The Birth of a bow - A short Elk Seeker
Forum rules
No selling of traditional bows you manufactured. Only sponsors are allowed to post new bows for sale.
No selling of traditional bows you manufactured. Only sponsors are allowed to post new bows for sale.
Re: The Birth of a bow - A short Elk Seeker
Exciting.
Nothing clears a troubled mind like shooting a bow.
Re: The Birth of a bow - A short Elk Seeker
I’m late to this one. Looking great so far.
Happiness is a tight chain!
Re: The Birth of a bow - A short Elk Seeker
Final step.
I will be putting counter top laminate on the main part of the form responsible for the shape of the longbow. I could use contact cement like I would with a counter top, but I am going to use the Smooth-On EA-40 epoxy. To do it this way I will use substitute lams and an actual shaped riser like I would for a actual glue up.
I resaw a piece of pine down to about 1/8" thick and sand on the drum sander. I add 4 pieces of counter top laminate. These 5 pieces will be the substitute lams. I clean them up and measure each side of the stack to make sure they are as close as possible to being the same thickness overall. You can use a micrometer or caliper to do this. I'm talking about thousandths of an inch. I like to be within .003" if I can. Sometimes it don't work out, but some of my parts are wood and it is hard to make perfect parts sometimes. Heck I have even had Gordon glass that varied. For this step I try for perfect.
I need a riser, so I dig around for scape pieces of Hickory and Cherry, along with a few pieces of off cut black glass for accents. This riser will be usable for the first glue up if all goes well while I apply the laminate to the form.
Here is the completed form, ready for a test run.
I will be putting counter top laminate on the main part of the form responsible for the shape of the longbow. I could use contact cement like I would with a counter top, but I am going to use the Smooth-On EA-40 epoxy. To do it this way I will use substitute lams and an actual shaped riser like I would for a actual glue up.
I resaw a piece of pine down to about 1/8" thick and sand on the drum sander. I add 4 pieces of counter top laminate. These 5 pieces will be the substitute lams. I clean them up and measure each side of the stack to make sure they are as close as possible to being the same thickness overall. You can use a micrometer or caliper to do this. I'm talking about thousandths of an inch. I like to be within .003" if I can. Sometimes it don't work out, but some of my parts are wood and it is hard to make perfect parts sometimes. Heck I have even had Gordon glass that varied. For this step I try for perfect.
I need a riser, so I dig around for scape pieces of Hickory and Cherry, along with a few pieces of off cut black glass for accents. This riser will be usable for the first glue up if all goes well while I apply the laminate to the form.
Here is the completed form, ready for a test run.
Calling Elk - Awesome! !€
Re: The Birth of a bow - A short Elk Seeker
In getting pumped
Nothing clears a troubled mind like shooting a bow.
Re: The Birth of a bow - A short Elk Seeker
"Maybe the truly handicapped people are the ones that don't need God as much." ~ Joni Eareckson Tada
Re: The Birth of a bow - A short Elk Seeker
I forgot to mention in my last post that I had to make some slight changes to my riser design. It was to the bottom belly side radius. I wanted to make sure I can get good pressure against the parts to get a good glue joint. I think I had the radius a bit sharpe. Doing a dry run (no epoxy) with all the parts allowed me to see how well all areas along the length of a bow will come together.
One more thing.
One can seal the form if they want, but you would want to use something that will hold up to multiple hot and cold changes. I have had my hot box get close to 200° and then cool down to 40° if I didn't keep good heat in my shop.
One more thing.
One can seal the form if they want, but you would want to use something that will hold up to multiple hot and cold changes. I have had my hot box get close to 200° and then cool down to 40° if I didn't keep good heat in my shop.
Calling Elk - Awesome! !€
Re: The Birth of a bow - A short Elk Seeker
Looking good Tom, thanks for sharing, gonna be a shooter!
Re: The Birth of a bow - A short Elk Seeker
TESTING THE FORM!
Well the form seems to be doing its job.
I glued up the first test bow off of it awhile back. So far it is holding together. It is pretty strong right now. My right shoulder didn't want to allow me to string it up with the correct length string. Plus I have gotten weaker. I need to work on that.
Speaking of stings, another very generous person here on Tradhunter has sent me some tillering/testing strings so I can string these shorter bows up while making them.
THANKS DAVE! (Stumper)
I am guessing the first bow off the new form is maybe 60 to 70 lbs right now. I have left the limbs extra wide so I can work them down gradually for the profile I am hoping for while braced. I'm hoping that I can keep it in the D shape category. I did string it with a long string and it looked close, but a little like a recurve with straight tips
Real soon here I am going to sand more off the sides of the limbs from the fadeouts to the tips and see what she looks like. I want to do this carefully, this will determine the template shape that I will use to trace the limbs from along with the profile while braced and even the profile at full draw. If I need to I will make the width less at the fadeouts also. I am thinking that this will need to be done anyway, but like I said I want to work my way down slowly all the while hoping that the bow stays together.
Well the form seems to be doing its job.
I glued up the first test bow off of it awhile back. So far it is holding together. It is pretty strong right now. My right shoulder didn't want to allow me to string it up with the correct length string. Plus I have gotten weaker. I need to work on that.
Speaking of stings, another very generous person here on Tradhunter has sent me some tillering/testing strings so I can string these shorter bows up while making them.
THANKS DAVE! (Stumper)
I am guessing the first bow off the new form is maybe 60 to 70 lbs right now. I have left the limbs extra wide so I can work them down gradually for the profile I am hoping for while braced. I'm hoping that I can keep it in the D shape category. I did string it with a long string and it looked close, but a little like a recurve with straight tips
Real soon here I am going to sand more off the sides of the limbs from the fadeouts to the tips and see what she looks like. I want to do this carefully, this will determine the template shape that I will use to trace the limbs from along with the profile while braced and even the profile at full draw. If I need to I will make the width less at the fadeouts also. I am thinking that this will need to be done anyway, but like I said I want to work my way down slowly all the while hoping that the bow stays together.
Calling Elk - Awesome! !€
Re: The Birth of a bow - A short Elk Seeker
Well I got test bow no.1 off this new form strung. It is currently 60# @ 28". I have more to take off out towards the tips and that might cause them to straighten more.
Important thing is that it is still holding together.
Important thing is that it is still holding together.
Calling Elk - Awesome! !€