First two BBI deflex/reflex completed

[kiltedcelt]

Well, these two bows were a bit of a learning experience. I decided to take a break from straight up board bows to try my hand at some bamboo backed bows. These are made from pre-tapered blanks and strips of bamboo that I purchased from David Knight. I decided to try pre-tapered blanks just so I could look them over and see how he gets them down to shape. I was thinking the same thing for the bamboo. Now that I've seen how it's done I'll get my hands on some raw ipe and raw bamboo which I'll then get all cut and planned down to size and start on some more of these. Both bows came in a little underweight, mainly because I had to refinish them no less than two times before I was able to apply an acceptable finish. The subsequent scraping and sanding I'm sure contributed to a loss of weight. That and the shooting in of both probably relaxed them a little bit as well. I tried finishing them first with spar urethane which wouldn't dry on the Ipe which wasn't sealed with anything. Next I tried lacquer using a sanding sealer and a brush on and then spray on lacquer. That yielded a terrible finish. Constant problems with either runs and drips or when using the spray, orange peel and sags. So, I finally stripped everything off, applied some no-wax shellac and then followed up with 5 coats of wiped on oil finish. The oil finish is  an ultra-low VOC finish called Bioshield Hard Oil #9. This oil is composed of linseed oil, tung oil, and castor oil along with some other miscellaneous stuff. It has almost no odor and wipes on easily and yields a really nice gloss sheen. Once this has cured a few days I'll follow up with another Bioshield product which is a natural wax that can be buffed to a nice shine.

The first bow is my wife's new bow. It is 64" NTN, 25# at 26". Ipe core with bamboo backing and a hickory power lam. The handle is maple, wenge, and paduak with the same combo repeated on the tip overlays.

Unstrung profile


Handle


Handle belly viewl


Handle grain detail - I love the intricate grain in this piece of paduak - I'll definitely be using it again in other projects


Tip overlay


Full draw


The second bow is my bow. It is 64" NTN, 35# at 29" (I was hoping for 40#). Ipe core with bamboo backing. Handle is bloodwood, wenge, and cherry with the same combo repeated on the tip overlays.

Unstrung profile


Handle


Handle belly view


Handle grain detail - these photos simply don't do justice to the iridescence of the bloodwood and the rays on the cherry


Tip overlay


Full draw

[Josh]

they both look great!  I love the handle risers, the woods contrast nicely!  I need to get me one of those David Knight blanks for myself!     -josh

[Justin Snyder]

It is amazing how much those two full draws look alike. Good Job.....

[medicinewheel]

Great!

Totally off topic: What's the name of that fish on your Shirt in English??
Would you believe that my musician colleague's grandfather caught one of those fishing from the deck of a German warship in the early 1940ies at the coast of Madagascar!?

[kiltedcelt]

That fish is a Coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae). The shirt is from dinofish.com - it's an organization that is attempting to help fishermen conserve Coelacanths that they inadvertently catch. Coelacanths occur at very low depths and when caught on longlines don't have the strength to swim back down to depth so they die in the warm upper water. The t-shirts are given to fishermen and have visual instructions on the back on how to attach weights that will drag the fish quickly back down to deep water. When you buy shirts or other merchandise from dinofish it helps them continue trying to conserve and protect the Coelacanth, which is considered and endangered species. Pretty amazing that your colleague's grandfather caught one. They were only first discovered and described to science in the early 1930s. Fishermen had been catching them for ages but no one eats them because the flesh is incredibly oily and supposedly tastes pretty bad.

[kiltedcelt]

Thanks for all the praise on these two bows. They were a lot of fun to build (mostly). There was some frustration involved but it's all a learning experience. I don't feel as if I can take 100 percent credit, maybe about 90 percent, because the ipe and bamboo was already cut and ready to go, all I had to do was glue it up. They needed very little tillering right out of the heat box once I'd ground the limbs to shape. I mostly worked to get the weight down. This was also my first time working with ipe and I plan to work with it a lot more. It's a wonderful wood for bow making. I really like thin limbed bows and you can surely get some thin profiles using ipe.

[Jesse]

Looks realy good. Love the color contrast. I agree with Justin the full draw pictures look so much a like you could use them for that game where you try and see what has changed in the picture

[adb]

Awesome bows... both. Top shelf workmanship!

[OldBow]

And both bookmarked for January Laminated Bow of the Month! Nice Work!

[Lombard]

Makes me want to try my hand at it. Look like nice shooters.