Ok, I am building a yew longbow. I am trying to replicate the design in TBBvol1. Its going to be 70" long 1" handle going up 4" to 1.25" fades and then down to 1/2" tips. The handle is 4", and fades are both 4". I assume this design is a semi working handle as handle is 1.25" thick, and fades are 1.25" by 1" thick. I have rounded the belly all the way down.
Anyway, I have the bow profile finished. I have thinned the sapwood 1/4". Bow is close to being floor tillered. Still very stiff.
I tried to put a tiller string on. And the bow wants to twist on my tiller tree. Maybe, because my tree doesn't hold the handle well.
I guess the dumb question here is, should the thickness of my bow be less than my width of the back? I was thinking now, I should start flattening the belly to finish off floor tiller. I have only made flatbows, and this has never been a problem of the bow trying to twist.
I figured when I get string nocks cut in and put a string on, this problem will go away. I just wonder how the true ELB guys deal with this.
Here she is so far.
(http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn73/bigcountry_ky/YewStave/IMG_0017.jpg?t=1218551758)
When I first started with this stave, I had a bandsaw incident and cut a little too much into the profile. The Stave twisted on me.
(http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn73/bigcountry_ky/YewStave/Bandsawtoodeep3.jpg?t=1218551820)
So after rounding the belly and rasping the profile, I left alot of meat here where there is also a big ole knot to make matters worse.
(http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn73/bigcountry_ky/YewStave/IMG_0015.jpg?t=1218551976)
I am worried if she twists sideway, it will break here as its thin and thick.
ttt...
Shawn.. :thumbsup:
The ELBs I have made were always a bit thinner than they were wide. 3/4" thick or so with a 1" width would be a good guess.
I'd not worry about the twist.
That OOPS is a big one. Be very careful there.
Good luck. Have fun.
John
QuoteOriginally posted by John Scifres:
The ELBs I have made were always a bit thinner than they were wide. 3/4" thick or so with a 1" width would be a good guess.
I'd not worry about the twist.
That OOPS is a big one. Be very careful there.
Good luck. Have fun.
John
I figured I am going to find out real soon how big of a deal that oops is. Fortunetely, its stiff there now, so I can take more off the belly. That picture of my bandsaw mishap is before I rasp the contour. So it looks real bad there.
I thinned down the thickness and its about a 4:3 ratio. 1.25" wide and 1" thick, 3/4" wide, and 5/8" thick, etc.
I am not sure what the dimentions are of a true ELB. Are they round crosssection?
John, would recommend I round off my sapwood edges? Right now its fairly square. Figured if I am going to do it, do it now before I put on the tiller stick/tree.
I really appreciate your advise.