Take down Longbow - Build along

[2treks]

Ralph,nice buid along. I saw the video of you shop. Nice and clean,nice job.
Semo, I saw a video of some dude thining raw bamboo FREEHAND on the table saw    . It freaked me out when I read it but he made it look easy. I ain't gonna even try that one. If you don't lose a body part I think you could get a good caneing across the face. Look on youtube. you prolly already know who it is.

[fujimo]

hi ralph.
what are the dimensions of your hot box.
i have gotta build one this weekend!
wayne

[rmorris]

Mr. Scott,
My hot box is 8ft wide and 4ft tall and 20in deep.I made it long enough for a one piece bow. I made it out of 1/2" OSB and 2x4's it is lined with 1" foam insulation w/ the aluminum backing. It is powered by 8- 60w light bulbs on 2 dimmer switches, there are 4 bulbs on each dimmer and each dimmer is rated at 600w.I can reach a temp of 200 with this setup. I also installed a outlet on the inside with a switch for it on the outside so that I could turn off and on a fan without opening the box. I also installed hooks at the top of the oven to hang my forms and a counter top to make a good workspace. The last thing I did was pick up a a probe style digital readout thermometer (the kind for checking the temp of meet on a BBQ grill ) and drilled a hole just big enough for the probe so that I can read the the temperature of the inside of my form( I am assuming the inside temp of the form is the same as the temp of my bow. When I made this a few years ago I think it cost me about $300
 
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[red hill]

Thanks, Ralph, that is cheap.
Stan

[rmorris]

Stan, here are some pictures of the bamboo up close it works great as a limb core but I don't think that I would ever use it under clear glass without a nice veneer. If you the look of bamboo under clear glass I would recommend you not use bamboo flooring.
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[rmorris]

Alright now back to the build along. The next thing I will be doing is gluing on the the overlays where the bolt washer will rest. Anytime I am mixing glue I use 2 different clean puddy knives so I do not contaminate my epoxy.
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Sometimes I use tape to make sure that the overlays do not shift
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I then clamp everything together and put just the part I want glued in my miniature hot box.
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[rmorris]

The next next thing I do is cut out the arrow rest. After trashing a riser doing it with a bandsaw I now use a method I learned here to cut out the arrow rest. I first draw lines so that I do not cut past them and then use a handsaw and cut down to the line. I then use a a chisel to cut out the blocks.
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[rmorris]

Alright now all the overlays are glued on and I forgot to take a picture of drilling the holes in the limb but I now have what resembles a bow, and here it is below the previous generation.
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The next thing I do is set up a laser so that I can check and make sure the bow is straight.
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I then mark the laser line with a pen and double stick tape a template I made to the limb and trace it for cutting.
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[rmorris]

Now that I got the limbs cut out I use this little clamping tool on each limb as a nock point and do a rough check on the poundage.
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I guess I under estameted how much changing the riser angle by 3 deg. would change the weight of the bow. I am now making a 63" bow when I was planning on a 62" bow to make the weight a little lighter.

Now it is time to glue on my tips. I am going to do 3 layers of fiber glass and a wood overlay for the tips. I glue them very similar to how I glue on my overlays.
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[rmorris]

Alright as my father in law says "A clean shop is a happy shop" and my shop was very unhappy because it kept hiding everything that I was looking for so....
 

and after.....

 

Wow, much better!

[rmorris]

The tips are now done curing so I took them out of the how box cleaned them up and a 45deg. part of a square to make the lines where I would make the string groves.
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A little work with a small chanin saw file and I have string groves.

The next picture is of the bow strung.
 

Here is a close up of the riser.
 

And the last picture I will be posting for a few days is one of the bow at full draw. As you can see I have a bad case of stiff upper limb and will need to do some serious tillering to correct that.
 

Well I am heading out of town and will be back Saturday evening so I doubt I will get anything new posted till Sunday evening. I hope everyone has a great weekend and has enjoyed this so far.

[SEMO_HUNTER]

Originally posted by Two Tracks:
Ralph,nice buid along. I saw the video of you shop. Nice and clean,nice job.
Semo, I saw a video of some dude thining raw bamboo FREEHAND on the table saw     . It freaked me out when I read it but he made it look easy. I ain't gonna even try that one. If you don't lose a body part I think you could get a good caneing across the face. Look on youtube. you prolly already know who it is.

No Freaking Way!!   :eek:      

I may try running one through the saw using the fence, with a face sheild, welding leathers, heavy gloves, and a chest protector just to see if it can be done. Then get my dad to grab the other end when it comes out so I got 2 pairs of hands on it, but anything less than that and I'll just stick with the good ol belt sander.

Good build along so far, anxious to see the finished product.  

[Greg Szalewski]

Ralph, you bet I've enjoyed this build. I have picked up on several ideas. I like the corrion jigs. Do you get that from sink cut outs?

[rmorris]

Look what the machine shop finally got done for me. I picked them up on the way out of town and am attempting my first tradgand post from my phone. Has anyone ever tried sinking a pressure washer like this in below the glass and laminations and having the washer rest on the wedge so that you can't see the hardware ?
 
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[rmorris]

Greg, I got the idea when a buddy of mine was remodeling his house and he put in corrian countertops. The contractor who did it was cutting off some small pieces for window seals and was using a small circular saw. I asked my buddy for all the scraps to try and have never gone back. I bet you could call a local company who installs counter tops and they would more than likely give you some scraps for free. Good luck and I hope the stuff works for you also

[recurvericky]

Great build along. I too am a jig person. Not only because I like using them, but I like builing them to.

[rmorris]

[NormanDale33]

Great build-along. this was helpful

[RECURVE319]

Just a great build-along.    
Keep em coming.

Rick.

[coaster500]

That was a great build Ralph!!