After all of that I had to come up with a way of using my new pretty shaped boards. I decided I needed some kind of back stop and a bed for the form to sit on. So back to Lowe's for another dig through the lumber for the perfect boards. I picked up a 2"x8"x8' and a 2"x4"x8' pine board. Also a couple 6"long 3/8" full thread bolts, 4 fender washers and 2 nuts that you drive into the wood and secure with 3 small screws. (very neat)
When I got home I just cut both boards to the length of 6'. Then I proceed to screw them together in an L shape. I then marked the center of my L and placed my two caul pieces in the 2x4 side. I aligned the caul right on the center mark and then marked the other end on the "bed". Then I took my 6' piece of metal and laid on the caul and formed it to the shape while adjusting it until the metal lined up with the tip of both sides of the form. (I had to have help for this part)
I then measured the distance between the two pieces and devided it by two. This gave me the distance that each one would have to move from the center to get to a 72" bow.
That measurement also told me how long to make my groove in the 2x8 so I can adjust for different lengths of bows. Ah yes, we are now making an adjustable caul! I then measured and marked the center of my shaped out form and drilled a 3/8" hole all the way through it as straight as possible then wallered it out a touch to my 6" bolt would slide through it fairly easy. Then I took my special nut I found and taped it into the hole on the outside of the form. And secured it with 3 small screws. Repeat for the other side.
Once that was done it was time to mark out the slot in the 2x8 so my caul would slide. I placed the caul on the bed and used an aul through the drilled hole to mark the beginning and end of where I wanted the grove to be. I took a few measurements and and transferred them to the back side. So I could router them out. You could use a drill bit here and drill several holes then rasp them out if you don't have a router. But since I have one that's what I used. My router has a edge guide on the so I set it up and just plunged it into the market and zipped out a grove for my bolt to slide in. I cleaned up the edges a little with what rasp and then test fitted everything together. As usual I was off a little so I adjusted my router guide and made the grove a little bigger. That's better!
Then I thought, how to clamp the bow down? Then I remembered seeing a form that had holes drilled in it for the clamps. So I got out my paddle drill bits and put some holes on the curved part of the caul. I used a 1/1/4" bit to accommodate my clamp size. I just drilled the holes where I thought they should be. I know more pics would have been better but I kinda got on a roll and forgot.
If you have any questions or suggestions please feel free to let me know. I can take more pictures of it if you need me to. Here are the last few.
Thank you all for reading this and I hope it helps someone make one of their own. Patrick
