Sunday 30 September 2012

Maple mkII


I wasn't happy with the chrysals on the last bow so I'm now using the better half of the log and what I've learnt from mkI.

It was the club end of Month 3D shoot today, but I didn't really feel up to it and wasn't keen to shoot the Maple bow... I would have done had it been free of chrysals.
Instead I've been going mad on the mkII. I got it roughed out and debarked yesterday, and have worked it down to approximate size today.

My aim is to getting flexing on the tiller and heat treated by Monday night so it can be recovering from the heat while I'm at work for a few days.
Rushing at it isn't how I usually do things, especially with the tail end of a cold, but conversely I like to strike while the iron is hot.
I cut it as close as I dared on the bandsaw but left some judicious width at the tips to allow for marking out errors and twist in the stave (marking out on a curved surface can lead to major errors). You can probably see that in the pic.
I'm making the limbs a bit wider nearer the tip, more the shape of a Spitfire wing rather than a straight taper from about 2/3 along. I've got it all a bit thicker than the previous finished bow as it would be foolhardy to try and get too close to finished dimensions. It will get thinned down on the tiller to give the full draw shape I'm after (almost arc of a circle with just a hint of ellipse)
I will also have the chance to get the grip more to my liking.
The other pics show some of the nice features of the stave, (the bark just popped off cleanly to reveal the cool bits!), these are all on the upper limb and might conjure a suitable name for the bow.
You can see the stave is much straighter than the original and the swoops and dips are less pronounced. This should mean I won't need to do any steam correction. (I will just work with the bit of twist as that's just character and won't shouldn't cause much trouble on a wide bow)

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