Finally a little bit of progress.... I picked up some proper glue (Resorcinol), a pull saw and TBB1. After reading and re-reading the splicing chapter (and some other things), I attempted my first try at splicing billets with a Z-splice (not the w-splice I was trying previously. Being a no0b at the nice sharp hand saw I cut myself a little bit (sharp saws gouge a hand QUICKLY) and also made some slightly messy joints. Another thing that assisted with the messy joints was that I missed the part in TBB1 where he talks about making adjustments to the outside edges only. They would have been a lot cleaner if I would have taken a second to step back, look and understand that statement. Anyway - they're cut. I'll probably have to so some filling with wood when I glue (not sure if there's a BEST way to do that). I'm also thinking that I'll probably try the suggestion from the book of soaking the ends for 10 min, sticking them together and clamping to see if I can't get some better contact. I'm interested in any suggestions of course. Here's a pic:
The joint looks kind of funny at the moment - I cut the handle 1 1/4'' wide, but the pieces I cut off the outside are placed back on for use with the clamps. That's why you're probably looking at it and thinking "what in the !@#"... There may be other reasons, but thought I would get that one outta the way.
Right now it looks like the bow will be around 69'' long. There is some reflex in it because of the way the billets went together so hopefully I'll be able to keep some of it. My only other concern is that the handle might not be deep enough. It's currently about 1 1/3'' deep. TBB1's osage was somewhat deeper (1 1/2''?, 1 7/8''?). I don't think it's thin enough to bend, but I hope it doesn't cause other structural issues. I know I can always glue on something to extend the depth under whatever handle wrap I end up using.
