Westmead Artificer - Bow Making

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Artificer: [ART-IF-ISS-URR] : Noun: A craftsman who makes things

Bow #2: Ash pyramid bow.

Based on the Hjarnø artifact, bulked up a little.

OK, this was going to be a pyramid, and has been sitting drying for a few weeks reaching equilibrium.
I have been toying with the idea of doing a Holmegaard replica, and then I happened across a thread on the Primitive Archer forum about the Hjarno find, which bears a spooky resemblance to the Holmegaard/Andaman type shown in the Traditional Bowyer's Bible Vol 3.
So I just had to get the spokeshave out again

68" tip to tip, 66 3/4" nock to nock, 3" across the fades, narrowing to 1" at the lever, and tapering to 1/2" at the tips.
Back nocks made from ebony off-cuts from the Box of Useful Items, whipped on with Dacron and cyanoacrylate (OK, not very primitive, but it's what I had!)
Yes, it's big and wide - the stave was big enough, and I figured I could always remove wood later, but not add any in...

Got it onto the short string in an hour or so, and some while later, got it back to 28", and sitting at around 65-70lb.

Herewith the tiller at 28":

( Upper limb is on the right. )

Unstrung immediately after tillering:

You can see the deflex in the lower limb that I hadn't yet been able to get rid of!

View of back - the limbs are even lengths, but I couldn't get far enough from the floor to get it all in!

Following advice, I did a bit more scraping where it wasn't taking a set, and got a reasonable (I think) tiller, with the limbs working nicely out of the fades - 3" width should be able to do some work!. Forgot to take a photo at this stage

I then clamped it down and toasted it:

Result:

Deflex has just about gone, and I had to wait for it to re-hydrate, chewing my fingers with impatience...
I
Finished with two coats of Danish oil and one of beeswax after decoration.

Drawing 30", draw weight now measuring 48lb @ 30" - dropped slightly and again, less than I had aimed at, but it's all experience - the next one will be better! It has taken about 3" of set, so the heat treatment might not have been sufficient, and I may have taken the tillering a bit too quickly.

Can I convince anyone that the belly is a jpeg artifact?

3" wide at fades

Closeup of nock - now glued on and re-profiled, prior to final polish and wax.

And the nock after polishing and waxing:

Non-primitive riser - sort of patterned after a Border Griffon.

And with decoration:

Lower limb belly showing makers mark and HT colouring.

Honestly, the belly is just a JPEG artifact...

It shoots quite nicely, with almost no hand-shock at all, and feels quite respectably quick with a 520grain arrow (109 grains per pound of draw weight.