Great horn bow how-to video

[Aaron H]

The guy does a great job of going through a horn bow build process step by step. 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RVUWuySzQ10

[BowEd]

Excellent video Aaron.I could watch that a dozen times more and enjoy it.That preparatory video in short was probably around 150 hours worth of work for sure.That's about what I monitored here anyway.The rest is letting joint glueing cure and glue and sinew to cure.Which I'm sure was 6 months.A lot of the preparatory steps of siyah cutting/glueing and grooving and fitting reminded me of what I did like Jeff Schmidts' video.The acquiring of sinew and making of glue nice to see too.Done that here.Making pieces very small helps with extraction of glue.Using gloves during construction preparing all the time till finished also.The concave and convex joinery is something I hav'nt done....Cool using a pre former before the groover.
All joints and joinery held great for me is about all I can say about my copy cat attempt of Jeff Schmidts video.Doing a flat grooving though like his.Done basically the same way.My alignment of tips was not too good though.Tiller was off a bit too through not proper tapering.Some adverse twisting going on with mine too.Once a person gets into it though it is very inspiring to finish.
This guys bow is top notch I think.All done and used with basic make it yourself not too complicated of tools.I did use the rope and stick joinery wrapping method though too with c clamps holding it in place.I did a dry fit first of course which I bet he did too.I think a person can use zip ties for that too.Still it's the same conclusion though.Different method of reflex put in the kasan eye too not using steam bending and cutting slots.It gets covered up with a layer of sinew too so looks plenty strong and secure.Liked his broad hand saw too.Gotta get me one of those.I believe that's a cobra skin he put on there.
The fella has a heck of a good eye too.You can definitely tell that he's made quite a few horn bows.Great find by you and thanks for showing it.Keep us posted as to your progress with yours bud.
I'm still making my usual easier type horn bow with a bunch of reflex but I'm havng fun yet.They perform pretty good too.
Sorry about long winded response but it's inspiring that's all.

[Stick Bender]

Thanks for posting Aaron I will get a chance over the week end to watch it !

[DC]

As I was watching him groove the wood and horn I got to wondering if those grooves would actually mesh at glue up time. I know I could never free hand them straight enough. If they don't mesh wouldn't there be a lump where they hop from one groove to the next? Or do they not even come close to meshing and they are just there to trap glue and increase the gluing surface?

[Aaron H]

Historically, bowyers made non matching grooves.  Although these days, some modern bowyers will make matching grooves.  The principle is to increase the glueing surface.

In either case, both sets of grooves need to be filled COMPLETELY with glue.  So with matching grooves, your wooden core and horn will mesh and the excess warm glue will be squeezed out during glue up.  In the case of the non matching grooves, they will not mesh, and the glue will fill all those voids.

There have been no findings of matching grooves before the early 1900s, so this is a modern adaptation. Even now, it is said that it is not necessary to use matching grooves on bows under 70-80 lbs.  Supposedly they also keep glue failures from spreading laterally across a limb, potentially avoiding a complete limb failure.

[stuckinthemud]

What a great video, thanks for posting it. Interesting to see saw kerfing for reflex, that's something I might try. Loved the scrapers too, so simple.

[upstatenybowyer]

Awesome video.