Hi Guys.
It`s been a while since I`ve posted something so here`s a story for ya`all.
The bowyer virus grew strong in the past year. Mainly due to that fact I`ve been shooting the same bow all this time. I really wanted
a new bow, something that would pack more punch and look a bit fancier then my trusty WOBI flatbow. All of the bow`s I built
during this year were not to my satisfaction.
About 2 months ago, I picked up a nice piece of ipe and decided to make a reflex reflex BBI. Sadly I don`t have a belt sander
and I was too lazy to flatten the bamboo by hand, so I used white oak as a backing instead. Tillering went o.k until I heard the
"CRACK" (you know what I`m talking about). The backing lift a splinter but fortunately the ipe remained intact.
Since I really wanted to complete this bow I decide to use the piece of bamboo I have...
Much to my surprise, flattening it was pretty fast using a sharp spokeshave and a rough sand paper. Once that was done, I removed the white oak from the ipe.
I heated the bow over my stove and once the glue melted I used my drawknife to remove the backing.... peels like a banana...
Cleaned Up the ipe, glued the bamboo, tillered the bow (had some string alignment issues but got over it) and here she is...
67" tip to tip
Bamboo backed ipe
A Mulberry piece with sapwood and heartwood for the handle + leather wrap
45#@26"
Upper limb is just under an inch longer
My best shooter yet, smooth draw, hits hard and fast (even with my heavy fiberglass arrows....) and although not flawless, she`s my best looker....
And the money shot...
I`ve learned a lot from this build about dealing with problems but the most important lesson was to never give up hope...
Dor