R/D glass longbow blank. .BUILD ALONG. .Finished bow PICS . . Dryad Bows

[stabow]

Wingnut, looks like you might have done that once or twice. Nice job, nice looking bow.........stabow

[wingnut]

Actually the tip and handle work is Jason's balliwick.  We had one of our customers drop by today and asked him to shoot the bow we built in the build along.  He was very pleased and surprised that we are not offering it as a finished bow.

Mike

[z-man]

wingnut, are you guys going to have a booth at the k-zoo show in January? The bows look great, would like to see them in person. It looks like I have to add another project to the list. z-man

[wingnut]

z-man,

Nope not K-zoo, we are just not ready for shows that early.  We will be at Compton though.

Mike

[Crooked Stic]

I am just waitin for the rest of the build-a-long.  

[kennym]

Lookin good Mike,really like the looks of the tips!

[T-Mac]

OK mike I'm waiting to see the site window work done. When can we see. PLEASE!!!!

[horseapple]

Heck of a bargain and a nice how to section on working the tips down, be carefull with the big sander:)

JD

[wingnut]

Ok, here we go.  Sorry about the delay but Jason's girl came up for the weekend and we didn't get to this one on the "to do" list.  LOL

First step is Layout

Strike a line on the back and sides of the bow at the center, one inch above center and three inches below.

 

 

[wingnut]

Then double and triple check that your right or left handed and then use your calipers.  We are going to mark the depth and length of the sight window.  We like to maintain about 7/8" of material on the bow when the window is complete so we mark it at .86".

 

 

Mark it on both the back and belly and extend the line up the bow about 3 inches

[wingnut]

Always mark the waste side of the line with and X or something so you know what to remove and what to leave.  Nothing like doing a great job and ending with a left hand bow when you are right handed.  LOL

We are going to use our BIG sander for the next step but you can do it with a small one or hand tools with a little time and effort.

Remove material on an angle on the back and belly to the line.

 

 

[wingnut]

carefully remove the center section until you have the area clean between the belly and back line.

Now we are going to remove the arrow pass excess material with a hacksaw.  (Do not use your bandsaw as the glass will ruin your blade)

Cut outside the lines so you have some room to work.  Remember it's easier to take it off then put it back on.

 

 

 

[wingnut]

Again we use a "power tool" in the next step but a rasp will do it slower.  Our tool is a high speed pneumatic with a carving burr.

Remove the excess wood and radius the window for and aft leaving .83" of material at the high point. (never go below .80)

 

 

 

[wingnut]

Now do the same thing to radius the shelf front and back

 

 

[wingnut]

Clean it up with the fine side of the rasp

 

 

 

[wingnut]

With the window complete it's time to move on the the grip.  We like to radius the grip edges with a round over bit on the router.  Not recommended for the faint of heart.  

 

 

[wingnut]

As we move to the grip we will use the small edge sander.  Starting on the none window side of the bow and alining with the center line remove wood top and bottom rounding to the center until you reach about 1.3 inches.

 

 

 

[wingnut]

On the window side, do the same thing being careful of the edge of the shelf.  Take it down to around 1.15".

 

 

 

 

[wingnut]

Connect the top edges of the two sides.

radius from the trough of the grip to the palm swell.

   

 

[wingnut]

Time to go to work!!  We'll finish up later this afternoon.

Mike and Jason