PA has been a little slow lately. I thought I would do my part by posting some pictures of a bow I am building for the trade blanket at a traditional shoot in Scottsburg, IN next month. Doing a follow-a-long post will help keep me motivated to finish it up. This bow blank has been in my house since I roughed it out last fall. It's a clean, dense piece of osage with some red streaks in it. As always, any suggestions or ideas are appreciated.
I didn't get any pictures before I started working on it today. I started off by using a farriers rasp to thin the limbs and take them down to a slight taper.
Once the limbs started flexing I switched to a shinto rasp and then cleaned them up with a scraper. It has a little bit of natural reflex. I'll need to do some alignment work.
The stave has medium rings and is really clean except for one pin knot. If I do my part it should make a nice bow.
I cut out a new caul a while back. It has a little more reflex over a shorter form than my old one. I smoothed it out on the belt sander and then started clamping the bow down.
I would clamp it down, temper a section, and then swap the clamps around.
Both tips had slight bends. This one was the worst.
I got most of it out. I'm thinking of steaming the tips into some tight recurves. If I do I'll have to watch the alignment. My heat corrections will relax in the steam.
I won't be able to work on it until Tuesday. I'll leave it clamped down until then.
I got a few small heat cracks in the belly. I'll fill them with super glue and forget about them. They will probably be removed as I tiller it.
