Selfbow Secrets
Question Dean, I have made a selfbow from a redoak board with the intent of having a bow of at least 40# for hunting. The bow is only 30# or so. Is it possible to strengthen a finished bow? I used a fiber glass mesh backing. Stan

- Stan Sims 01/13/2010, ID=3028
Answer
It's possible to strengthen the bow by gluing backings of one sort and another to your bow. Try wood, such as a thin strip of pignut hickory, or a strip of osage, or a piece of bamboo instead of fiber glass, though. Fiverglass is heavy and will add significant limb mass to an already weak bow, resulting in a bow with mediocre cast.

It's also wise to stay under 50 lbs with these so- called second string bow woods.


Question Hi Dean I loved your video Hunting the bb Bow. I have built serveal BB/Ipe longbows, and was wondering if you ever used it? If you have do you think it compaires to Osage for a stright limb bamboo backed bow? Thanks for your insights, Kenny. ps Your spot in Masters of the barebow is very informitive and inspirational.

- kenny gin 12/31/2009, ID=3025
Answer
Thanks for the kind words, Kenny.

I've not had much experience with ipe. It's a dense, heavy wood, contributing to excessive limb mass in my opinion, and the bows therefore suffered in cast.


Question Greetings Dean:

I am a rank amateur bowyer but have much fun building backed bows. I have purchased your video describing the bamboo backed bows and have built about 10. I am now working on a hickory backed myrtle wood bow of the recurve design described in your video. It is turning out well. Now tilled to about 65# with the goal of 55# so their is still some wood to remove. PROBLEMO! A slight string alignment problem is begining to show with a slight limb twist. What adjustments to nocks and or mid limb are appropriate to correct this problem before it gets out of hand? How do you identify the offending limb? I have heard that deepening the nock on the concave side or removing wood from mid limb on the convex side will do the trick. When I have tried this on other bows, the problem seems to get worse. I like the feel of this bow and do not want to go further without you sage counsel.

Best Regards,

Jim

- Jim 11/07/2009, ID=3017
Answer
Removing wood from the side of a limb only works with narrow, long-limbed bows such as the classic English longbow. Even then, it is not the best remedy.

First you must discover why the limb is twisting. Did you remove more wood from one side of the limb than the other, or does the string no longer pass down the center of the handle when the bow is braced? Or did you simply glue up the bow incorrectly from the git-go? Perhaps you combined mistakes?

If the first, your remedy would be to return to your facets (since you are still over weight) and reestablish them, making sure that they are equal. If the second or third, and if the nock ends are no longer wide enough to make the correction (by cutting the nock in to move the string in and then narrowing the end of the limb), then go to my website and read the article entitled "Bow Tools You Can Make" and scroll down to the jug of water solution.

http://www.bowyersedge.com/bow_tools.html

If the fourth, combine solutions.

Good luck, Jim. If you've got ten bows under your belt, you're no longer a rank amateur. You are hooked.


Question what was the outcome for "The Case for INtelligent Design" I read your article but really was interested in finding the outcomes of such a competition. thank you for all you do for bowyers and the future of traditional archery.

- Davidd 11/05/2009, ID=3016
Answer
David, Tim Ott from Missouri won the first Ambush Bow Challenge with a nicely balanced, all-around self bow of osage, and a fellow named Taylor from Idaho, I believe, won ABC 2 with a bamboo-backed bow.

The Challenge was discontinued after the second year, but it proved the worth and even the advisability of short-limbed bows of hunting weight insofar as satisfying the criteria.


Question What is the best way to put a linen backing on a bow?

- John Adams 10/28/2009, ID=3015
Answer
I prefer using a liquid hide glue for this application. It sticks better to both the linen and the wood than the various kinds of Titebond. You'll require a good finish over it, but even TItebond II is not waterproof, and it doesn't provide as good a bond.


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Dean Torges
Be sure to visit Dean Torges's Website - Dean Torges is well-known to new and experienced self-bowyers. He is the author of Hunting the Osage Bow along with numerous articles, selfbow-tools, and videos.