Sunday 23 March 2014

Ash bow at 32" Draw

The dreaded chrysals are still there, I've flooded them with low viscosity superglue, to help seal them... it probably won't really do anything (it hasn't) The chrysals are hopefully not going to spread as the tiller is now better, but the bow is certainly not up to the right quality.
It's a shame, I think I didn't get the tiller even enough soon enough, but to be fair, some of the problem was the various kinks in the stave. I don't think I necessarily applied too much load in weight terms, but I was possibly caught out watching the draw weight rather than the shape of the limbs as I winched it back early on, and early slight hinge where the deflex dip was probably what over strained that area and weakened it, or possible where I'd removed wood from the belly and gone through the hardened heat treated layer exposing the softer wood which allowed it to over bend.
Note some of the peculiarities of the tiller are the ntural shape of the stave, I'll post an unstrung pic in another post sometime.
Anyhow all the theorising in the world won't help. Bow making is about trying to prevent such things, but also learning the tips and tricks to allow you to cope with them. I can't tell how long the bow will last before it starts chrysalling and taking set, but at least it will get the privilege of shooting some arrows.
I've done side nocks on it, utilising their asymmetry to help counter the natural twist of the stave. I'll make a decent string and shoot it now.
Nearly finished the string, I'll shoot her in a bit and maybe if it has the makings of a decent bow I might rasp out the chrysals and put in a patch of heat tempered Ash... maybe.

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