First bow progress check-in and looking for advice

[DC]

My hatchet doesn't have a brand name. It's just old thing that's been kicking around for years. Sorry, that's not much help.
But---- if you don't have a way of holding your work solidly so that you can put some weight on it, it will take some time. Like others have said, find a way to hold the stave firmly and a farriers rasp or a shinto rasp will hog off wood very quickly. How about a Workmate, not ideal but way better than nothing. Maybe clamp it to a picnic bench.

[Stick Bender]

+1 shinto & fairies rasp with those 2 tools you can ruff a bow out pretty quick or for cheap you can glue 38 grit belt sander belts cut up on a flat board for a good poor mans rasp ! When I get impatient I ether stop & go do something else tell I get my head right !  It  gets easer being patient once you get a few bows shooting !

[Kalvek]

Parnell -- Huh, I actually recently ordered and used the Shinto saw rasp, but it wasn't working nearly as quickly as I thought it would. That could be due in part to not having a vise or a proper way to weigh down the bow stave as I worked on it, other than to sit on it on top of an overturned bucket. Do you find you need to put a little weight behind the rasp when using it to get it to remove wood quickly?

Mo/Kyle -- I don't have a clamp or a vise, and I'm starting to think that that might be the problem; I'm starting to think that I don't need any extra tools to remove wood other than what I have, I just might need a vise to make the most of them. What I've been using to hold down the bow stave is just a 5 gallon paint bucket that I set the bow stave on and sit on top of. It hasn't provided enough grip for me to really put weight behind any given tool that I'm using at a time. I'm actually happy with the tools that I have if I can use them to their fullest, I was just going with the axe suggestion since I'm new to this and don't know quite how many tools I need to build a bow. Thanks for the suggestion, though! I'll keep it in mind for when I've got more I can spend on tools for bowyery.

DC -- Yeah, I've been thinking that that might be the crux of my problem (what with the work going by slowly). I'll consider the Workmate, but I did see a $20 vice that I might be able to clamp onto something on Home Depot's website, so maybe that could work? I suppose I can always go to the local Home Depot and see how good the Workmate is and if the vise it comes with would be suitable for the job. And if the stave ends up wanting to flip out of the vise's grip on the Workmate, I could always use c-clamps to clamp a piece of wood over workmate to hold down the bowstave (I think the jaws on it are made of wood, so I'm not sure how much grip they'll have).

Stick Bender -- Well, I can mark off the Shinto at least -- I ordered and received one of those the other week. Huh, I hadn't heard about or thought to use belt sander belts, though I have been using a spare block of wood as something to wrap my sandpaper around for use. Ah, thanks! That always seems to be the advice people have for whenever you get frustrated or impatient, and it's even recommended for programming (or learning it like I am), so I don't know /why/ I didn't think to apply it in this situation. I guess I just needed outside perspective. Hehe, I'm sure! Nothing quite like being able to use something you made yourself!

[DC]

This worked quite well for holding the stave

[Pat B]

Now, that's a workshop, DC!   

[DC]

It would have been a whole lot better if it hadn't been drizzling. That pic was taken at the Cumberland gathering last year.

[Dakota Kid]

I use an old meat cleaver for finer chopping work. It lighter an easier to control than a hatchet and better for chopping than a knife.

[Kalvek]

If it was drizzling, wouldn't that have affected the bow stave in some way? I've always heard that you shouldn't get a bow or a bow stave wet. Ah, if only I had something so stable to work with -- I'll just have to improvise something I suppose. Perhaps I can use some twine, C clamps and something heavy to hold down the back end of the stave while I'm working?

I did have another question if you guys wouldn't mind answering? The board I'm working on is 68" end to end, so I was wondering, if I'm going to put a handle on it and taper the handle down to meet the taper of the limbs, what length should the initial uncut handle block be? I currently have 8 inches marked out on the bow for where I should place the block, but I'm not sure if that's too long and could interfere with the function of the bow itself.

EDIT: If it helps, I've decided that I'm going to follow the red oak board bow build-along on Sam Harper's website, since it seems he didn't need many tools to complete that one, and I don't have a lot of money to buy more tools. The only difference's off the top of my head between his and mine are that mine will be 68" instead of 72" when finished, and I'll be backing it with linen cloth instead of that ugly drywall tape.

[DC]

Yes it did. I stopped working on that bow the second day. I thought I could feel it getting limp. I think I shot it but I'm not sure. Anyway when I got it home I put it in the warm box for a week or so, heat treated it and it came right around. We had a shetler to work in but it was still 100% RH.