Fiberglass Build Along

[Many Arrows Lost]

I have not seen too many fiberglass buildalongs and since this is a special longbow, I thought I'd slow down and share it with you all.  I'm wanting a longbow around #50 to be sold in a silent auction to benefit the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award Banquet on 2/23/06 here in Fairbanks.  This is a unique opportunity for my two life passions to come together honoring those who have paved the way in my profession with something creative from my hobbie.

My creative juices have been flowing lately and I have decided that this is the time to launch something new...a multi-wood limb veneer.  

   

The woods I have chosen are Cocobolo, Yew and Black Walnut. All three will be in the handle.  I'll have two Black Walnut tapers for a core and the veneer will be spliced Cocobolo and Yew.  The tips will be 1/16" black phenolic topped with Yew and Cocobolo.

Here's what I got done tonight:

First I spliced what I hope to become my veneer.  Being in a somewhat nostalgic mode about aviation I made my splicecut to the standards required to repair a wooden airplane spar. (For every inch of thichness the cut must travel seven inches.  My limb is 1.5 inches thick so the cut was 10.5 inches long.)

   

Here's the glue-up.

   

This is the handle glue up.  Going through the block of Cocobolo are 2 .060 strips of yew bracketing a .120 strip of Black Walnut.  Approx. 3/8" below and 1/4" above that stripe are .060 strips of Yew again.

   

I use West System marine epoxy to glue up handles.  It is easily mixed and cures in about 5 hours at room temperature.  I've built entire bows using West System but have stopped for two reasons. 1. I developed a reaction to it so that if I work with it for to long my eyes swell up.  2. I felt that if I sell a bow it should be built with more of an industry standard glue so I switched to Smooth On and heat strips.  All that said, I've never had a bow fail using West System.

   

Here are the Black Walnut tapers being ground on the taper platen in the drum sander.  

 

I'm thinking that tapers with .120 butts and .040 veneers should get me the longbow I want.  We'll see I guess.  Hopefully I can pursue this one more on Saturday.

Ken

[Crooked Stic]

This is the kind of thread I like to see. I did not know that Delta made a thickness sander. How do you like it? I am thinking of getting one.

[philil]

Very nice! Thanks a lot for sharing.
Looking forward to more!

[Buemaker]

Very interesting, waiting eagerly to see more.  Is that Delta sander accurate?  Bue--.

[arraflipper]

I use a Delta drum sander go grind tapered laminations on a platten.  It works great and is very accurate, I get to .001 to .002.  

Jim
 www.harrison-fisklongbows.com

[SteveD]

Excellent build along. Thanks

[clintopher]

I was just thinking about the lack of glass bow buildalongs.  The bug to build one has recently bit me so thanks for sharing.

Two questions...1) I assume the platen is tapered, how do you get the taper on it?  Also, since it's wood, do you check to make sure it's true everytime you use it? 2) How do you cut the arcs in your riser wood and keep it true to the mating piece?

Clint

[AkDan]

Jeez Ken, you going pro now?  That's one helluva shop!!!

[TexMex]

Great start Ken, thanks for sharing.
Question -just curious- your measurements, are they inches or milimeters?

Thanks

[Tim Younker]

This looks like it is going to be a beautiful bow I can't wait to see the finished product. Thank you for shareing this with us.

[Shakes.602]

Wow, thats about all I can say! Looks like a Beauty so far!!  

[tms]

Hey KT,

Thanks for posting.  I'll look forward to seeing the bow go together.  I appreciate you posting your taper specs.  The pros don't usually post that data for obvious reasons, and so the rest of us are left with the Bingham design.

BTW- I thought that the spec. for aircraft work was 12:1 scarfs.  That's what I used for the last one I worked on.

Tom

[Many Arrows Lost]

This is really a fun one and I'm glad to see the interest.  I really like the Delta sander.  Once you get the bed adjusted it is very accurate and actually came out of the box fairly tuned up, only minor adjustments necessary.  

The platen is made of 3/4" plywood strips cut 4" wide and glued together.  I temporarily attached tapers of hardrock maple to the bottom and ran it through the sander then removed the tapers.  I've been very pleased with the results.

Dan, I've sold a few bows but sure don't want a waiting list.  I didn't fish or hunt enough last summer. Twenty or so bows a year wouldn't be a bad idea though.

I'm pretty stoked about this bow.  I have to tell you that it is one of the greatest things I've ever done to be able present the master pilot award.  This year one of the pilots just happens to be the man who also holds Alaska Hunting Guide License #1 and still operates a lodge over on the White River.  He's 87 years old.  Another is a lady who is 93 years old and still flies although she hires a flight instructor to ride along.  She learned to fly in 1933 and flew mail in Alaska.  This bow has got to be right.  More later.

Ken

[JC]

Good on ya Ken! Can't wait to see how it turns out.

Keep yer plans open for some time in Oct down here...ya hear?

[Many Arrows Lost]

I've finally made it to lunch break!   tms, thanks for pointing my ratio error out.  I did the research and found that 10:1 to 15:1 is acceptible. It has been 15 years since I repaired a wooden wing spar and went off the top of my head with the number   .   All is not lost though as I have been considering the difference in density of the woods used so far and have decided to switch the limb veneers to Yew and Black Walnut which have more similar weight and density characteristics.  So it goes...

JC, you have been on my mind lately, hope all is well.

Ken

[Dano]

Thanks for shareing your build with us Ken, it's alot of work I know but well appreciated. I've only finished glass bow blanks, haven't gotten the bug to go all out yet. Nice work for a good cause, I love it.

[Jumper]

This is going to be one cool bow! I would have never thought of putting two different woods in the limbs like that. I look forward to seeing this one with finish on it!

If you have the time, you guys should go to   http://twoarrowstraditionalarchery.com   to see more of Kens bows. Great prices and a solid product that is pleasing to the eye to boot    

[sticshooter]

Is it done yet?<><

[Frank AK]

How much for one of you bows? I am interested in one. ( couldent find a price on your site )

[Many Arrows Lost]

Here is the update:

 

As mentioned earlier this bow has to be right with the aviation theme.  So it needed a 15:1 ratio scarf.  I pondered starting over but decided instead to put the cocobolo in the tip and put a proper scarf of 1/8" Black Walnut.  The Walnut will fill in the new gap which is 22.5" long.  This will put about 6" of Cocobolo at the tip.

 

I also got the handle cut out and feathered.

 

This is a close-up of the grip area.

A note on handles:  Once you get the fades feathered so you can see light through at least 1/4" of the very end, secure it to another piece of hardwood with the fades down to protect the feathers, unless you put it directly into a bow.  

 

In this case it may be a couple days before it gets in the form so this is how I will store it.  At this point you've got at least a couple hours work, an overnight wait for the glue to cure and 30 or 40 bucks in exotic hardwood, to lose this investment can be eyewatering.

More later, even with the scarf change I'm still on track because I worked on the bow instead of fixing my wife's minivan tonight     .

Later,

Ken