Working on a coffee tree bow.

[Poggins]

Sharhand , the vice cost me $45 and the bord was free ( it was in the middle of the road , I ether had to run over it or load it up , made a good bench I just need to replace the nails with screws ) I've added the wood glue and shellac , I tend to be messy when coating the backs and ends of staves .

Thanks bubby , I've seen that one a while back just didn't look it up , I plan on backing this one with some spoonbill skins that I got from the same river the tree came from .

[BowEd]

Cool Poggins.I've made em out of KCT before.It's good bow wood as said earlier.I take the sapwood off of mine.Looking forward to the spoon bill skin look your gonna post.

[bubby]

me too gopher, timo made some beaut's

[burn em up chuck]

   whew I'm glad thats rain, at first i thought it was blood  lookin good

                                                         chuck

[RyanR]

I am really anxious to see how this turns out. I am seasoning a stave right now. I think I will use all heart wood.

[Poggins]

I got that ring chased and on the tillering tree this evening , with one limb has a little deflection and the other has a little reflex in it , kinda throws me off a little ( swatting the mesquitos doesn't help ether, that's the only blood around this bow so far ). I've pulled it to 24" and it is at 42# right now , not sure how much weight heat treating is going to add but I think that's what I'll do next . After heat treating I'm going to put deer antler tips on and get the knocks cut in and a short string on it before I mess with the tiller any more .
Chuck , I did draw a few drops of blood on those pin knots , hit my knuckle just right on them .
I think I'll get one or two more staves cut down and take the sapwood down to about two rings , on this stave one side has thicker rings than the other so the belly may not look right when I'm done , more sapwood on one side than the other .
Getting the pics to show up was a little challenging , had to stand on a tank turned over to get high enough to have a background , and it took several tries to get the drawn pic , I've got several fuzzy pics to prove it , also have a pic of the spoonbill the skins are from .
Let me know if I need to work on something before I heat treat it , I may do that tomorrow evening , Vern , the one I'm giving the bow to , may not shoot it a lot but I want it to shoot and look nice for him , he has wached my back at work out on the turnpike  and showed me the ropes when I started there , he wants I light because he hasn't shot a bow in quite a while and he doesn't hunt .

[okie64]

Lookin good, that wood is very pretty! Reminds me of ash with darker earlywood. Your tiller looks pretty good for that side profile.

[Poggins]

Thanks okie64 ,I'm going to have to keep my eyes open for more of this wood next year .
I've got three more staves left and if I lay them out right I may be able to get a couple of youth bows also . I need to get the skins out of the freezer , I thew them in a bag and put them in the freezer without peeping them any ( spring storms interrupted me while I was cleaning the fish and it was getting dark ) so I will need to get them ready also .
Hope to add to my list of bow wood next year also and I've got some chittamwood staves also , about ready for round two on them , my first didn't go well and I know one of the other staves didn't make it ether ( Ralph tried to flip the tips on his and his broke also ) I'll do a build along on it when I get to it , I've got another bow to get back to after this one and I think I'll get in on the OSS's bow trade also .
I'm trying to decide whether or not to put this bow on a form or not when I heat treat , I've got one that I use on Osage .

[BowEd]

Nice fish....Ought to be plenty of skin there....LOL.How thick are skins from those paddle fish.I'd adust that tiller a little before you heat treat it.

[Poggins]

Beadman , they are about the same as a large flathead , you can get pretty rough when skinning them without tearing them , I had to use a knife while skinning it because unlike flathead the spoonbill was tearing the meat up and I didn't want ground fish .
I was wondering if I could get the limbs a little more matched if I used a form while heat treating , and will the heat affect super glue and tight bond II or III .
I need to get my string board out and make a string for it , been a while since I've made a string and I tend to forget which way to twist when I start the second loop ( one of the last ones I done when I twisted the other loop it was opposite the first , I felt kinda bad because it was looking better than most of mine ) and I end up a little short sometimes but I have a nail I hang them on and will them if I need them .
Oh and I have some flathead skins also , I have a few snake skins and my boss is antelope hunting in the panhandle , he said he might bring some more back with him , it would be nice to put some skins on his bow .

[TimPotter]

"I was wondering if I could get the limbs a little more matched if I used a form while heat treating , and will the heat affect super glue and tight bond II or III ."

I find that heat-treating on forms makes certain I keep the bow in line. I used to just put a 3-4" block under the handle then only clamp my bow tips down on a long 2X4, but now I'm more precise, especially on wood that I highly value. And that bow of yours will be amazingly beautiful when you rub the finish on.
As to the glue concerns? I've not experienced any trouble there before. I'm guessing you mean the handle area? And Tips?

[Poggins]

The antler tips will be glued on with superglue and I plan using the skins on the full back not just the handle , I have a good form that I ( we , I take it to OJAM  and other events ) use , I'll have to shim it up around the pin knots . If it turns out like I think it will look like a laminated bow , slightly purple belly , white sapwood and spoonbill skin on the back ( I've got my fingers crossed ) , should be an eye catcher .

[BowEd]

+1 on the form balancing the limbs after heat treating,and yes your gonna have a purty bow after that for sure.My neighbor just caught a 57.6 pound flat head hear the other day but forgot to keep the skins for me.......LOL.Good luck on the glue and heat deal.

[Pappy]

Nice fish,that is some beautiful wood for sure. I would get the right limb matched better and bending more in the center toward the tip  before I touched the left anymore if it was me.
   Pappy

[Poggins]

Thanks Beadman , thanks Pappy .
When I cut the bow out and reduced the limbs the tips moved off center , this wood was cut back in July and I put a heavy coat of shellac on the backs of the staves and I think it held the moisture in ( I need to get it off the other staves to let some moisture out ) or it may have been when I used denatured alcohol to remove the shellac , I had to soak it pretty good to get it off.
Should I go ahead and put it on the form and heat treat and get it lined back up before I go any further , or should I work on the tiller some more? We have a demo at the city for a bunch of kids ( we are giving out 200 rattan bows also ) and its going to be raining , if I heat treat tonight and take it with me to show and maybe get the antler tips on maybe it would help get the moisture back in it .