Sunday 25 September 2016

150# Warbow Completed

It's finished now and up to full brace which seems to have made no difference to anything. The right limb seems to be bending just a hint more and can be seen to be bent more at brace, e.g. distance from string to mid limb is greater on the upper limb than the lower, that's fine because the lower limb has a hint of reflex and conventionally that distance should be a little more to allow for the asymmetry of drawing the bow (commonly called positive tiller).
I'll post a video of the bow later and add a link to it (don't expect to see me drawing it, I can only draw it about 20" !
Mean while here are the pics.
The bottom nock could do with more polishing where I'd adjusted it a bit to get the string sitting better. You may notice the serving on the string is opening up due to the huge tension on a warbow string, this can have a little extra serving whipped on later if necessary when the string and bow have settled.
 One pic shows a dip in the back of the lower limb, you'll notice, I've let the belly swell just a hint to compensate. The view of the waggly tip shows the other side of the limb to the braced pic and you can see how the two sides of the same tip differ, it was quite a challenge. I'm not saying I've dealt with it perfectly, but I do see bows where areas like this are left carrying ridiculous amounts of extra wood, creating a series of stiff areas where there are "problems" IMO, this just creates a series of weak points between those areas where the bow will probably fail. Similarly you will see bows where the back undulates nicely, yet the belly follows a straight line! Belly and back should follow in sympathy, tapering towards the running the limb twixt finger and thumb will locate any thick spots.

You'll also see some islands of growth rings at the grip showing the slight swelling there.
Can you ever be 100% happy with the tiller of a bow? I'd say probably no, you need that obsessive eye for detail, but also enough pragmatism to know when to quit. Above all resist improving it to the point of ruining it!
There's an expression in the electronics industry MBR (Mended Beyond Repair)

Someone has ticked explain more, so I've done a sketch showing how I think undulations/ knots etc should be dealt with. Knots aren't too much of a problem except where they come through the back, in which case a little extra width will give more sapwood to maintain the strength of the back. They are only a problem on the belly if any loose crumbly material isn't picked out and filled.
The dotted line is how I think the belly should be shaped, a little extra material can be left if it is felt necessary but still somewhere between the solid and dotted lines.
All just my opinion of course.
Video here:- https://youtu.be/ymeTUEUWMAA





1 comment: