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

[Canadabowyer]

Mike and Jason, this is great!!! Keep it coming. Thank you so much for sharing your knoledge and skill!!!!!   Bob

[tmccall]

Hellooooo...  It's afternoon already...

[wingnut]

Hello, we just finished work.  If you could convince these customers waiting for bows that I should be on the computer instead of building their bow, well we'd be done but broke.  LOL

Gotta get dinner on the stove and then we can wrap it up.

Mike

[elk ninja]

Mike,
Just curious what length do you make your tips?
Tip overlay length?:
Length from string groove to tip?:
Thanks,
Mike

[wingnut]

Mike the tips are two inches, overlays the same, groove is 1" down.

Mike

[Crooked Stic]

Lookin good guys. I am liking this thread.

[Keefer]

O.K.  I just told my wife I need a new power sander, a router table, a bandsaw, some calibers, more rasps, all different sizes of sanding paper and an air compressor....Total $4000.00 but I told her the blank is only $250.00 and I would save money by buying the blank.....You think she would fall for it? She said " Didn''t you just get a bamboo bowblank a year or so ago" ? Now I gotta go to the bowaholic counsling class's guys and have to turn in my credit card and give her all my paychecks and she gave me timeout from Tradgang again. Thanks alot Fellas ! Keefers <")))><

[wingnut]

Sorry guys I forgot about the game.  We'll get-r-done in the morning.

Mike

P.S. you really can do it with hand tools.

[wingnut]

Ok, we are back.  Where were we?

Oh yeah, time to layout the rest of the grip.

Draw the 4" line on both sides of the riser


 


And on the belly side of the handle

 

 

[wingnut]

We use a 3" pvc piece to do an arc for the transition base of the grip.  Connecting the belly and back lines.

 

Draw the shape you want for the finished handle on the back and belly

 

 

[wingnut]

Now it's back to the power rasp (big sander) to remove more wood. Radius the handle on the belly towards the back leaving it thicker in the middle while takeing the material off down to the belly line.  Do the same on the other belly side of the handle removing the same amount of wood.

   

   

   

 

[wingnut]

Now on the back of the bow, follow our lines radiusing towards the center.

 

 

[wingnut]

Now like working a puzzle it's time to connect the dots and see what we have.  Smooth the corners between our cuts leaving the roundness of the handle.  This is probably best done with a rasp.

 

 

 

[wingnut]

We now have the roughed in grip ready for smoothing and sanding.  You can make small changes at this time to fit your hand.

 

 

 

 

 

[wingnut]

Smooth the lines and radius with a fine rasp and the "flexible rasp"

 

 

 

 

[wingnut]

Do the same to smooth the areas of the window.

 

 

 

[Drew]

Mike this is an great project! I'm following it close!

[wingnut]

turn the bow over and do the same on the back side.

 

 

 

 

[wingnut]

Now the back side of the window.

   

   

   

   

[wingnut]

Time to blend the handle overlay into the limbs.  Use your rasp and only hit the overlay. DO NOT DIG INTO THE GLASS.

 

 

Your bow is ready to string and shoot.  We will do sanding and finishing in a couple of days.