Doing Da Vinci

[aznboi3644]

Master Bow Maker Stephen Gardner is on the show giving advice for a huge 20 foot laminated bow for use in a catapult

Right now he is talking about picking the right grain.

[Parnell]

Something on history channel?  I'm at work so I can't see.

[aznboi3644]

its on the Discovery Channel...the show is called "Doing Da Vinci" and a group of 4 people (two wood workers and two iron workers) are given challenges to build various Da Vinci models.

Todal is a catapult that incorporates a bow for the tension power.  They called upon Steve Gardner to come help with the design and build of the bow parts.

Very interesting show...I like building things...and I like wood.  This show has it all.

[RidgeRunner]

Not sure but I think Mr. Garner and "Badger" are the same guy.

David

[Marc St Louis]

Not sure but I think Mr. Garner and "Badger" are the same guy.

David

They are

[aznboi3644]

Had no idea lol...Well Badger I guess I saw you on TV

[Badger]

     I made a few more but they haven't been shown yet. Not my cup of tea. Hollywood is not the right place to make bows. Steve

[Justin Snyder]

I didn't see the one with Steve. That was the only reason I was watching.

Steve, if you had to put up with that obnoxiously loud blond guy that thinks a chainsaw is a precision tool, I feel bad for you. He had 3" gaps on the siege bridge he worked on.

[Badger]

Justin It will show several times today, I think the next one is comming on in a few minutes. 8pm

[aznboi3644]

Steve I like when you pulled out the string for measurement and "good enough" was good enough lol

[Jesse]

Found this for those that dont have access to discovery channel.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M23fdNolhaI

[Jesse]

Just finished watching. That was really cool Badger. Given the time Im sure you would have gotten it tuned to throw farther. I was impressed with the bow and the fact it worked at all. Also that throwing arm was cool.  The glue up looked like a panic. Not unlike my glue ups just on a large scale with more than one person panicking   I laughed when you told them you lied about the glue up time good idea though.

[Kviljo]

Very cool machine! And cool to see you at work, Badger!

[Badger]

Biggest problem we had was he had to make it like Da Vinci drew it. They compromised on the thickness of the bow, Da Vinci showed it be 6" thick I think I made it about 2 5/8" thick. The next show we did they wouldn't let me compromise, I had the bow figued to be about 2" tapering to 1" and they said I had to make it like 8" thick, I said ok. The bow would not even flex with #12,000 pulling on it. I got a laugh out of that one. 

[zenmonkeyman]

This was great!  Jesse thanks for posting that link.  A gentler arm-stopping system and a cup with an adjustable curvature (like a jai-alai thingy) would have made it everything anybody could hope for.