I ordered some 5/4 x 6 Ipe from a decking company. When it came in I went to Home Depot and found some decent looking maple and TBIII.
I cut a 1/2 inch sliver off the Ipe board and an 1/8 inch sliver off the Maple, made a 12 inch power lam then glued on an 8 inch Ipe/maple handle.
Here she is so far 64in ntn, shooting for 50-55#
(http://i1031.photobucket.com/albums/y374/kmc06005/Bows/101_1740.jpg?t=1277093475)
(http://i1031.photobucket.com/albums/y374/kmc06005/Bows/101_1744.jpg?t=1277093500)
Mike I am a little concerned about those string knocks. They look like they are straight up and down. I would like them angled back towards the handle more. Maybe they are O.K. like they are but I like mine angled back towards the handle if it were mine. Dean
i agree, the string grooves should be at a 45 degree angle toward the belly of the bow. the only nocks i wouldnt cut to a 45 degree angle would be pin nocks.
very cool aside from that though. i wish i could find maple at the home depot near me, but they dont have any, unless its their "select whitewood" which i was told thats usually hemlock and/or douglas fir.
I will definitely do something about the nocks. Thanks for the help.
you could just open the bottom edges to the 45 degrees, i always open the belly side of my nocks up to about 90 degrees to keep the string from riding up the groove and making noise when drawing.
I have never seen or heard of using maple for a backing, only hickory or bamboo, but I am relatively new to this. Makes a really nice looking bow.
Bruce
Another comment on the nocks....It looks like the groves don't go through the ipe on the belly at all and are only through the ipe/maple of the limb tips. I can't help but think those tips might pop off with all the force of the string out beyond the ipe belly wood. I'd move them back a bit and cut them at 45 degrees as others have suggested.
Looks like it will be a beautiful bow - especially the riser!
Mike,
You dog...you have been busy! Everyone else is right about the nocks but that's easy to fix...just keep what you have and open the gap up on the lower belly side towards the grip...boy...you need to whip whoever showed you how to do it... :^)
If you have any trouble just bring it by the house...the glue-up looks great!
Bob
-do you have a baby yet?
Bob, I do have a baby. He was born Friday. It's already the best thing that has ever happened to me.
I opened those nocks up and got a pretty short string on it, but ended up cutting them off because it limb was twisting on one side.
And yeah the guy that showed me how to do this has got something coming to him. Thanks.
Bruce, maple makes a good backing as well as elm and ash. I consider these backings more appropriate for less compression strong woods but maple seems fine for ipe too.
Nice looking bow, Mike. How about a full draw, braced and unbraced pic too.
WOW! Congrats on the baby man! It is the greatest feeling in the world...!!!! Too bad you had to cut the nocks off...you know how I do them... LOL!
If you ever need some help or have a question just call and stop by...
Chase just came and got his graduation bow "Resurrection"... ha ha...
Congrats again on the new baby...post some pics somewhere or send me some in an e-mail.
Bob
chickenmafiaster@gmail.com
KABLOOM! It broke on the tillering tree pulled to about 20 inches of limb movement.
I still had a long string on it, should I've gone to a short string sooner?
Here is what I think went wrong.
*I pulled it further every time I put it on the tree.
I exercised the limbs thoroughly, but should I have only pulled it to 10 or so inches of movement and then used the tillering gizmo until it was perfect before continuing.
or was it just a bad piece of wood.
yea you normally only want to get it moving 10 inches at near the intended draw weight then move to shorter string if the tiller is good. sorry to hear it blew it was looking very nice.
man that's a shame...but wood breaks. Maybe a pic or 2 of the break would help. You should get tiller as close as possible from the first pull...scrape a little, pull a lot...check tiller...scrape a little...pull a lot...check tiller... tiller first bend more later and then when you check tiller at each added inch, it should be good or require only a scrape or two along the way... patience grasshopper... :) It sure looked great...maybe you can salvage some of it...?
Bob
Thats good advice Bob, I appreciate it.
with all of the work you did on that grip it would be easy to save it for the next one.
I'll be around for the next few days...but I'll be gone with students Tuesday thru Friday...and then MoJam is the following week!
Bob