Common Cherry + Padauk + Ebony = Bow 5

[fish n chicks]

Woodcraft occasionally runs some of their lumber at a pretty good rate for the unemployed (yay Michigan!) and while searching for the backbone to my tradbow, I came across some common cherry on sale for $5/bf. I flipped a pallet's worth of board til this one said "I'm a bow"...

I saw the back on this side:

   

And the belly on this side:

 


A close up of the board may reveal to some what I saw...

Back:

   


Belly:

   


This bow was going to be a challenge for me since I had only worked with red oak until now. But I looked at the rings and for some reason it made sense. In the previous pics you may be able to see my initial layout lines as to where I thought the bow would come from. Then I sliced her up on the table saw and got the 2" wide x 64" slab ready for action.

Back:

   


Belly:

   

[fish n chicks]

The result: 57# @ 28"  / 60" tip to tip. Man is she blast to shoot too! The tiller is not the D-cup curve I like but she tiller gizmos even from riser to deflex on both limbs so I didn't want to overmess with her. Finish of choice was boiled linseed oil and I will eventually get to poly'ing her if I can stop shooting it first!

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

One of the things I really liked was how my glueline blended in with the recurve section once shaped:

   

[Dick in Seattle]

nice looking wood.  i built a cherry laminated recently and it's a honey.  I think cherry's an underrated wood.   I don't do board or self bows myself, but I'll be following along to see how you and your cherry make out.

[fish n chicks]

A few more...

 


 


 

[walkabout]

looks great, you got a way with board staves for sure.its nice to see someone else who still works with what they find at the local wood supplier. too bad i dont have a woodcraft close.

[Osagetree]

Very eye catching, good job!

[rover brewer]

awwwwwwsome.

[fish n chicks]

Originally posted by walkabout:
looks great, you got a way with board staves for sure.its nice to see someone else who still works with what they find at the local wood supplier. too bad i dont have a woodcraft close.

Thanks!! Don't get me wrong, I'd love to make a selfbow but no osage up here. At least none available to me for a price I can afford. Plus it's still in board form. No staves. I'd also REALLY like to make my own glass recurves but i'm still working out of my pop's garage so until we finally find OUR house, no forms, cauls, or other garage taking tools unfortunately.

This still may be my last bow for a while. We have our wedding in 5 weeks now, so pretty much 4 weeks cause I ain't doing squat but partying from my bachelor party on thru the wedding and honeymoon that follows. And there ain't no time for board makin when there's baby makin to do!!!  

[fish n chicks]

So let me ask you guys, what would this bow be called anyway? A board bow still? A reflex / deflex short long bow? Is it still a pyramid bow?

I dunno. One thing's for sure.... it needs to be shot again!

[fish n chicks]

Originally posted by Dick in Seattle:
nice looking wood.  i built a cherry laminated recently and it's a honey.  I think cherry's an underrated wood.   I don't do board or self bows myself, but I'll be following along to see how you and your cherry make out.

I think i'm hooked on cherry and if I ever made lams I would definitely consider cherry as one of the top candidates. The only part of this bow that was a P.I.T.A. would definitely have to be the padauk. Don't get me wrong, getting ebony to look smooth after tooling it is a chore in itself cause it's so dense, but man, that padauk is porous!! It doesn't like to be worked with a rasp that's for sure. I have about 3" X 18" of that stuff and when it's gone I think that'll be it for me and Padauk.

[jess stuart]

That is very nice indeed.  I guess I am going to have to try one of those board bows someday.  I also live in a bad area for harvesting bow wood.  I have made a number of glass laminated bows but the wooden bows are interesting.

[Stiks-n-Strings]

Looks good Fish.

 You better get all your baby makin' in before the next bow trade LOL

 Congrats on the wedding!

 Stiks

[AZ_Shooter]

Beautiful work.

[fish n chicks]

Originally posted by Stiks-n-Strings:
Looks good Fish.

 You better get all your baby makin' in before the next bow trade LOL

 Congrats on the wedding!

 Stiks

lmao!! God willing i'll have her knocked up by January Kris. And thanks!

[fish n chicks]

I just noticed my tiller pic never posted. In fact a whole post that included different pics didn't post. I'm 100% sure it's user error.

The bow cleared the tiller gizmo riser from riser to recurve, but I didn't get the bend I was looking for. I'm thinking it was the draw weight being 57# rather than the 45# i'm used to on a red oak bow, or I needed to do something else? I didn't want to lose any draw weight so I took it as a good thing that at least they bent the same. Anybody got any ideas on how I could've got a rounder curve without losing weight?


   

[Dave Bowers]

Nicely done, its a beauty  

[red hill]

Congrats on the upcoming wedding and the nice bow, Fish.  Do a little research and maybe you'll find some local species of trees for bow making.  
Stan

[Apex Predator]

Very nice looking bow!

[bjansen]

Outstanding job.  Your finishing work is excellent!

[fish n chicks]

Thank you so much for the cheers guys! NONE of this would be possible without the incredible group effort here on this site. It's a testament to the comradery and sportsmanship found deep in the heart of all of us here.

Man i'm not sure I can wait til we find a new house to make another one.....