Bamboo-Purpleheart-Cumaru-Massaranduba ELB Stylish Bow from Finland

[Lehtis]

This BPCM1 bow caused plenty of "headache" while making it. This one started as Bamboo-Purpleheart-Osage Orange stave aimed to be some 70-74 pounder, glued with Unibond800. Unfortunately I used ca. 11 mm thick purpleheart core meaning most of the osage disappeared from the limbs while tillering. The exposed purpleheart didn´t stand compression under bamboo and started to generate chrysals during tillering.

Fixing plan #1 was to sand some of the purpleheart away and glue osage slices on the limbs to block the compression stress. Unfortunately I used Titebond III to glue the slices and that didn´t stand at the fades near the handle.

Fixing plan #2 was to sand all of the osage away and replace it with hickory; glued it with Unibond. Should have known that this is a bad choice; severe chrysals immediately on it.

Fixing plan #3 was to sand hickory away and purple heart down to 8 mm at handle and 3 mm at tips. Then I glued a 5 mm slice of cumaru as second core wood and massaranduba as new belly; cumaru alone on belly would explode due to very curly grains. This combination seemed to work and no more problems arised.

I had to quit sanding and leave the bow stronger than originally planned before all of the massaranduba would have gone. Then I made water buffalo horn nocks and arrow pass and the bow was ready for test shooting. After three sessions on three days the bow was still alive and time to finish it with 6-7 layers of Danish Oil. The handle is made of leather from old boots and the string is Dacron B-50, 16 strands, yellow and red.

Here are the details of this bow:
Strengh: 83 lbs @ 28"
Length n-t-n: 181 cm (71,2")
Width @ Handle: 27 mm (1 1/16")
Depth @ Handle: 24 mm (15/16")
Round @ Horn Nocks: 13 mm (1/2")

[missilemaster]

Sweet man!

[bubby]

Nice bow

[Badger]

  That was a good save, massaranduba is good wood, cuaru and purple heart are both prone to chrysal. Good job!

[bowandarrow473]

Sweet

[Springbuck]

Oh, brother!  5his process sounds like every bow I've ever built.  I never build the dame bow twice, it seems, so I am constantly reworking midway through.  I know how you feel, man!   Way to make it work.

[blackhawk]

Kudos to your perseverance. ..i woulda gave up n burned it after the first fail..lol 😁  if you can display that type of never say die attitude  then you will do well in bowbuilding nice job

[Lehtis]

Thanks guys for your kind words!

New combo of same woods, but now only 4 mm both purpleheart and cumaru, waiting for tillering. My last slice of bulletwood (= massaranduba) on belly. I agree, bulletwood is great on belly but, unfortunately, I don´t know any source to get more here in Finland. The only disadvantage is that the dust (with oils) are rather "unpleasant" in one´s nose and a mask should be used while scraping and sanding it. I´ve now bought some osage from 3Rivers (bloody expensive to import due to custom fees) for future projects; it´s much more nice to handle.

[sieddy]

Looking forward to seeing more of your work up here. This one's a beauty! 

[AndrewS]

@Lethis
you choose the hard way - but you have mastered it. Congrats to your bow and thanks for sharing "your way"

[Del the cat]

Commendable perseverance and a very handsome bow
I like your style of nock, a bit like having your own signature
83# woo, bet that bangs out a hefty arrow with some authority!
Del

[Lehtis]

Thanks guys... and, sure, I´ll add my future projects here. Unfortunately, my "salary work" slows down this hobby, but sooner or later...

[Carson (CMB)]

Nice bow! Way to see it through.

[Forest_Farmer]

Lehtis,
Nice looking bow and love the perseverance.  It's given me the will to sand off some chunky tips I just glued up my current project, in stead of leaving them "as is".
Good job!

thx,
Ed

[edgemaster]

the nocks look really good.

10/10