Laminated all Wood bow & matching turkey box call

[Osagetree]

See,,, for several years now, I have made turkey calls of different types. I gave some of them to hunting buddy's and sold a lot of them as well. But, there is that one call that had a special magic to it. Probably because it is made of Osage, walnut and wild cherry. All the wood was cut here in Ohio where I hunt. And, besides I made the call!

Anyway's, now that I have the selfbow thing down pretty well, I thought I would try something else this year. The thought was to build a laminated all wood bow to match the turkey call I like so well, you know from the same wood's.                
   

Here is a sketch of my idea. Some of the wood is already cut. Look at the pic's and you should be able to make out my idea.


       

     

[ky boy]

i think you ought to make a box call made into the bow , that would be great. can ya do it ?? , ky

[Osagetree]

[the Ferret]

I think 1 3/4" is too wide for the materials used. I'd go 1 1/2" at most.

Should be pretty.

[ky boy]

thats exactly what i was thinkin about slate over a knot hole ! i think it would work , ky

[DCM]

He wants 70# (@ 28" I presume) Mickey.  Time he gets the glue line cleaned up he'll be 1 5/8".  Not far off for that much bow, reckon?

[the Ferret]

True David..the 70# didn't register with me (it never does above 55# ha h...I just can't imagine that much weight.) Anyhow I was just thinking 1 3/4" for a hick backed osage seemed like a lot of wood, but your right unless he want's THICK limbs he's going to have to spread it out a bit.

[Osagetree]

DCM & Ferret, keep on thinking about this. I need all the advice I can get.
My Dad always said "Listen to My advice! Wether you take it or not." That is what I plan to do here.

I have no experience with laminating wooden bow's, please remember this is new to me and I no nothing except bits and pieces from I've learned from conversations read here at "Tradgang". From there I get my owm idea of how I am going to get it done.

I believe some of you may have gotten the idea that a turkey call is some how going to be built into the bow. Wrong!    

 It is intended to match a special box call I made. Both bow and call made of the same wood's, cut local here in Southern, Ohio.

Let me just take a pic of the call and that will clear it up,,, maybe!

Here is the call
   

The paddle is laminated osage,wildcherry & walnut. One wildcherry sound board and one osage sound board.The blocks are half walnut and half osage and it has a walnut base. If you dont know box calls that may be french to ya! But you should still get the idea.

[longbowhntr]

Nice looking call!! If it sounds half as well as it looks ...        

Quick question.. How different are the sounds from the sound boards? Does one have a higher pitch?

I've been thinking about trying to make some of those. Just what I need one more thing to make.lol

Thanks David

[Osagetree]

Longbowhntr, This call sounds better than it looks! It called 2 toms in last spring,,, my wife missed the first one and I missed the second one.

     

The osage does have a little higher pitch than the wild cherry. The osage, clucks, purrs and putts great! Maybe because the osage is more dense wood? I made a box call totaly out of osage, but traded it for more wood.It sounded really good!

I would like to see a pic of your call if you get a round to it! I plan on posting more on this project so stay tuned.

[longbowhntr]

Thanks for the info and looking forward to more .

David

[Osagetree]

Okay, this is the form I made today after work. This is my own design if you can't tell.      
I don't even know if this will work!
Frame is made from scrape wood, nails and used tractor tire tubes. Total cost $0.00   It is 62" long with 1 3/4" reflex, holes are drilled to slide nails through to hold the rubber strips, rubber alternating sides 1" apart.
The idea is to strech the rubber up and over the bow wood laminates and impale it on the other sharp end of the nail to hold rubber band taught. Thus avoiding a loan for c-clamps    

Stay Tuned for more on this project!
All comments are welcome and are respected!

[Osagetree]

 I can't believe you all have had nothing to say of this contraption.
It will probably be Monday before I can glue all this up!

[cjones]

I'm wondering if the bands will be enough pressure? I'm not sure as i haven't mad a lam bow ethier. Very nice looking call. Where in Ohio are ya?

[DCM]

Well my momma used to say, if you ain't go nothin nice to say...

Not to be critical but I am curious how the impaling will work.  I'm hoping it doesn't tear the rubber.  

I know a wrap will work, and apply plenty of pressure.  I've used bands a lot but always wrapped.  Rubber has a limited amount of stretch.  If you pull it tight to this limit, you'll have a ton of pressure.  I cut my bands a smidge more narrow than that (with truck tubes, bike tubes can be wide) for wrapping and it seems to work well.

Also, I like my slat to be 1/2" or so thick, 9/16" tops.  Looks from here like that one is proud of that some.  

I think the idea in general is a dandy.  Curious to see how the rubbers work.

[Osagetree]

CJONES- I live in South Point, Ohio.

DCM- Could you describe this wrapping method you use in more detail? Please!

[Osagetree]

Forgot to mention,,, being critical is fine with me,,, feel free!

Had my hand wrapped under it at one point ,,, Felt like enough pressure but what do I know?

The impailing will be fine when that side of tube is doubled up.

[Osagetree]

Rough layout on the hickory backing,,, getting it down to size for glue up in the form. Then, with a belt sander, I will finish the edges to the lines after glue up.
   
       

Using the hickory to draw outline on osage slat.
       

Cutting it just outside the lines,, I can take off wood quick with the band saw, but I can't get it back on there, so I leave it outside the lines.
         

Close enough for me            
       

 
The handle on my layout is 4" with 1 & 1/2" fades! I want to leave the handle area thick and shape it last,,, Undecided on handle style!  

Maybe something like the last self bow I built, sort of a hybrid style,, so to speak.

Here is a picture of that handle, see what I mean?
 

[Osagetree]

I am going to glue it up in the form that I made from scrap wood!
   

Get every thing close to hand. I don't know how quick this glue will set up.
   

Mix up the URAC 185, and use a sponge brush to apply the glue
   

Glue up both sides,,, maybe a little to much? But I say that's better than not enough!
   

I thought this old wood roller I got from my Great Grand Father may help even out the glue line a bit,
   

Center the osage core and hickory backing and clamp it down in the middle to hold it steady. I used a layer of seran wrap between the clamps and glue. This will help to keep it from getting to messy.
   

[Osagetree]

At the clamp in the handle area of the bow blank, I started wrapping each limb from the center out to the tips,
   

Alternating limbs about every three or four bands that I wrap over the bow to keep the pressure and limbs uniform.
 

Laying a rubber stip under the last two or three to pull down over the tips and make sure there is good contact,
   

I was not finshed until I took a thin strip of wood (sort of like a pressure strip) some ace bandages and placed two clamps over blocks of thin cedar just to increase the pressure a bit more.
   

I could only get the shop up to 60 degrees so I took it in the house for a couple days to cure.

       To be continued!