Selfbows

OK I fixed part of the blog, links to my web site work again.

I posted Jason's bows at 3 sites. I am putting the thread links here so I can answer questions easily till the discussion dies down. Here's the one at Stickbow.com's "LeatherWall" Discussion Forum

Discussion of Jason's bow at Trad Gang.com: Elm bow

Discusson of Jason's bow at Primitive Archer - Viewing topic #50890 - Elm bow

Here's a solid jpeg of jason's bow.

I am re posting the quiver pictures on a new web site. looks like the old one is permanently down. I am also reducing the size of the pictures to save download time.

Bow I made for my son Jason

I got pictures of some shave horses over the weekend.
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I worked on arrows this morning. Three rivers was out of white open throat nocks when I was there getting arrow supplies so I have been using snap nocks. I am using linen , so the string is a little thick. I have had a few break and I saw some cracks in some yesterday while shooting. I replaced the cracked ones. I brought a pot of water to boil and held each arrow nock end in the water for 10-15 seconds. Then I snapped them on the string and let them cool slightly. This spread them a little so they aren't so tight. I went ahead and steamed the feathers too to fluff them out a little.

I slightly reflexed the bottom limb of my bow this morning, Strung and excercised it at lunch, then shot it a few times. It is at 1/8 inch positive tiller and looks symmetric. Shoots good.

Looks like the quick fix worked. I strung the bow at lunch and excercised it on the tiller tree. Then I left it strung all afternoon. The bow was at even tiller. Shot it a few times and it's shooting good. The top has a little reflex left at brace and none at full draw. The bow was at 1/4 inch positive tiller originally. I may put a little reflex in the bottom limb to get that positive tiller back (and make it look more like the top limb).

First day deer hunting this weekend, (saw 2 does) I took a shot at a stick while walking out. I shot to the right and the shot was noisy. I checked the brace and it was too low. I tightened the string (step through stringing, pushing on top limb). Another shot and the bow was shooting normally. Later I noticed the top tip was bending too much. I checked the curve with a straitedge and it was for real. I unstrung and checked the bow. The belly of the tip was scratched about 2-3 inches below the nock. In don't know if that was the problem or if I just made the wood too thin there. It was built in spring of 2001 and has always stayed in tiller when strung all day in heat and humidity. So this morning I have heated the tip and added recurve past the original tillered-in profile. I'll string this afternoon and see if the quick fix works. In the mean time, I'm starting on another bow. This is the last stave from the same log I used for my hunting bow. No knots, but some pins to work around.