September 22, 2000
It's been a while since I've been able to do any online bowmaking (or any bowmaking for that matter). I've changed jobs, and cities, and houses, got another bun in the oven (that's 3 and out) and basically haven't had any access to a computer other than the one at work. I finally sprung for a computer at home and am gonna make another bow online. This one is basically a Dean Torges design only longer. You can check my other bowyer sites to see me building another Torges design pretty much exactly as described in the book. Dean advocates radiused bellies for several reasons but I like them most of all because of the ease in tillering and their beauty. Dean's faceted tillering teaching method is simple to learn and if followed well, can only make a good bow. You have to buy his book "Hunting the Osage Bow" if you want to build a bow of this type. It is great.
The stats:
65" NTN
3.5" handle with 1.5" fades
1.5" wide for 6" of the limb tapering to what will be "nearly nothing
nocks"
The lower limb is 1.5" shorter than the upper
Shooting for 65#
It's osage of course :-)
If you visit the "Stalking
A Torges Bow" site you will see the log it came from.
It is named "Papa Bear" because my good friend Mickey (The Ferret)
Lotz swindled me out of the inner split from this stave and made a great
bow for his wife from it and called it "Spirit Bear".
9:00 PM
Here's the profile and the side view. He's pretty much done in profile and I've floor tillered him to what I'm guessing would be about 80#. He started out with about 1.5" of reflex and he now has around 1".
Dean's method calls for you to make the profile of the bow perfect and
then scribe a thickness line of about 3/8" down each side. You angle
a rasp towards the center and hit this line exactly, forming a ridge down
the middle. You then take this ridge off and flatten it, staying
proportionately true to the profile. Then you floor tiller until
you think you're about 10# over the goal weight. You reduce weight
by lowering your scribed line a hair and then repeating the process of
creating a ridge and then flattening it. Then you cut some nocks
and use a long tillering string to see where you are through the use of
a tillering tree. We're almost to that point. Since I'm shooting
for 65#, I'm gonna take a few more passes at the sides. I'll scribe
a line and take a couple pictures.
10:00
Here's the technique for scribing a line using your finger as a guide to assure that you follow the contour of the back of the bow exactly.
And here's the result, a nice line to guide your rasping or at this point for me, my scraping and using the "Bowyer's Edge"
Off to the workshop to do a little work. I'll angle off the guideline into the center of the stave to create my ridge and then knock it off following the profile of the bow. See ya soon.
10:45
Here we are doing a little work with the Bowyer's Edge.
Check out that cool old Wheelhorse Tractor in the background! Traditional Lawn Care too :-)
And here's the result.
He's looking pretty good. I think we're ready to cut some nocks
and get to the serious business of Stalking Tiller :-)
11:30
Here's where we are now. Not looking too bad at about brace height.
September 23, 2000
9:20
Here's where we are at 16". Pulling about 55# at that length.
The upper limb is to your right. There is a little stiff spot out towards the end of the lower limb and it bends a bit much at the handle on the upper limb and it is also stiff from midlimb out. Overall not too bad though. We'll touch up those spots and see where we are.
11:30
He was still a little heavy so I scribed another line and took it down again. I think I got him where I want him weightwise now. Look at this tiller at 5" brage height and pulled to 18".
5" brace height. Lower limb is a little stiffer but that's about how I want it.
Pulled to 18". Lower limb might be a bit stiff throughout. Upper limb is stiff from midlimb still. Not too bad though.
5:00
Got a little work done on that lower limb and smoothed out that flat spot at the end of the upper limb. Whaddya think?
Pulled to 20". Holding 50# at that draw. Should be fine on weight. Still need a touch more work at the end of that lower limb eh?
9:15
Well I got "Papa..." looking pretty good I think. That bottom limb was pretty stubborn and I took a touch more weight off than I thought I would have had to but I'm gonna end up with a 60#er. Here's what he looks like now.
Bending pretty good I think. The picture's a bit crooked, tough to hold 60# and take a picture at the same time :-)
Here's the final profile drawn.
Final draw weight is 55#. I was shooting for 60# but I kinda screwed up in one spot so
had to correct for that to bring the weight down where it is.
Little Bitty Nocks
Less than 3/8"
