Paul Comstock's Meare Heath Bow

[Kris]

ddauler

Thanks, I have a bunch more, much better pignut hickory all dried and ready to go.  I too like the cambial back of hickory, looks good and makes for a perfect unbroken surface to trust.

   

I did the same my original meare heaths were overbuilt and I reworked them and narrowed the tips great hunting bows.

This is sort of what I was eluding to with my comment Re: "teeth jarring".  In other words, if a bow shoots good with "over built" tips, it'll likely shoot even better with refined tips, unless something else becomes mucked up, i.e. tiller.

I have not made hundreds or thousands of bows like Hamm, Baker, Comstock or Gardner have, so I use their experience to evaluate different designs.  These thoughts & ideas are not my own but shared knowledge.  Things these authors wrote about 20 years ago are not the vogue of today's wood bow builders, some concepts have been swept under the rug.

I too have recently been working down "over-built" bows from previous ventures with good outcomes and improved qualities.  As one becomes more bold, one removes un-needed wood at the expense of nothing and the gain of improved likability and performance.  I don't care for clunky bows, especially selfbows.

Jim Hamm's Chapter 6 in TBB IV illustrates this wonderfully and if anyone pooh poos the prowess of a selfbow, he only needs to review the results of the MOJAM BOW TEST DATA on page 110.  I always find this inspiring.

A selfbow wouldn't have to perform to any standard for me to like it or appreciate it though; it goes much deeper than that and on many levels.  If I had to explain it, one likely wouldn't get it anyway.  This however, doesn't refer to anyone reading this thread      

Kris

[Mud_Slide_Slim]

I want to thank everyone who contributed to this thread.  The conversations and pics here have been an inspiration and extremely helpful.  I think I will start with a pyramid or holmegaard bow...something with much lighter tips to create a smoother shooting bow.  I checked some boards today at the local Lowes, but found nothing I could work with.  I will probably wait til my buddy lets me have some of his hickory this spring.  In the mean time I will continue reading up on the subject til I can start making wood chips fly.  I do love selfbows!

Bill-

[Kris]

Mud Slide -

One bad characteristic I find in myself, is to wait on doing something for fear of failure or waiting until everything is "perfect".  

I have approached building bows in the past with this type of reservation based on wanting to do it once, right.  Although this mantra might be good for somethings, I think that learning to build selfbows is something you can jump into with both feet.  If you are not buying staves, the cost is minimal but the gains in expertise & knowledge great.  No substitution for experience.  Some good basic tools are a plus though, i.e. - band saw, draw knife, spoke shave, bowyers edge, scraping tool, wood rasp, files etc.  Look op Dean Torges' web site "The Bowyers Edge".      

I guess I'm just encouraging you to take it on (my own pep talk for myself as well), the first bow you build doesn't have to be perfect or your last.  Tim Baker always emphasizes this in his writings....I like that encouragement! I need that too, because I'm the guy that will read about something for years and never get around to doing it...

Anyway best of luck and make some shavings!  Post again on your progress.

Kind Regards -

Kris

[ddauler]

I agree Kris..I built most of mine with minimal tools..Broad Hatchet, Farriers File, 4 way rasp, scraper "knife" of course sand paper and a shaving horse. Later I added a band saw I have spoke shaves, draw knifes never use them on hickory only osage. Again like Kris said go for it with whatever you have. Doug