2019 Bow Trade - Sign up closed

[M2A]

I'd say dye that v-maple High Desert.

Can't wait to see some of these sinew bows Doulosparachristo and Hoosierf are working on bending. Might motivate me to try one some day. Mike 

[stuckinthemud]

I'd say to dye the VM bow too, it shows off you're full skill set, makes the bow a bit different and a bit more special.

[High-Desert]

Alright then, dye it is....the hard part, deciding on color, and mixing combos to find the right proportion.

Doulosparachristos, have you sinewed VM before? I’ve always wanted to try it with a short VM bow and wondered how the combo was.

[Stickhead]

Plan B is well underway.  It’s from a yew stave I picked up at the classic last year.  Gotta tame it a bit more with heat, and I’ll probably back it due to a couple of problem spots on the back.

[Mo_coon-catcher]

I did a little straightening on that short, wide Osage. It had a bit of prop twist and a side bend. Hopefully I pulled most of it out. Once it’s cool, I’m going to flip the tips and probably remove the reflex in the handle area and tweak any alignment and twist that may be left. And here is a simple way to bring a stave into alignment just a simple 2x4 as your form.

Kyle

[silent sniper]

I made some progress on my trade bow. I glued up a bamboo backing to a heat treated black locust belly. I added a little more reflex to this one compared to my past american style longbows.



After the glue up I added a shedua riser and drew out my handle profile.



Next I will cut out the fades and start to get the limbs bending.

[stuckinthemud]

Apilogies for not chipping in recently but I wrenched my back 2nd day of Easter Break so am out of action for a few weeks

[hoosierf]

Sinew is doing its work. About time to put it back on the tree. It’s not tacky at all now after sitting in the sun so I’ll start at it again this week.

https://imgur.com/gallery/sf0slLp

[M2A]

A lot of good looking builds going on guys! Cant wait to see how they come along.

I still been working at that piece of black locust. I been shooting some and chasing a few areas I'm not totally happy with, with sand paper. Also, almost have nocks at final shape. Going to keep tinkering with it and just take my time. Unstrung pic below is right after shooting for an hour or so, looked to have an inch of reflex still so pretty happy about that. Full draw pic below is about 2 inches short but have been drawing it farther last few days. Also, figured I'd throw in an action pic for the entertainment factor . I think it helps me to see if limbs return even. Had to do some digging around for my staining supplies but that's all ready to go. Did a sample run of it today on a piece from my corner of shame and think it turned out well, might do one more test run of it. Think I'll hold off on more pics of this one until its finished up in a few weeks if all goes well.

On a side note, the red elm is dry and almost ready to brace. So going to be doing some work on that just in case.

 IMG_2618_Moment(6) by Mike Allridge, on Flickr
IMG_2626 (2) by Mike Allridge, on Flickr
IMG_2618_Moment(5) by Mike Allridge, on Flickr
           

[burchett.donald]

     Absolutely gorgeous bend Mike...That is one well balanced bendy! Can't wait to see it all finished up man...That left over reflex shows you took great care and patience in your tillering...
                                                                                         Don

[hoosierf]

I sealed the sinew with TBII Dark. I find that is makes the sinew much smoother to the touch by filling small voids and holding down any small sinew fibers. I like the dark because it turns the sinew a reddish brown hue. You can see that starting in the last pic near the tip.

[bushboy]

Looking good gents!spring is finally showing up here in the north,should have some chips flinging soon!

[Swampman]

Hey everyone, I wanted to apologize for my general absence from this thread.  I have just had an extremely busy time at my job and am just now getting caught up but it looks like things aren't slowing down anytime soon.  On top of that, my wife just got sone bad news that we need to deal with.  I may not be able to follow along with this trade as closely as I did last year but I will do my best.  I just want everyone to be aware of this and to keep up the good bow building.  It looks like many of you are making great progress! 

FYI, I did find some time last night to start some heat corrections on a couple of staves.  I will have the reserve bow built eventually.  I will try and snap some photos next time I do some work.  Last night was just much needed therapy and I didn't feel like taking pictures.

[M2A]

Hope everything starts to go your way soon Mike. Bow building sure is a great way to blow off some steam.

Just a quick update on my projects...worked on the locust bow a bit more and raised the brace height by 3/4  of an inch and then put another 50 arrows through it. Think I have it where I want it and I think its gonna be right at the draw weight I was trying for. Need to check for tool marks and ready my staining materials. Not sure what to do for the grip area yet...was thinking of some kinda raw hide wrap...idk yet. Don't think I want too formal of a look to it. Its always exciting when I get a bow to this point.

Now for the elm. I braced it today for the 1st time. I need to even things up just a bit before I continue. With any luck I can get some pictures up in the next few days. really starting to like how this one is turning out so far. Sure hope I can get a shooter out of it. 

[Swampman]

Well it sounds like your black locust bow is coming together Mike.  Can't wait to see pictures of it. 

I got back in my shop yesterday.  I have 3 bows ready to start tillering but I wasn't in the mood for that.  I grabbed a straight stave of hackberry that needed a ring chased on it instead.  The reason it needed a ring chased was because a friend helped me move about a year and a half ago and he treated a couple of my staves like firewood and just tossed them in the back of his truck.  I managed to stop this behavior but not until a couple of staves were damaged.

Here is a picture of the ring chasing.  I am down to a good ring now.