Yew/Glass Bow Buildalong

[fletcharrows]

A danger of working with Yew and as I have discovered, Black Walnut - a perfectly good looking piece of wood can have hollow spots that are not apparent from the outside. They are damaged spots in the wood that occurred early in its life and then are covered up by years of growth. This handle was cut from the outside of a tree and as I ground in the handle I found a hole. The hole is about 1/4" wide and 3/8" to 1/2" deep. It is the remnant of a knot. I also found a small spot of soft wood exactly next to a small knot that was very sound out at the edges of the roughed riser. I took a good sharp knife and hollowed out these holes so that all of the soft wood was removed. I left the black wood around the edge of the hole so that my patch would still look like a knot when finished. In fact the patch will look more and more like a knot as time goes on because of the wood I put into the patch mix. I put epoxy on a piece of wax paper and mixed in Yew sawdust from my bandsaw until I got a very thick paste of filler. I then carefully pack the epoxy into the holes making sure to get out all of the air that might be in there. I then put clear tape over the epoxy to add pressure and it gives me a clean flat surface to work with after it sets up. After curing, I file the excess off the patch and sand until smooth. This gives me a very reallistic looking knot without the danger of continued deterioration.
fletch
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

[fletcharrows]

As a small finishing touch - I drilled a tiny hole in the upper tip. this hole will be used to secure a string keeper on the bow. All we have to do now is finish sand and spray the bow.

fletch
 

[Ironfist_Canada]

A great buildalong Fletch.Cant wait to see the finished product. John in N.S.

[String Cutter]

Fletch, Great buildalong. How large of a bandsaw do I need? Got a small Delta Bandsaw from Home Depot that was like $100. Will this be big enough to cut with??   Thanks

[fletcharrows]

It will be big enough to cut risers and trim the bow up. I think as a hobby saw it will work. I only have a 14" 1 HP. saw and I use it to mill rough lumber. I think the quality of the blades also helps. You need to be able to cut about 3" high for the site window. Of course the shelf will need to be shaped with a file or dremel tool after the site window is roughed out.

fletch

[fletcharrows]

Well - I believe this bow is finished except for writing its details on the side and signing it. the bow came out at 66" nock to nock. It pulls 51# @ 28" and made entirely from Yew with Black glass backing. It has leather on the handle and rest and plate and a really cool flemish twist string keeper. It was fun and enjoyed showing this one off. I'm going to place it at the Vendor Depot as my first offering there.

fletch
 
 
 
 

[Jason Jelinek]

Very nice bow.  I like the black glass, but am surprised you did use clear to show the yew.  It looks like you used a 21-22" riser.  Do you have a force-draw curve?  I like to plot them on mine just to see where it starts to stack, and it only takes 4 minutes.  It ought to be pretty fast.

Jason

[fletcharrows]

Jason - The bow scales like this,
37@23
39@24
42@25
46@26
49@27
51@28
That is as close as my scale gets and should be within a pound at each measurement. Also, yes it is a 21" Riser.
fletch

[Ironfist_Canada]

Very nice work and a great buildalong .Thanks very much Fletch it has been very informative.  John in N.S.

[Dano]

Michael, it turned out great. Thanks for taking the time to share with us.

[fletcharrows]

You are more than welcome Dano. I really enjoyed taking all the picture and writing it up. I am still willing to answer questions and while I may downsize some of the pics - I have no plans to take the builalong pics down off of photobucket.

fletch

[casey]

Thanks for doing the buil along. The bow you made is in the draw weight range I like. What are the lamination thicknesses you used. I would like to reproduce the bow you made.

Thanks casey

[fletcharrows]

There are 5 lams on each side. The thick ends were about .072" tapered .001 per inch. 2 are not tapered. When photobucket chooses to be online, you can see in one pic that the bow thickness at the fades is .405".

fletch

[fletcharrows]

I was sent a note telling me that the pictures were not coming up. I checked and photobucket lost all of the pics. fortunately, I had all of them in a file and realoaded them to photobuckets server. I hope this stays together for awhile cuz I am still getting questions about building emailed to me. see ya soon

fletch

[Luke Vander Vennen]

How does it shoot?

Are those all arrow shafts in that bucket?!?!?!

[mich-mtnman]

very nice.

[LRC]

Thanks this is great!!

[Homebru]

Hey Fletch,
Thanks for the post....very informative and it's "sparked the fire" that I have.....I'm going to look into building my own bow.  I provide the following scenario and pose the following question to any of you that read this.....

If I do take the plunge and decide to build my own bow, should I consider a 1-piece (that can be made 2-piece T/D) or a 3-piece T/D?  The question really rises from the fact that I expect once I make one bow, I'll make others....many others....just trying to get opinions on what others would do.

I'd like to make something that is easily transportable (my 58" LB is too long to fit in my trunk).  That being said, I could make several LB's that are 2-piece or one riser with several sets of limbs and have one bow that does lots of things.  Thoughts?

Also, since I'm at it.....air pressure in the bow press or rubber bands to start?  Why?

Thanks in advance.
Homebru

[fletcharrows]

Hombru
Last first - air pressure is best because it is more consistent. You get a good even push at 55-60lbs per sq. inch on the ressure plates. second - I use the Dyckoff sleeve because I like the way it looks. I really like the trad style Longbow and R/D bow and the sleeve leaves the profile intact. It also adds a bit of weight to the center which takes out any kick the bow might have had. Do remember that the sleeve needs to be installed before the bow is shaped to allow for moving the tips to center. There are a few other tips so email me if you decide to try. Also - why not make all the bows you need once you start making bows. It doesn't really take any more work to make a complete bow versus a pair of limbs. There is no need for multiple limbs when you have the capability of making a bow for a specific purpose and each bow has the ability to be a new work of art.

Luke -
I make arrows - I have over 20,000 shafts somewhere in the shop. In short - Yes they are arrow shafts. The bow shoots super. I put three arrow through it to test the shelf and rest and I was impressed. Even without a nocking point, it shot right where I was looking at 15 yards.

fletch

[HACKSAW]

Thank you
My next project I hope. I will save all your pictures and instructions.

It is all the sharing here that makes the difference.
Thanks
Horace