[High Desert Flipper]

After a few fairly impressive fails I had my fist success with a laminated bow- a hickory backed maple with some reflex and deflex.

Lots of finish work left but far enough along to take some test shots today. A lot to be improved on the one hand, but happy to get one shooting instead of blowing up.

Looking forward to figuring more out and getting some better ones put together.

 

[Sandstorm]

Very cool. Nice work!

 

[Tag]

Looks awesome

 

[KawKan]

From the looks of it, that hickory is going to sing when the finish hits it! Is that more of the same in the handle layers?
The overall form is very graceful, delicate and elegant. And, hey, the arrows certainly went it the right direction!
Hat tip to you, sir!

 

[ghost0311/8541]

Looks really good.

 

[ghost0311/8541]

How long is it and what's the draw weight

 

[High Desert Flipper]

62" nock to nock, pulling 42 lbs at 28" right now. I am going to heat treat the belly and hope it will get to 40lbs at my 26" draw.

 

[skarrd]

very nice

 

[Tobor8Man]

Very well done!

 

[Reed Lukens]

🤩 Excellent 🤩

 

[Hoss]

Very nice looking bow!

 

[Island made]

Awesome job! I’ve been working on a tri lam for a very long time and have never gotten around to finishing it…..your looks amazing!

 

[Ibojoe]

Nice work!

 

[cromag]

Looking very nice and heavy enough to hunt with legally if you were so inclined. I guess being the bowyer allows you to mark it at whatever weight you want! Nice to see some reflex in those limbs ; makes it more comfortable to shoot and ups the performance.

Only thing I can see that you screwed up on was cutting the notch on the wrong side

 

[High Desert Flipper]

Two days of tests shots and it is holding together well and shooting not so badly.

So I decided to celebrate staying below 100 degrees outside today (we only hit 99) by getting the heat gun out for an hour and tempering the belly. Here is a pic of one limb done- raw maple on one side and medium toasted on the other.

Hoping this adds a bit of zip. Will see after giving it a day to breathe.

 

[Sandstorm]

When that thing’s done it’s going to be so cool you’ll barely be able to look at it ! 😆

 

[High Desert Flipper]

Here's a quick video of this bow nearly finished with a few shots over the chrony. It just needs some finish sanding and a few more coats of oil to be finished. The hickory backing is starting to look good with rough sanding and two coats of tung oil. Right now it pulls 37# at my 26"draw length and shoots in the mid to high 150's.


ghost0311/8541- I was mistaken in my reply above, it has a 62" string and is 65" ntn, not 62 ntn.


I was aiming for something in the mid 40 lb range and hoping for it to shoot in the low to mid 160's but will call this a qualified success for my first successful reflex-deflex shooter made with this method. I will shoot it for a few weeks to see how it does and may come back to shorten it by an inch or two to try and get the weight and speed up just a bit.

 

[31610]

Very cool 😎 looks fun

 

[High Desert Flipper]

Calling this one a wrap with a lot of good learning gained with it. I shortened it down to a 60" string (63" ntn) but gave all the weight gained back with additional tillering and sanding. Ended up 37 lbs at 26". But feels better while shooting and zips them out just slightly better than before- 155-160 fps with a dacron string and 10 gpp arrows.

Still a good bit of final sanding and the final finish to do before pulling the plastic rest off to shoot from the shelf. Thinking I will make this one my regular shooter for a while to see how it lasts as I get going on a similar one- a hickory backed one in the mid to high 40 lb range shooting mid 160's is my next goal.

I learned a lot (partly through failing a lot) figuring out how to do the hickory backing, but in the end I love it. That hickory is tough as nails. I have pulled it to 29 on the rack and it feels like it would go forever without giving it up. And now that I am learning how to thin it so it doesn't over power the belly and get it securely glued on life is good. All that and I really like the way the hickory looks with a few coats of tung oil on it.

 

[High Desert Flipper]

I am happy to say my first go at a hickory backed bow is still holding together, shooting steady, and performing well after a couple weeks of steady shooting. Also enjoying shooting from the shelf after removing the plastic flipper rest I had on as I was test shooting it while finishing it off.

I have gotten started on two more like it- one will be another hickory backed and the other backed with quarter sawn white oak. Hoping that I can repeat this and see if I can get one or both of those to come in ~45 lbs.

I will be really happy if I can get one or both of those to work and get enough practice in to land more of the arrows in the plate closer to the spot.