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Topic Archives => Build Alongs => Topic started by: wakolbinger on March 08, 2006, 02:44:00 PM

Title: Converting another....a buildalong(pics)
Post by: wakolbinger on March 08, 2006, 02:44:00 PM

So I desided my friend needs to make his own selfbow since he's been shooting an ironwood bow I gave him for a year now. We will be building him a osage selfbow over then next few weeks, and I will be taking pictures along the way to share with all of you.

danny

Picked him out a nice blank from the bin with some good thick rings, few knots, and some nice snakes in it too. Here's Sam laying the line for the first limb thickness reduction...

   (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y40/wakolbinger/samsbow/IM003172.jpg)

Making the bandsaw cuts...

   (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y40/wakolbinger/samsbow/IM003173.jpg)

I went ahead and did the basic handle shaping cuts on the bandsaw for him, since they can be a bit tricky. Here's Sam doing some more shaping with a rasp...

   (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y40/wakolbinger/samsbow/IM003174.jpg)

Woo, action shot! Here's Sam truing up the limb width...

   (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y40/wakolbinger/samsbow/IM003177.jpg)

And here we are reducing the belly even more to get it nice and even, as well as thin enough to bend on the caul...

   (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y40/wakolbinger/samsbow/IM003181.jpg)

Here I am getting the stave all set up the be reflexed on the caul. So it's thinned, corners rounded off, greased with mineral oil, and clamped at both ends...

   (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y40/wakolbinger/samsbow/IM003182.jpg)

Here's Sam finally getting the stave good and hot, after a little mishap with the high and low setting on the heat gun. So we're slowly cranking down the bar clamp at the handle and adding c-clamps to flatten out any high spots as we go along...

   (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y40/wakolbinger/samsbow/IM003184.jpg)

And here's Sam acting like a fool, as we often do...hamin' it up for the camera as we get the limb fully clamped up on the caul...

   (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y40/wakolbinger/samsbow/IM003185.jpg)

That was all the time we had for that day, didn't even get to the other limb. I will post more of progress as it comes.

Title: Re: Converting another....a buildalong(pics)
Post by: Frenchymanny on March 08, 2006, 03:10:00 PM

Amazing!

I like the form you are using to curb the limbs.

Regards,
F-Manny

Title: Re: Converting another....a buildalong(pics)
Post by: Buemaker on March 08, 2006, 03:27:00 PM

Very interesting, looking forward to see the rest. Bue--.

Title: Re: Converting another....a buildalong(pics)
Post by: the Ferret on March 08, 2006, 03:42:00 PM

Nice looking piece of wood.

Man he's close to the wood with that heat gun. Betcha got some orange scorchey marks ha ha.Also I don't see any pads under the C clamps to keep from putting dents in the wood.

Nice pictorial so far.

Title: Re: Converting another....a buildalong(pics)
Post by: wakolbinger on March 08, 2006, 03:51:00 PM

Na, no burn marks on the wood, just toasted to a red. He does it like I do it, close to the wood to get it done fast. Have never found a problem in it. All my c-clamps have little piceces of thick leather cut to the shape of each end of the clamp and glued on.

danny

Title: Re: Converting another....a buildalong(pics)
Post by: dosbow56 on March 08, 2006, 04:08:00 PM

:thumbsup:    :thumbsup:    :thumbsup:  and a couple a   :notworthy:    :notworthy:  just because.....LOL
lookin good.
dave

Title: Re: Converting another....a buildalong(pics)
Post by: John Scifres on March 08, 2006, 04:18:00 PM

Cool!

Title: Re: Converting another....a buildalong(pics)
Post by: Dano on March 08, 2006, 05:20:00 PM

Nice work Danny and Sam, I like that caul too, I gotta make me one.  ;)    :thumbsup:

Title: Re: Converting another....a buildalong(pics)
Post by: Vance in AK. on March 08, 2006, 06:57:00 PM

Nice setup, & looking forward to following along.  
After looking at your setup I have a question.  I have a hickory selfbow (my 1st & only) that I never finished that has a "fair" amount of twist (both limbs although worse in one that the other) in it & the limbs have probably 1" of set back at the tips.  I got it to the semi tillered stage & quit 'caust I wasn't sure about the twist.  That was about 5 yrs ago.
If I were to put it on a caul like that & heat it would the hickory keep it's new shape or go back to it's natural shape?

Title: Re: Converting another....a buildalong(pics)
Post by: wakolbinger on March 08, 2006, 07:05:00 PM

You can take out quite a bit of twist in a bow by putting on a caul like this, but I'm not sure how well hickory works with dry heat. Anybody else know about that?

danny

Title: Re: Converting another....a buildalong(pics)
Post by: wakolbinger on March 08, 2006, 07:13:00 PM

Thanks for all the encouragement yall!

Back at it today!

Here's Sam heating the other limb....

  (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y40/wakolbinger/samsbow/IM003187.jpg)

All clamped up....

  (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y40/wakolbinger/samsbow/IM003188.jpg)

Off the caul....

  (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y40/wakolbinger/samsbow/IM003189.jpg)

Here's Sam working on the handle after I went through the finer points of handle shaping...

  (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y40/wakolbinger/samsbow/IM003190.jpg)

The fruits of our labor...

  (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y40/wakolbinger/samsbow/IM003192.jpg)

  (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y40/wakolbinger/samsbow/IM003195.jpg)

Sam reducing the belly even more and the sides some as well...

  (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y40/wakolbinger/samsbow/IM003194.jpg)

And here's Sam looking rather proud of what we've done so far. Really starting to look like a bow....

  (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y40/wakolbinger/samsbow/IM003196.jpg)

That's it for today.

danny

Title: Re: Converting another....a buildalong(pics)
Post by: Eric B. on March 08, 2006, 07:34:00 PM

Happiness is yellow dust in your nose.  :)

Title: Re: Converting another....a buildalong(pics)
Post by: wakolbinger on March 13, 2006, 05:05:00 PM

Alright, we're back in action....

There was a little problem with tip alignment, so I desided we would heat that tip up and wrench it over. Here's Sam heating the tip....

    (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y40/wakolbinger/samsbow/IM003203.jpg)

And here he is pulling it slightly past straight while the tip's in the vice, while I went to get a wet rag to speed up the cooling...

    (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y40/wakolbinger/samsbow/IM003204.jpg)

The bow is starting to get a real good floor tiller, so I thought we'd through it on the press and see what the limbs look like. Though we wont really know till the first bracing....

    (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y40/wakolbinger/samsbow/IM003205.jpg)

I thought it would be good for him to get some practice putting in some nice even string grooves, so while the tips are still over sized I had him file in some nocks.

    (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y40/wakolbinger/samsbow/IM003206.jpg)

I threw out the idea of putting on some tip overlays, something I don't normally do, and Sam seemed really pleased by the idea. So, I grabbed my box of exotic scraps and he picked out a chunk of purpleheart. Here I am sanding down the tips flat so we can glue on the overlays....

    (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y40/wakolbinger/samsbow/IM003207.jpg)

And here's the purpleheart glued on with epoxy and clamped up....

  (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y40/wakolbinger/samsbow/IM003208.jpg)

Thats it for now, but more to come soon.

danny

Title: Re: Converting another....a buildalong(pics)
Post by: Dano on March 13, 2006, 06:52:00 PM

Nice work Danny, where were you when I wanted to learn how to make a bow?  :bigsmyl:

Title: Re: Converting another....a buildalong(pics)
Post by: mike hall on March 13, 2006, 07:00:00 PM

Looks like a goodn guys. Thanks for sharing.   :)

Title: Re: Converting another....a buildalong(pics)
Post by: JBell on March 13, 2006, 07:26:00 PM

Looks like tag team'n is the way to go! Keep up the good work!

Title: Re: Converting another....a buildalong(pics)
Post by: Frenchymanny on March 13, 2006, 07:41:00 PM

You rock!

Kudos to you, young men!  :notworthy:

Title: Re: Converting another....a buildalong(pics)
Post by: NorthShoreLB on March 14, 2006, 01:59:00 AM

Good buildalong guys.

I like the snake in that bow.

Manny

Title: Re: Converting another....a buildalong(pics)
Post by: Guru on March 14, 2006, 07:24:00 AM

Good stuff guys....almost makes me think I could make one of those things!    :banghead:    

Title: Re: Converting another....a buildalong(pics)
Post by: DeanD on March 14, 2006, 07:34:00 AM

Great pics!  Great buildalong.

Thanks,

Dean

Title: Re: Converting another....a buildalong(pics)
Post by: TexMex on March 14, 2006, 03:20:00 PM

:thumbsup:    :thumbsup:

Title: Re: Converting another....a buildalong(pics)
Post by: mich-mtnman on March 14, 2006, 04:22:00 PM

well done dan.  :notworthy:    :notworthy:  
 i wish we had some of that yeller wood up here!
 i cant wait to see him get it on the tree and start to tiller!

Title: Re: Converting another....a buildalong(pics)
Post by: tim-flood on March 14, 2006, 05:06:00 PM

good stuff!! it is a lot more fun when you can share ain't it!!

Title: Re: Converting another....a buildalong(pics)
Post by: wakolbinger on March 16, 2006, 12:15:00 AM

Yup, always more fun that way....

Truely became a bow today, when it cast it's first arrow. Here's what went down today...

Here's Sam doing some tip shaping....

   (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y40/wakolbinger/samsbow/IM003213.jpg)

And here's me showing Sam how you really shape a tip...lol. Note the missing chunk o' purpleheart where the purple mets the orange. That dang stuff is so finicky, if the grain is wrong, which hard to tell, it chunks out near edges and such. We thought it through and came up with a quick and easy fix, I will come back to this later to show you what we came up with....

   (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y40/wakolbinger/samsbow/IM003214.jpg)

Sam sanding all the nicks and scratches out in preparation for the bow being really bent....

   (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y40/wakolbinger/samsbow/IM003215.jpg)

Alright, Sam desided he wanted to be the camera man a bit more. So, I have no explination for why I look like such a tool in this picture, just acting weird as we do. First brace, not bad huh.....

   (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y40/wakolbinger/samsbow/IM003218.jpg)

Again, no reason why, just a strange boy. The view from the back...

   (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y40/wakolbinger/samsbow/IM003219.jpg)

Checking the draw weight. Over all we got it back to 57# at 21"...

   (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y40/wakolbinger/samsbow/IM003221.jpg)

Tiller a bit more refined at the point of the this picture, and braced a bit more normal....

   (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y40/wakolbinger/samsbow/IM003223.jpg)

Title: Re: Converting another....a buildalong(pics)
Post by: wakolbinger on March 16, 2006, 12:17:00 AM

So once we got to 21" I desided he should shoot it for a while with some shorties. That bow shot awesome, especially for the short draw and crappy arrows. Nice flat arrow flight out to about 18 yards already!...

   (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y40/wakolbinger/samsbow/IM003225.jpg)

   (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y40/wakolbinger/samsbow/IM003226.jpg)

Meanwhile I shot my new recurve, which looks funky, but turned out really nice and really spits out an arrow. That was one dead hay bail. We shot for about and hour and then called it quits for the day....

   (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y40/wakolbinger/crazy%20curve/IM003186.jpg)

   (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y40/wakolbinger/crazy%20curve/IM003227.jpg)

   (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y40/wakolbinger/crazy%20curve/IM003228.jpg)


danny

Title: Re: Converting another....a buildalong(pics)
Post by: John Scifres on March 16, 2006, 09:13:00 AM

Nice.

Title: Re: Converting another....a buildalong(pics)
Post by: Luke Vander Vennen on March 16, 2006, 10:49:00 AM

sweet  :)

Title: Re: Converting another....a buildalong(pics)
Post by: dosbow56 on March 16, 2006, 05:10:00 PM

:thumbsup:    :thumbsup:    :thumbsup: