Special Bow Making Equipment

[Badger]

    With all the diversity of skills and trades we have here I have often wondered what would happen if a group here put their heads together and started designing specialized bow making equipment. Everything from small hand held tools to larger tools. Every time I make a bow something crosses my mind. Input from the bow makers matched up with designers and draftsman and specialists in different fields.

  This is a partial list of things we use everyday, some could be improved on and some not so much.

  Steamers for bending ( maybe adjustable while steam is going in)
  Cauls for forming ( adjustable so only one caul is needed for any design)
  heat guns ( way of getting heat where we need it)
  Tiller trees and backboards ( I use 3 different styles for different things)
  Stave harvesting. ( splitting)
  Work benches
  Stave horses
  Hand Tools etc.
  Bow testing equipment
  Arrow making equipment

  Would anyone be interested in contributing to something like this?
 

[Pat B]

I used to steam but only on a pot of water on our cook stove and some aluminum foil. I did make up a steaming system with 8" galvanized duct pipe but never used it and a few years ago I gave it away.
 Eric's tillering Gizmo is a great tool and I altered his idea and made it double use by adding 2 dowels on the opposite side so I could screw the pencil from the other side and made it a tool for finding the center line of a stave.
I have 2 or 3 reflex cauls but also a few for different degrees of recurving, one for reflexing one limb at a time  and a small one fro removing crooks in a limb.
Most of my other tools are the standard, run of the mill bow building tools, ie. bandsaw, different size and coarseness rasps, a few different scrapers(straight and goose neck), chainsaw files, 6" to 8" flexible rules, tape measure and a 5 gallon bucket to carry it all in when it's not on my work bench.
 I built a shaving horse years ago and a few years ago got one of Keenan's Stave Masters, best investment, next to my bandsaw.

[Badger]

  Pat, those are really good examples if you didn't mind giving your ideas away.

[willie]

i often find myself modifying or making a new tool, and dont mind sharing. What exactly are you proposing to do with the collected ideas and designs?

[osage outlaw]

I make my own scrapers and round the corners so I don't need a goose neck.  I roll a burr all the way around both sides.  I also took an old pair of scissors and made 2 precision scrapers, one with a point and one with a rounded end.  They work great for detail scraping around knots.  I recently got a wall paper steamer and used it to recurve the tips on a bow.  It was much easier to set up than propping a bow up over a pot of boiling water. 

I made a log splitting stand in my yard that takes advantage of the slope.  I can get the logs to the perfect working height without ever lifting them.  It's nice to be able to split big logs without bending over.  It has been a back saver. 

[Badger]

I make my own scrapers and round the corners so I don't need a goose neck.  I roll a burr all the way around both sides.  I also took an old pair of scissors and made 2 precision scrapers, one with a point and one with a rounded end.  They work great for detail scraping around knots.  I recently got a wall paper steamer and used it to recurve the tips on a bow.  It was much easier to set up than propping a bow up over a pot of boiling water. 

I made a log splitting stand in my yard that takes advantage of the slope.  I can get the logs to the perfect working height without ever lifting them.  It's nice to be able to split big logs without bending over.  It has been a back saver.

  I think a good log splitting trailer set up would be really cool. I can't hardly split logs with my back the way it is. I have to stretch it out over days. I know a lot of guys have back problems.

[BowEd]

Forms are something that in the beginning of bow making were a question of how to make correctly.Reflex...Too much/not enough????My half form adjustable reflex caul for one limb on bows of different lengths even with recurves on themI think is a good one.I've sent it to people as a cardboard template for others to copy it.

[DesertDisciple]

I like the idea of a variable use caul. maybe a solid wood block for the handle section and then removable profile blocks that slip on alignment rods or dowels that you can adjust to the length of the stave. Maybe that will be my summer project.

[Badger]

Forms are something that in the beginning of bow making were a question of how to make correctly.Reflex...Too much/not enough????My half form adjustable reflex caul for one limb on bows of different lengths even with recurves on themI think is a good one.I've sent it to people as a cardboard template for others to copy it.

  I doesn't matter how many bows I build I always want a new form. Adjustable is the way to go. I have a rough sketch for one that could go up to about 6ft using adjustable roller clamps that can push or pull up to 6" either way and for aligning the tips it uses eccentrics that can be placed anywhere on the form. I would like to be able to place a plexiglass steam compartment over the whole thing that could be lifted off and placed right back on.

[vinemaplebows]

Old heavy duty clever. I like this for quick wood removal.

[Del the cat]

I don't have much that's specialised, about the only thing is the flat wood boring bits that i've ground for drilling horn nocks.
Some things I made jigs for I now do by eye, it takes a lot to beat experience, feel and eye.
Del

[Badger]

I don't have much that's specialised, about the only thing is the flat wood boring bits that i've ground for drilling horn nocks.
Some things I made jigs for I now do by eye, it takes a lot to beat experience, feel and eye.
Del

  Del, the only thing I use kind of specialized for ELB is a device like a bow press. I have wheel on each end and I crank it down in the middle. I can sit in my chair next to the bow while it is cranked down and scrape or rasp as needed. I only use this for my real heavy bows ( Heavy seems to be getting lighter as the years go by) I also use a tiller tree that lays flat with a winch on one end that I can move anywhere around the shop. I can lay it flat or lean it against a wall.

[RyanY]

I recently ordered a two handed rasp that's used in a similar way as a spokeshave. I love a regular single handed rasp but I thought it would be interesting to try out.

[Badger]

  What I am talking about is to see if there is any group of guys on here that would be interested in collaborating on refining some of the equipment we use.

[BowEd]

I think that's a good idea you have and I'm sure there are other and more creative ideas out there done that we hav'nt seen yet by individuals.In the past it seems individuals have been sharing their experiences through build-a-longs and the sort on different aspects of archery.
Many problematic situations I've had I somehow come up with a make shift solution for the moment but never show it.An adaptation of sort.