Newest Bow

Here's a White Ash and Walnut longbow i'm starting on. i'd like to have a glass parallel laminate under the Walnut for security but can't afford any glass at the moment. i'm curious to see how she comes out.

http://i602.photobucket.com/albums/t...ed-cropped.jpg

http://i602.photobucket.com/albums/t...ed-cropped.jpg

http://i602.photobucket.com/albums/t...ed-cropped.jpg

Do you mean fiberglass resin and mat when you refer to glass? By the way looks really nice I am wanting to try my hand at bow making when I am finished watchin' and learnin'.

this bow is made by cutting a parallel lamination 1/4" thick from white ash board with a straight grain, and surfacing one side [by block sanding] to 3/8" with a coarse grit paper, to increase gluing surface area. the board was cut by tablesaw.

the width of the board is 1 1/2", but for a hunting weight with these woods at this thickness, you could use between 1 3/8" to 1 5/8" and still have plenty of room to play around with at tiller.

a second [mostly cosmetic in this case] lamination is cut and surfaced on both sides to 1/8". this is glued up to the surfaced back of the ash board by applying a bead of tightbond II to both sides, coating evenly but thinly, and clamping evenly against a rigid board. the glue-up is allowed to set and cure for 24-48 hours, depending on humidity.

next, i used a straight-edge and pencil to make a straight line down the length of the lamination, keeping it in the center of the board where the riser will be, and extended a straight line to the tips. this ensures the board will be straight and the tips inline with the center of the bow after the limbs are shaped.

after this glue-up, i measured off the area the riser would be glued to and surfaced, again by block sanding on the ash side [belly]. to this i glued a 1 1/2 inch wide block of walnut 1 5/8" thick by 10" long. i marked off the riser [handle block] fades using the edge of a pizza pan as a template to trace around [i often do]. i cut these out with a bandsaw, starting my cut at the outside, blade parallel with the limb belly [to avoid cutting too deep and cutting into the limbs by mistake].

i measured the riser area with my hand where it would grip the finished bow and marked off the arrow shelf 1/3" above where my index finger would rest. this will allow me to take off nearly that much later while arcing the arrow shelf. i market off the contour of the inside of the arrow pass with pencil and cut that out.

i profiled the width of the limbs as i often do by beginning the taper at mid-limb. many people use a pyramid taper, beginning at the fades, and in a straight line down to the final width of the tips.

i have sanded the sharp edges smooth, and induced a bit of a trapezoidal profile to the limbs [being slightly wider at the belly side than the back]. i will tiller, using a small tillering stick i use by sanding from the belly.

the glass laminations often used by bowyers are a mostly unidirectional woven cloth/tape which are resin impregnated and heat cured, then cut to width and length, then ground to spec [desired thickness or taper]. i could do this myself, but not without a bit of expenditure, and i could only make parallels.

they are commercially sold pre-fabricated, if a bit over-priced in many instances.

laminations of materials with higher tensile strengths than the limb/belly wood can increase the elasticity of many bow limb designs by moving the neutral place out towards the back, so that the bulk of the wood is under compression, rather than under tension [being stretched]. in this bow, it would add massively to the strength, as sawn Walnut has some tendency to split and crack under tension. the glass's resistence to stretch would put the whole belly into compression and alleviate most of the tension from the walnut backing.

cowboy:many of my bows, when i'm just fiddling around are made from solid red oak board. you can make a great board bow from this wood, it is cheap in many areas so you needn't worry much i you mess something up along the way, and it's easy to work [saws easy, planes easy, sands easy, etc.]

i still use it for practice and for making youth bows. i've got a current one almost finished as we speak.

maybe next i should make a thread about my fishing-line bowstrings, since i need to make a couple of them.

Thanks for the reply and any info you can provide would be helpful. FVR pointed me to the Red Oak Board bow as well. I have been wanting to give it a go.

and some working music.

recurving tips:

http://i602.photobucket.com/albums/t...ed-cropped.jpg

handle shaped more:

http://i602.photobucket.com/albums/t...ed-cropped.jpg

the tips are recurved by steaming them over a large covered pot on the stovetop for 20 min. and then the tip is placed against the recurving block, the front clamp set in place and then the limb is bent smoothly untill it can be clipped under the back clamp. this is allowed to set up in a dry environment untill it has cooled, though in glued layups like this it should probably be left on the recurving block in a dry environment for 48 hours.

Canid - when you put it in the jig to curve it do just steam the wood first?

yes, for 20 min.

i haven't had the best luck heat bending ash, so i'm steaming it in this case. i will still temper it after it is fully dry, with a heat gun.

[edit: second limb cooling now]

recurving done:

http://i602.photobucket.com/albums/t...ed-cropped.jpg

http://i602.photobucket.com/albums/t...ed_cropped.jpg

i might induce a bit of deflex aswell, but i think after breaking in it might take just enough set to make a difference anyway. i tend to tiller kinda' hard'

Looking good.

Question...what glue do you use that can take the steam and won't seperate? I have always wondered about this when it came to making a comp. recurve with no glass.

Frank

tightbond II or III. both will soften with steaming and set up again as soon as they are dry.

It looks wonderful!

if i can get my bamboo from Denair i may use some to back this guy, but it's holding strong at floor tiller.

here is an idea of what finial stain and finish will look like:

http://i602.photobucket.com/albums/t...irst_stain.jpg

http://i602.photobucket.com/albums/t...ain_handle.jpg

http://i602.photobucket.com/albums/t..._stain_tip.jpg

this bow is not nearly finished, but i like to seal early. it makes sanding easier and in this dry air, it helps keep the wood from becomming too dry and brittle. the only danger there is there being too much moisture in the wood, which could get locked in and shorten the life of the bow.

Looking good. I like the contrast in the different woods you used.

you might like the ash in the belly too then. i first rubbed in a coat of a nice waxy cherry PU stain, which colored the grain nicely, then applied the light [pecan] stain, rubbing well to blend any excess cherry well, which lightened it all up considerably. this left a nice contrast in the figure.