Children's bow building workshop a success!!!

[Aram]

I finally got some sleep last night. The workshop was a success even if working till 1:00 am for two nights in a row was a bit tough on the instructors.
Here are some pictures, I'll add more as I download them.

 
Long shadows and long sleeves on a cool March morning

 Another view here

 Lunch time

Chris was one of the youngest of the thirteen children there. After three hours of sanding and scraping he was still going strong filing his nocks when he said to me "I think I discovered my hidden talent." "Really, what is it?" I asked
"Bowmaking." Now that was priceless. I had to take out my camera and take a picture of him right then.
 

[sar]

What level did you build those bows to prior to the kids working on them?  What age are those kids?  I've sort've thought about doing something similar next year

[The Whittler]

Thanks for the pics. Working with kids can be very rewarding, you are blessed men. Alan

[curlis]

Way to go!!!!!!!!!!! There couldn't be anything better than that.

Aram, you are a good man my friend!

[Aram]

Thanks guys. Just passing it on...
Sar, this is the third workshop we've given in two years. The prep work is still a hit and miss process.
The children were anywhere from eight to fourteen years old. My friend Rolando had a big 4"X6" red elm post so we cut a bunch of boards out of that. Because of ring violations we backed these with either silk or muslin which we had at hand. These boards were anywhere from 50" to 62". (We had to cut some shorter because of some nasty knots and twisted fiber.) We pretapered the boards from just under 3/4" at the handle to 3/8" at the tips. Limbs were 1.25" paralel up to 8"-10" from the tips which were 3/8" wide. The older children received floor tillered staves as they are able to take on more of a challenge.
In the past we were able to give the children board bows or staves which we had pretty much tillered and pulled to 28" for a safety check. Their job was to to take off the tool marks and round the edges, sand the bow smooth, apply finish, make a sting, make a handle, and have a short shooting session.  
This tme we missed weight by a lot...     The bows came in at around #40-45@26". The children sanded the bows smooth and filed the nocks on Saturday, the first day. Saturday at 2:00PM, after the children left we realized the bows were much too heavy so we took them to the shop and ground them down. We worked till 1:00AM. Still the bows had only been tillered with a long string so the few hours of sleep were not the most peaceful ones.
It all turned out better than we had planned: Sunday morning I kept the children busy decorating and puting handles on their bows while my son Ru helped them one by one make their strings. As soon as a bow had it's string it would go inside where Rolando put it on the tiller tree and taught each child about tillering. They had to scrape and rasp where the limbs were too stiff and through that they were involved in making their bows much more than we had planned. It was hectic and nerve wrecking at times but the results were well worth the effort.

[Aram]

Here are some more photos of the process:
 
decorating

 
Ru twisting strings(we used the drill and weight method)

 
Rolando demontrating the step through.

[Aram]

.... And the tiller tree
 

scraping and sanding the stiff spots....
 

[Aram]

Here's some old guy, grown grey playing childrens games. Boy, where did my black hair go?!?
 
handle wraping

This is our youngest participant. He knew exactly how he wanted his bow decorated. He didn't even want me to help him, which is a good thing, I could have never come up with such a cool pattern:
 

[Aram]

two more proud bow makers

 
group shot

[Aram]

Last picture:
 
a small local militia      

[pointy sticks]

WOW       That just unbelievable, how could you take 13 youngsters and start turning them into addicts                    

[southpawshooter]

That is just great Aram!!! Giving to the kids is an awesome gesture!!!  

[Izzy]

Aw man thats not fair,why cant I be one of those kids again?  :mad:          What a fine thing to share with those kids.It will go a long way in their lives.Good on you Aram.

[Aram]

Thanx guys!