Been awhile since I worked on some Hop Hornbeam. I had some pretty clean stuff.

Not many knots but a fair amount of propeller twist to deal with

I reduced it closer to bow dimensions with my draw knife.

Almost forgot how hard this stuff is. I’m a little out of shape but I managed to get it to floor tiller in one night.

Bjrogg

Then I put it on my caul and heat treated it. That really helped with the propeller twist.

Bjrogg

Then I roughed out some temporary notches.

I made a long string and start my tillering.

First picture is unbraced profile

Bjrogg

Then first time on tree. Pulling to 55 lbs. I always pull to my intended draw weight.

Not much bend yet

Bjrogg

I see an area about 8” from the handle on left limb that’s bending a little more than the rest of the limb. I put a X on the belly in this area. I don’t want to remove wood there.

I put pencil scribble on belly where I want to remove wood.

I rasp off the pencil marks .

Then I put it on my tree again. Always pulling to 55 lbs. always looking for spots that are bending to much or not enough.

I keep doing this all afternoon until I get to my intended 55 lbs @ 27”

Bjrogg

good luck, looking pretty good so far. never worked with it before but you seem to be doing it right

Then I put some water buffalo horn tips on and narrowed them up a little.

Roughed out handle. This one gets a shelf

Bjrogg

Shoot a few arrows but a little heavy for me and string isn’t served yet. Maybe tomorrow.

Mostly just sanding and making her pretty now.

Bjrogg

Jerry It’s a good bow wood. It is different than Osage but it is a good wood.

My first Selfbow was ash. So was my second.

Probably the next 35 were hop hornbeam.

Killed my first archery buck with one

Bjrogg

hey BJ! Glad to see that winter hasn't got you. Marc is the expert on HHB but I have a stave that he sent me 20 years ago...so I will watch your post. :) HHB has always reminded me of fine grained hickory. It looks like you just about have it figured out on this one. Looking forward to seeing the results. :) Your reflex caul is even more mild than my "Gary Davis Copy" I have been thinking about making one with more reflex lately. Thanks for sharing the build. Your tillering is always amazing.

Thanks Bob.

You are so right about Marc. He is Ironwood Bowyer. I learned a lot from him. He was very patient with my constant questions

I have three cauls. This one I like for straightening and putting just a little reflex in.

I have another one similar to this one but more reflex.

Then I have another one that I use to recurve my tips. I like doing one tip at a time and then using this caul for the rest of the bow. That method I can do any length bow.

It takes more time but I like the versatility

Bjrogg

Looking good. Will be watching for progress reports.

cool beans BJ...let 'er rip. I hope you have good heaters in your shop. my forms are pretty standard. I have the Gary Davis reflex copy and an adjustable deflex/reflex caul. I guess I need to make a form to flip tips...and maybe do recurves...

Looking good. I wish Hop Hornbeam grew around here. I would love to give it a try. >>>----> Ken

What fun would HHHB be if it wasn't twisted 90 degrees? :)

Does all hhb grow in a spiral? I have cut down so many smaller trees and they all had propeller twist, what determines how straight grained it grows?

Good to see another BJ bow post! I'll be following along. I have 2 HHB staves blanked out ready to work if I can get the osage bows done I started recently. Looking forward to learning a thing or two about this stuff. Thanks for taking the time, BJ!

Interesting and it shoots

Looking good BU

Awesome looking bow

I don't have a caul yet, been meaning to try to make one but haven't been able to. some of these woods require a lot of "tweaking" to get them workable but some of you guys make it look easy. Do you guys heat treat or fireharden them?

Like the looks of that deflex reflex caul Bob. Might have to make something like that.

If you ever get this way 2 bears look me up. I’d gladly gift you some.

You know if Pearl. I’ve seen what looked like a perfectly straight knottless log.

Split it and it twisted 180 degrees. No exaggeration.

Glad to hear my Hop Hornbeam trees aren’t the only screwed up ones

Damon I find I use a rasp a lot. Be very careful with draw knives. It sometimes likes to tare out.

Yes Wayne it does shoot. I’m afraid I can’t get to full draw with it myself but I’ve shot it a few dozen times now as far as I could pull it.

Thanks Arvin and Greg

I didn’t get much done today

Bjrogg

The HHB that is

Mechanic, undoubtedly some HHB grows with twisted grain. I used to think most all of it did but a buddy of mine let me cut several HHB trees on his place a few years ago before the loggers came in, and the ratio was reversed... I only passed on a couple of trees, and cut over a dozen with beautiful straight grain. Could it have been a regional or genetic thing? I don't know. But I was sure grateful for it.

I harvest a fair amount. I'd venture to guess 1 in 20 or 25 has reasonable or no twist. It's usually an all day hunt to find a decent one, for me. Not sure if the twist is a result of prevailing wind or something else. Love it for bow wood either way.

Jerry. Yes I do heat treat my hop hornbeam. Love the smell of toasted HHB.

I would definitely recommend using a caul. It is so nice to start with a good unbraced profile.

Bjrogg

Looks great BJ. I need to try HHB one of these days. Thanks for showing your work.

I know what you guys mean about the twist. The biggest, straightest one I found to cut on my property split beautifully then twisted all up with the bark off and back and ends coated in shellac. I was also gifted a couple staves by Jon Stewart that are arrow-straight in comparison. Maybe let the logs season with the bark on, un-split next time?

Sorry about the side-track, back to the regularly scheduled program :)

BJ the RD caul is adjustable in that both sides can be moved in or out and then bolted down...it works for different length bows

I don’t know if that would help or not Damon. It’s certainly easier to remove the wood from HHB harvested during growing season when the bark and cambium slip off.

I have harvested in the winter and left bark on. I carefully remove the bark and cambium from it later before I used it. Eventually I tried using my hot water high pressure washer and found out it worked great for the job. Left a perfect back.

I can’t recall if those staves had less twist .

Bob I was pretty sure that was one of those adjustable length cauls. Looks like a nice design

Bjrogg

PS I didn’t get much done yesterday but I did get string served and shot it a couple dozen times. Drawing it as far as I could pull it

That was supposed to read remove bark not wood

Put the second coat of Tung Oil on my white HHB.

One of the things I did to help with my propeller problem was to switch wood grains from my top limb to my bottom in my stiff handle.

I’m not sure if you can see it in this picture but the top limb is probably half its width right of bottom limb exiting the handle at the fades

This allows me to follow the grain out of the fades till the I can cheat a little where I narrow up towards the tips.

I have perfect string alignment. Bow is almost center shot.

Bjrogg

Pretty!

With the experience that you have with HH it will be a good bow.

Looks superb ... love the contrast of those horn tip overlays.

Really looking good.

Thanks buckeye . The white wood is like a canvas. I’m going to add a few touches yet.

Thanks Bugsy 49. I have a good supply from several years back. Makes a good bow and I have a few tricks to dress her up a little.

Thanks Phil. They do. I have really come to appreciate the white wood. I hope she just gets better looking as I add a few things.

Thanks bentstick. It’s nice to make some shavings again.

Here’s a pair of Roadkill ganders. I tried this combination before and they contrast the white HHB so nice I’ve been picking up every roadkill garner I’ve seen since.

They are a little challenging to work with being roadkill. They have some parts missing but I just have to get a little creative with them

Bjrogg

I have them glued on now. I can’t wait for them to dry and trim them out. Put some finish on them and they should look great.

Bjrogg

Looking good, BJ.

going to be a very beautiful bow, well done Sir

Dynamite piece of work. Thanks for the photos.

Thank you everyone for the kind words.

I trimmed the excess skins off with my fine cut file. Then I cleaned up the glue mess and scrubbed off the scales.

I will let it dry for a few days before I put any finish on. I don’t want to trap moisture in the wood.

Bjrogg

Waiting to dry out completely before applying finish.

I think it is really going to be a nice looking bow.

Bjrogg

Looks great to me, I’d be proud to shoot it. Another excellent piece

You just about have that one finished Brian. The skins look great too. I hope the weather doesn't too bad for you.

Another beautiful bow Brian. I need to get my butt out in the barn and pull some mulberry I split a few years ago. I have some nice osage and Yew I keep drooling at. But I’m forcing myself to leave it for a few more years.

Watching for your finished bow

Thanks guys.

Bob I think I’m pretty close to done now. Kinda lost track of how many coats of Tung Oil I put on. Maybe 7.

Today I wrapped handle with some leather from an old couch. As black as the water buffalo horn tips.

First I wrap masking tape tightly around the handle sticking side out. This is how I make my pattern for cutting my leather.

Bjrogg

Then I cut with razor on back side of handle where I will lace my leather up.

Bjrogg

Then I put my pattern on my leather sticky side towards leather. Next I cut it around my pattern with a good scissors.

Bjrogg

Then using two needles I stitch my leather nice and tight.

Bjrogg

Looks great BJ!

Very nice BJ. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks guys. I took a few pictures today thought I would share a few.

Bjrogg

Full draw or at least as close as I can get to it. Arrow is 32.5” long. Should be close to 28”

Bjrogg

Nice bend! Skins look great too!

full draw pic says it all my friend...awesome tiller as always. Why are you wearing sunglasses, and where's the snow?

Thanks Damon.

Thanks Bob. Glad you like the tiller. Those are my prescription glasses. They change tint from shad to sunlight. The snow has come and gone several times now. We seem to be either cold or warm this winter. Can see the tile runs in our fields.

For the most part it’s been a pretty easy winter

Bjrogg

Nice work, B-Jay

Thanks Drums.

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