It’s Out of the Oven!
Thanks for the comments, guys, and, for those who took the trouble to wade through yesterday’s dissertation, I will attempt to keep this one shorter. I’ll tell much of it in a “Good News/Bad News” format, but first, I will set the scene…
First steps: I got up leisurely, had a breaksfast and made a cup of coffee. Then, I prepared myself mentally to enter my private space, the place I go to find my inner chi by following the ancient practice of zen and the art of bow making…
Cue music… the “Pastoral”… Dum, de de dum de de dum…. Dum de de de de dum…
Cue hopping bunny rabbits and gamboling fawns about my feet as I walk down a green hillside…
Well, actually the steps to the basement…
I pause in the doorway and absorb the creative ambiance of this space, carefully organized to contribute to the creative process…
I look, with positive attitude, at the oven, closed container of the hidden treasure that is my creative product to this particular time and place in the universe…
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What a load of crap, Dick! Open the damn oven!
OK… bad news… nobody broke into the garage during the night and stole it!
Good news… nobody broke into the garage during the night and left a second one!
Good news… the epoxy is dried. The oven worked well. Other than taking an unexpectedly long time to heat up the form and clamps and come up to temperature, it held a steady 145. Total curing time, including warm up, was 7 1/2 hours, plus, I left the box closed to cool down at its own slow rate. It was at room temperature, 58 degrees, this morning when I came down.
Bad news… Ann isn’t stirring yet and I’m not sure I’m up to lifting it the form and clamps out of the oven. What the heck, the day is young, I’ll give it a try. Got it lifted up to waist high, but couldn’t get it up high enough to get it back in the vise on the bench.
Good news… OK, get a knee under it and get some added lift. That worked, barely, but it’s in the vise, so I can start removing clamps and see what I’ve got.
Good news… the pressure strips lifted off easily
Good news… Most of the plastic peeled off pretty well.
Bad news… At one spot, the plastic looks like it got pinched in the layers at the fade.
Bad news… Sheesh! Where did all that epoxy squeeze out come from? Maybe I was bit too generous?
Good news… The whole mess lifted off the form easily. No glue on the form at all.
OK… Belt sander time… knock off all that squeezed out epoxy. Now to see what I have…
Bad news… There are two gaps in the riser. One is where a corner was chipped on the lamination. I knew about that and that it will disappear when the riser is shaped. The other, however, is truly a gross problem, a major gap in the fade area where the clamps simply didn’t get the lam pressed down hard enough and the riser bottom surface shaping wasn’t as good as I though it was. This will have to be filled with epoxy and sawdust from the riser wood.
Good news… On this light a bow, I don’t think this will be a structural problem.
Good news… The lam butts came out OK… not gapped.
Really good news… Once cleaned up, the floor tiller feels, in comparison to other bows, like maybe 45 to 50 pounds. Once the bow shape is cut out and polished up, I may well end up with the target weight of 30 to 35 pounds I was after.
Best news of all… This bow is going to be knock out beautiful!. That oak I used under the clear glass is as beautiful a wood as I’ve seen. That was what I wanted. The paduk riser is a gorgeous red contrast. Once I get to that point, a paduk overlay on the riser front and on the tips will provide great, eyecatching contrast.
Here are a few pix... they didn't come out as well as I would have liked, but there will be better ones down the line...
Topic: It' Out of the Oven! (Not as long...) (Read 1052 times)
