in my tiller tree nicely. The Z handle is thin and should make tuning arrows easy. Pictures show the limb fades.

I also roughed out the handle of the little Maple bow. Pretty quick work with the Surform and a round file. I leave the grip flat while tillering, this just help me keep the bow and tiller stick in the right position while checking the bend.

Next I mark the edges of the limbs with a pencil, where the wood thickness has been removed to the line. This way I can go-to-town flattening the belly with the Surform, and as long as I leave the line alone, the limb thickness should be good. I saw this on Rattlestick, the DVD by Gary Davis. It is an excellent idea and works very well. I highly recommend this DVD to everyone who wants to build wooden bows. I clean up the rough tool marks with several passes with one of my scrapers.