the next project 1957 Kodiak?

[TonyW]

Very nice work, Ray.
Your first day working for Bear Archery, and it looks like you will keep your job. Keep it up and you will become an old dog like Phil.
Another great benefit on doing the tips yourself is that the USPS, UPS, or FedEx handlers aren't going to crunch them in a conveyer after you've waited a year or two to get them back from somebody else.

(Just don't let your wife know you are training to become a professional manicurist!)

[Shane Reed]

Good point on not letting the wife know about being a "manicurist" ;o) Also never let her see you rub tru oil on the bow or she will want you to rub her feet with oil or lotion frequently. I am speaking from experience! Woman expect such treatment even if their feet stink. Keep that in the back your mind. Just a warning.

[TonyW]

 

I posted this as a warning. Less is more.

DO NOT GET CARRIED AWAY!

No joke! A few years ago, a guy was actually doing something like this to the risers of old 1960 era Bear recurves. They really looked like they had coral reef formations. He was trying to make a fast buck out of flipping old bows, but before he did much damage, he went out of business.

[Ray Lyon]

Well I've got the second tip shaped and nock groves cut.  I'm going to have to make a string this weekend to test the nock alignment on the bow since the vintage bear string I got for a 64" amo bow was only 57.5 inches.  I didn't even attempt stringing the bow with that.  

Hopefully I get a coat or two of true oil on this weekend as well.

[Shane Reed]

Make sure not to let the wife see you ray ;o)

[Ray Lyon]

Shane, she did not see me shaping those tips!!!!      

[Kituwa]

If she does catch you rubbin in the true oil and make you give her a foot massage, just use the true oil for that too, she wont ask you again.

[Shane Reed]

hehehe

[Ray Lyon]

Well, I couldn't help but to shoot a few arrows out of this before it was done. Decals, inked specs and 3 coats of finish on (I didn't like the tru oil so I removed and put wipe on poly on).  Even with just some painters tape on as the rest, I'm very impressed.  It draws smooth (but at 64" I anticipated as much) and spits an arrow out very nicely and pretty quiet with not silencers and eyeballing nock point.  The string is tracking nicely back into the groves, so I'm very pleased with how the tip overlays came out. Hopefully hero photo's will be available to post soon.

[Ray Lyon]

p.s., my wife loves foot massages at home while we're watching movies on our big screen TV.  I'll continue to skip the tru oil on those however.

[Kituwa]

Ok,,i will come clean,,im not as he man as i let on.My wife loves foot massages too but its worth it because she brings me coffee refills and has not one time put true oil in it.
True oil is a good finish but it does take a long time to dry most of the time.Thats why i dont use it anymore. I used to make split cane flyrods and i tried all types of finish and what worked best for me was Helmsmen spar urethane. Thats what i use on bows too.It can be picky about drying too but if you thin it a bit it drys better.Also if you warm it with a hair drier and let it hang and repeat once in a while it will dry pretty fast. Something about the warm cool warm cool.It polishes up nice with a rubbing compound too and you dont have to wait near as long as you do with true oil.The guys that make cane flyrods have done a lot of research and testing on diffrent varnishes and Helmsmen spar was one of the better ones.Also, always use the high gloss even if you want a semi gloss as the semi gloss or satin do not have as good of UV protection in them. Its best to use high gloss and steel wool after the last coat and use rubbing compound to bring back as much or little gloss as you want. Your new tip overlays look very nice by the way!