Author Topic: Bow Night Starts Again with New Blood (Read 18064 times)

Sidewinder · « **Reply #30 on:** January 02, 2008, 02:14:40 am »

Lennie, I'm liking it. Very nice job of documenting the journey. It really helps to see it. Danny

DCM · « **Reply #31 on:** January 02, 2008, 09:47:41 am »

Looks good Lennie. Thanks for the build along, and you get extra credit for bringing a newbie to the craft.

Dano · « **Reply #32 on:** January 02, 2008, 01:22:55 pm »

Great job Lennie and Jimmy, so how do you like the rasp?

tom sawyer · « **Reply #33 on:** January 02, 2008, 05:43:31 pm »

The UBR rasp continues to be my favorite. The coarse side removes wood FAST, and the finer side is still pretty aggressive but it smooths things up better.

Pappy · « **Reply #34 on:** January 03, 2008, 06:39:32 am »

Looking good Lennie,you have yall have came along way in a couple of weeks.tiller looks for from what I can see.I bet he is happy,and hooked.

Pappy

wvfknapper · « **Reply #35 on:** January 03, 2008, 07:40:57 am »

Tom

What are the dimensions of the Bow and how thick were the billets at the splice before gluing on the handle piece? What weight did you get?

wvflintknapper

tom sawyer · « **Reply #36 on:** January 03, 2008, 11:08:22 am »

Yep, Jimmy is hooked. He's already talking about making another bow.

I cut the billets down to a little under an inch thick before making the splice. Might have been 3/4" or just a bit thicker. Then we glued another 3/4" on that, which may or may not get thinned. I really don't like any more handle thickness than I have to have, but its up to Jimmy to decide about this. The 3/4" thickness of the billets at the splice means the handle piece doesn't extend out much into the fades and certainly not past them, so there should be no issues with the handle piece popping off.

The bow itself is still 68" tip-tip, 1.5" to mid-limb, 4" handle and 2" fades.

tom sawyer · « **Reply #37 on:** January 08, 2008, 11:30:46 pm »

Got some fine work done tonight. Jimmy shaped the handle and fades to his liking, then gave the bow a bit of sanding. We decided not to pike it. I made a string for it and we shot it a few times in the garage. Shoots real nice. I didn't know Jimmy shoots three-under, seems like the tiller is about right though. Its definitely a righty bow, the string tracks just about down the left side of the handle. He's going to shoot it in this week, then if its stable he's going to finish it with a few coats of tung oil. We'll make a leather handle next week and that'll be it. Its getting close.

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Pappy · « **Reply #38 on:** January 09, 2008, 05:39:17 am »

Nice job Lennie,Love it when a guys first bow turnes out,wished I had that kind of help when I started.Way to go.

Pappy

tom sawyer · « **Reply #39 on:** January 09, 2008, 12:34:25 pm »

Yeah it would have been nice to be handed a piece of hedge right off the bat without having to pay $100+ (which I would never do as I am so cheap).

Now I have to figure out how to get Jimmy into some of his own wood. I might see about procuring a log or two that we can share so he has wood for the future. Probably some hedge and maybe a hickory as well. And I'll be introducing him to the good old red oak board bow for his next project. Those let you practice your skills on a budget.

Not that I don't have enough wood to keep us both busy for years. But I think getting your own wood stock is a big part of the fun of this craft.

Sidewinder · « **Reply #40 on:** January 09, 2008, 12:47:16 pm »

I agree Lennie on the woodstock, plus going out and harvesting it and bringing it home and splitting it is all a part of the fun. I think at least. I find myself examining every tree i see now to see if there is good bow wood in it. Lol Danny

tom sawyer · « **Reply #41 on:** January 09, 2008, 12:53:50 pm »

Yep there's lust in my heart every time I drive to visit my in-laws, several hedgerows along that route. You could call me the Jimmy Carter of bow wood.

tom sawyer · « **Reply #42 on:** January 19, 2008, 01:32:35 pm »

Jimmy shot the bow last week, had problems with arrow spine because his arrows are made for his 60lb Black Widow recurve. We heat-treated the belly last session, not a deep cook but a light toasty brown. after it cooled, we strung it up and measured the poundage. Looks like around 47lb@28", less than he was shooting for but enough for a hunting bow and a good first effort. I kind of figured we would miss weight when he got that one place a little thin on the floor tillering stage. The bow has good early weight though and has good manners. We could pike it but we both think it is best to leave it alone at this point. He wants to put snakeskins on it, might get to that this weekend.

Got a pic of Jimmy heatgunning the bow, and another of the side profile after shooting it this week. It retained an inch of reflex. This tells me its somewhat overbuilt for the poundage and draw, since we only started out with 2" of reflex. All in all, its a darned nice bow. Looks like Jimmy has the knack for this stuff.

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Dano · « **Reply #43 on:** January 19, 2008, 03:02:10 pm »

Real nice progress, Love that unbraced profile.

tom sawyer · « **Reply #44 on:** January 19, 2008, 07:41:58 pm »

OK first the good news. Jimmy called today and came over to work on his bow. He wanted to put on the snakeskins and also he changed his mind and decided to pike the bow to get more poundage. So first he cut about 1.5" off each end to make the bow about 64" n/n. He shaped the tips and strung it and checked the weight. Wow, the bow went from 47lb to 60lb, just what he was looking for. I was pretty surprised we got this much of an increase but I figure piking will make more of a difference when you start off with a pretty long bow. There's a photo of him near full draw below. Looked like it was bending pretty smooth still.

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Primitive Archer