I had a stave 61” long twisted and crooked. Kinda thin rings. Nothing fancy.

Bjrogg

I reduced it down and put it on my caul. Did some serious heat corrections and heat treatment.

Bjrogg

Then I got it bending a little in my vice

Bjrogg

Then I didn’t bend it anymore. I finished the bow by using my finger calipers.

They attach to my rasp

Bjrogg

And are easily removed to give me quick information about the thickness of my limbs.

Bjrogg

Then I made a string,

Bjrogg

Then I bent it just enough to brace it. Here it is first brace. I don’t want to bend it anymore than this right now as this stave is still very dry from the heat correction and treatment.

I will wait a few more days to get a full draw.

Very curious what the full draw will look like and what the weight will be.

To be continued

Bjrogg

This isn’t how I usually tiller a bow. I do use my fingers a lot but I have never tried just completely trusting them and not confirming on the tree that the bend is correct.

It wasn’t a really good stave and I just wanted to experiment with it.

So far it looks pretty good.

Bjrogg

Can't wait to see how it turns out.

Those are some great finger calipers you have. I can't believe you got that knarly stave in line.

Interested to see it bend, BJ.

And I see we share similar fashion sense lol.

Looking good so far

a piece of wood becoming a bow, always cool to see. Heat, steam, clamps and vises sure can change the looks of a piece of twisted bent wood. Then it slowly becomes something useful in the right hands. Can't wait to see the end results.

Looking really good!

Thanks everyone. What gave me the idea to try this was a build Arvin did on Primitive Archery site.

Arvin was sent measurements from another bowyer and a “blueprint “ of the unbraced, braced and full draw.

Then he tried to build the bow to match those measurements.

It got me thinking. Most of my staves aren’t that clean and I very seldom measure anything except the length and a rough measurement of the handle section.

I’m often asked about measurements. I say I don’t measure but in truth I am constantly measuring with my fingers. They give me so much information that would be difficult to get with any other device.

Most of us have them. I’m hoping to get more people trusting them.

I know my fingers know what a finished bow feels like.

I run them from fade to tip and I should feel the limb getting loose in my fingers at a nice even rate.

I run them from tip to fade and I should feel them getting evenly tighter as the thickness increases towards the handle

I can very easily feel different thickness. Bumps and valleys.

Our bodies are amazing. The god lord gave us incredible abilities if we use them. Blind people can read with their fingers.

Give it a try on a really nice bow. Your favorite. Spend some time really calibrating your fingers.

I don’t suggest just tillering a bow like this, but I am encouraging people to use the tools we have been given.

Bjrogg

Tradeslinger I really wasn’t expecting much from this crooked twisted up stave. You should have see it before I chased a ring and reduced it.

It surprised me just a little too and I very much enjoyed finally seeing that bow in there.

Bjrogg

I wish that I still had good feeling in my fingers but I don't. always afraid of dropping a glass or can't tell how many if any chips I am grabbing. But, I totally understand and appreciate what you are saying and doing. I end up crushing chips or fries, usually dropping some or most.

Most of the time I feel like a shell of a man but as I have been learning, it is now about how I use the shell that I have left. My vision lies to me about depth and distance now but that is okay, there are millions of people that would give anything to be in my shoes. And God places people in my path to show me that it could always being even worse than it is. And you are right, so many people fail to use what they have been given like the feeling in their fingers to sense the details of the wood.

I guess for some, they have a very limited amount of wood to even work with and are afraid that they will mess it up. For me now, I see a bow is something created by someone and sometimes it is changed or altered as needed by the person. in other words, we have options if we choose to do them. from lightening a bow to shortening it or making it into a bendy bow instead. it is up to us and our minds as we work with the wood that we have before us.

Some can see it before they begin, others can not until it is nearly done. Each piece of wood is different and so will be the bow made from it. But we have the power to make it a so so bow or a really good one in spite of what some may think. The path of a selfbow being made is a beautiful one when you see it from beginning to end. It is then that one begins to fully appreciate what that bow can mean to someone. I am one that loves it. The cool factor is very high in my book.

Very impressed with the talent of selfbow building. Y'all amaze me. That is lookin good Bjrogg.

It's amazing what kind of work trained eyes and hands can produce. We call a guy at work "stringeye" who has the back for eyeballing things square, level and plumb.

Downright poetic.

Nack rather

Words cannot do justice to talent like that. Very nice Bjrogg. You are truly a very gifted and blessed man.

Thank You for the kind words.

Don not sure I have any extra special talent but I certainly know I have been blessed. And I like to use the gifts I have been given.

One other tip.

I don’t use my fingers exactly like calipers. I don’t squeeze them tight and feel how much they open and close like a caliper.

I lightly squeeze the limb and slide my fingers along the limb keeping them in the same position. The pads of my fingers feel the difference in thickness

Bjrogg

Let my bow sit for a few days

Put it on the tree this morning. And worked it out to 25”

Gotta admit I am pleasantly surprised. Not perfect but pretty darn good.

Bjrogg

Shaped the handle a little and let a few arrows rip

Bjrogg

Looks pretty darn good to me. What did you end up with on draw weight?

Brian I think it was about 33@26”

I have a picture on tree here

Bjrogg

Oops guess I already posted that one can’t see it really good on my phone but it was something like that

I knew it was going to be on the lighter side. I just wanted to experiment with it. It didn’t have much more than that in it If any.

I need a few that weight anyway so I’m good

Bjrogg

Looks great, Bjrogg! I like the finger calipers! Jawge

Nothing wrong with that weight. I’ve got one that came in at 35#@28”. It’s sweet shooting bow when I can get off the string cleanly. A couple more years it may be my go to bow for 3d if the body keeps aging lol.

I wish i could use my fingers as calipers it would make building the bow easier. My finger calipers must be broke, they don't work worth a darn.

Looks great as always BJ.

Thanks guys. I have a side split from this one that a shorten to 42” and made a kids bow I’ll try to finish up and post soon. I’m going to be pretty busy at other jobs the rest of this week.

Bjrogg

Whats cool is he is building it in his farm shop, complete with John Deere corn planter. Total respect for farmers, i farmed full time (dairy) for 12 years, and part time for about 15 years. Nobody invests more, works harder for less money, than a farmer.

Thanks Randy.

Yes farming is my number one passion. I have been farming full time since 1984 and I certainly don’t do it for the money. I do it for the same reason I make these bows. It is one of my passions and I can’t think of anything else I would rather do.

I have been using my finger calipers for more than just making bows. I use them for shop work all the time. I’m pretty sure if I was blindfolded and given a five gallon bucket full of 1/4”, 5/16”, 3/8” and half inch bolts I could sort them out by feeling them.

Bjrogg

PS grew up milking cows. After high school my dad told me I could come back to the farm someday if I wanted, but I had to do something else first. I went to electronics school and worked in the city for five years. Then I came back to the farm, borrowed a bunch of money to buy heifers to milk. I have been I debt ever since

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