Monday 14 January 2013

Kids Bow


I had a visit from the lad and his Dad to try out the bow (Hickory backed Lemonwood) with it's temporary nocks.
Initially he drew the bow without an arrow and looked to be finding it a bit tough. I was slightly sceptical as I feel it's harder to draw a bow without an arrow especially 'cold'  and maybe he was nervous of overdrawing it.
I gave him a try with another bow and then back to the first, this time actually shooting arrows.
No prob, he looked comfortable and steady, I marked an arrow as he held it at full draw. His draw peaked at about 24" and then settled back to about 23 1/2".
After that I began to wonder if the draw weight could actually go up a tad, I was in danger of confusing myself and getting into overthink.
I've done the horn nocks (Water buffalo horn) and done the arrow plate, I've made the nocks very small, and actually moved them in towards the grip by 1/4" this won't make much difference to the draw weight, but will avoid it dropping during the final finishing and it will help keep the overall length down.
The pics show the two nocks and the grip area built up on the back with leather ready for the grip to be put on, the Water buffalo arrow pass has isn't polished yet.
While they were here we had a go with some of the other bows and the Chinese repeater, had a try with a spokeshave too on an offcut of Yew to feel the diference between heart and sap wood. They had a feel of rasping a bit of horn too and getting that weird smell, remiscent of burning hair.

Meanwhile the Yew longbow stave has had it's third, and hopefully final steaming. It's resting for a day or so now, It will still have some lateral wiggle and the reflex curve hasn't been touched. It's nice to retain some character, and I'm taking a mischievous delight in the thought that the finished bow may cause someone to say "that's not a longbow because it has some reflex" which can justifiably elicit a scathing reply about the shape of the original log. Mind, there probably won't be much of a recurve tip by the time it's fully tillered.

PS. Just noticed the 'explain more' box ticked on the last but one post. I'm not sure what further explanation is needed. There is a fair amount about steaming, including a video, elsewhere on the blog.
Feel free to add a comment asking something specific and I'll do my best to respond.

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