Teaching Wood to Bend: Tillering an Ironwood Bow

Описание: Ironwood Flatbow

This one’s from a wiggly piece of Ironwood, aka Hophornbeam (Ostrya virginiana) and draws just over 40# at 30”. The tree was cut about two years ago and yielded a matching pair of staves, both with a unique wiggle that allowed for a centershot handle. Here’s this bows twin https://imgur.com/gallery/6eyvMq4. I roughed this bow out several months ago, before I was making videos, so I don’t have any of that footage.


I had some trouble tillering this one for a few reasons. Other than the natural bends and wiggles, there was also the issue of differing reflex coming out of the handle. The upper limb leaves the grip in reflex, but the lower limb is deflexed out of the handle and then doglegs into midlimb reflex. Paired with the asymmetrical design, this results in a very unusual braced tiller profile which looks dramatically over-positive. This also makes the lower limb look very straight and stiff when really its bending much more than it seems. Visually speaking alone, I’m inclined to say the tiller looks horrible, but I can’t tell from the performance. At full draw the bow seems to balance itself well in the hand, and neither limb has taken much set. I induced about 2.5” reflex during heat treating of which 1.5” remains in each limb. All this makes me think the tiller must be better than it looks just by the shape, although I’m still open to making further adjustments, and opted for a very light finish for this reason.


Despite all the potential trouble with the wood, this is a really forgiving and pleasant drawing target shooter because of the natural Z handle. Characterful staves aren’t exactly the path to peak efficiency, but occasionally they have unique advantages and I always enjoy getting to know the quirks of each piece.


A few scrapes off the bottom limb? Or leave it be? Let me know what you think.

Go make a bow!

-Dan


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