Thuja paddle 15#/26” (No. 142)

Probably the lightest weight bow ever built by me. Not seriously a bow, she has to be kept out of the wind to prevent lift off. But a lil kid may be getting happy with her.

Design is a paddle with flat belly tapering into roundish tips. The tips got hemp ring nocks (glue secured). The string is fixed with a ‘tsuru’ knot on the lower tip and with a self-securing ear at the upper tip.

Ten little holes from fallen out dead branches makes a nice side effect.

All in all, this species of wood isn’t a real bow wood.

dw/dl: 15#/26”

ntn: 54”

bh: 6”

max. w.: 2½ “

reflexn: 0”

mass: 157 gram

symmetrical

10”: 02,6

12”: 04,2 (+1,6)

14”: 05,5 (+1,4)

16”: 07,1 (+1,5)

18”: 08,5 (+1,4)

20”: 10,0 (+1,5)

22”: 11,6 (+1,6)

24”: 13,3 (+1,7)

26”: 15,1 (+1,8)

2 Comments

Do you have any tips on reducing set? All your bows look dead straight, even the ones made of softwood. Thanks in advance!

oh, that’s a difficult question, you could write a book about it.

I don’t know what experience you have as a bow maker, or what types of wood you use, or what kind of bows you make …

But in general:
Each type of wood has specific qualities and can be bent up to a certain point. After this point, the wood cells are deformed in such a way that they cannot elastically deform back again. This plastic deformation is permanent set; in the worst case, compression cracks (chrysals) occur or the bow even breaks.
So how can set be avoided?
The bow must be long enough and the limbs wide enough.
When building the bow, make it as close as possible to the final dimensions. Only then bend / tiller the bow slowly.
It makes sense to draw a side profile of the bow on a large piece of cardboard before the first bend and to compare it again and again during the tillering process. This way you can find out where the weak points are.

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