Ozbow

Yep, that one turned out lovely.

The cypress is a really attractive wood up close. Do you reckon you could get a 40-50lber unbacked?

How wide was the arrow pass? It looks way too narrow especially for the strength of the bow.

Good news. Any pic's? I love a good splitting(especially when someone else is wielding the sledge).

From what I can see in the photo's I would concentrate on the clear midsection, and avoid the base, and the fork. Try for the cleanest, straightest section 42" long. That way you will get some decent billets, rather than marginal wood that may or may not make a full length bow of sorts. Victori...

Another fine effort Colin. I bet it is has pretty good cast for its draw weight, with its low stringfollow.

Yep, Had the same trouble with lemonwood. I pretty much do what Darryl does. Any of these dense tropical timbers especially in thick sections, and have been kiln dried can hold a lot of stresses, or have a difference in moisture content from the inside of the board compared with the outside. I had t...

That turned out pretty well. 1 &1/8" pretty narrow for oak, did it take much set?

Hi Colin, Are you going to get pic's of the bow all polished up, before it goes off to its new owner?

Nice work. Holy crap that was a fast tiller. I guess with a bow that big you mainly have to work on the form and not worry about reducing weight much if any?
How thick was the ipe ?
Sounds like the shoulder is healing well?
Hamish.

Looks awesome!

Yeah it is hard to know what the cause is. Many years ago I had a board stave of tropical timber Pernambuco. It was fairly close to completion, I left it in the hotbox for a couple of days, probably 40-50degrees. When I came back, I took it out, let it come back to room temp. I strung it up and the ...

I reckon it might have something to do with the 2 hr cooking to cure the glue up, without allowing the wood to re hydrate. What temp did you have the hot box on? The quick turn around that fibre glass guys do, cutting out and tillering a blank once it has cooled down from the hot box is doable becau...

Have to agree with the other guys, that is a nice looking bow, and looks like it would be great to shoot.
Lovely work.

You are better off getting some new materials and starting a fresh. 60" 70lbs in that design is pretty stressed if its for a 28" draw. Add to that the uncompensated for cluster of knots, in the working area of the limb, its unlikely you will remove the chrysal even if you compensate for th...

Don't jump straight back into the heavy bows, ease your way back into it. I don't want you turning into a sad **** cripple like myself.

Haven't split any elm myself but pretty much agree with the other guys, that it should split as long as the tree has grown straight and has straight grain. What a lot of the Americans do with elm is cut a kerf either with a chain saw, or with multiple passes with a hand held circular saw( you need t...

Sheoak would be the one I would have a go with from your list. A few Americans have tried it and liked it. They call it "Australian Pine" because of the leaves that look a bit like pine needles. A lot of it was planted in Florida and Hawaii.

I'd like to see how much it actually costs for the govt to collect the GST, on goods worth less than $1000. From memory goods for over $1000 you have to pay GST and also extra $40-100 to submit the paperwork to actually pay. For every purchase of $20, or more by post its going to cost a $1 or so to ...

Another good link Daryl. I haven't seen Jaro around on the sites for a couple of years. He is a really talented bowyer, one of the first to do heavy warbows successfully from whitewoods.
Hamish.

Thanks for posting that link Daryl, I also the viewed the others in the series too. Interesting to see how a production bowyer/company does things. He had a good tablesaw with a long sliding table. I guess it makes it pretty quick to saw up backings but I bet he didn't have a blade less than 1/8&quo...

It is a good result, and sounds like you instinctively came to the best solution for that stave. It is surprising how much a back can tolerate if done properly or you are just lucky, especially in certain woods. I have seen a pecan back violated with very rough drawknife gouges that scare the crap o...

Nice result. Sounds like when getting rid of the worm tracks you decrowned it(at least in that section).
Not really much of a problem in most bow woods, especially in a diffuse porous timber.
Hamish.

I have a couple of steel bows. I found that you need very small loops for the string, otherwise the limbs can flip back into reflex when the arrow gets shot. They shoot okay, but I much prefer wooden bows, the cast is better. I was warned not to shoot them as they eventually break due to work harden...

Cool. Nice work as usual Colin.
Hamish

Very nice. I haven't used elm before but if you aren't happy with the set a lot of Nth Hemisphere bowyers will heat treat a little reflex(even in an already tillered bow with too much set). I have had friends do the same with osage, and it turns an average bow into a good one. Hamish.

Yeah, a thin backing is probably the best idea with hickory. If you can get a good tiller before taxing it too much hopefully you can avoid chrysals. Mine did'nt have any obvious weakspots, but it had a high stacked belly. I'd definitely try it again, with a flat belly but the stuff is so pricey the...

I wouldn't rate it anywhere near yew in terms of performance and versatility of design, but I can see a nice flatbow coming from the stuff. Its similar to yew in the sense its a softwood, but also usually very fine grained and slow growing, which makes it relatively quite hard and dense for a softwo...

I made a bow from celery top, it was English in design, stiff handle 1&1/8"wide, 74" long. An English gentleman, living in Tasmania had some successes with it, though he did say it could chrysal. Mine was very straight grained so it didn't need backing, but it did get some chrysals. De...

Splitting is great when it works, but it can be a good way to wreck a good bow stave. For those that don't have experience I recommend plenty of practice with a non bow quality timber(not osage).