Wanna make a bow form?........

[kennym]

OK guys,its 10 degrees here and sposed to be 30-35 mph wind today,don't think I can get my shop warm so I'm trapped in the house!        

[kennym]

Pretty swoopy,eh...  Now to make the template for cuttin the form with a router. I like to cut with a router because the edge of the form is really square with the side which is very important so the limbs don't twist.

 

I set my slidin square off the router in the pic above,then square off the profile line on the form that distance(from edge of bit to edge of router base)and make a series of dots. The template is for one half the bow(for identical limbs, do one limb and flip template to other end for the other)+ 2" over the center line of the form so ya have room to rout to center without gougin the form!!    

 

 

[kennym]

Heres the template marked out,just connect the dots,then I bandsawed the template shape to 1/8" from the mark. Then its off to the belt and disc sander,also a little with a sanding block,get the template to a really smooth radius and ya dont have to sand the form .Easier to sand 1/4" masonite than 1 1/2" of hard plywood!!!    

 

[kennym]

Heres a step I hadn't used before,bandsawing the form 1/8" from where the router runs,really made it easier to cut with the router,gives the chips a place to go!

 

Now to the fun part,actually routing the form shape....  The template is used on both ends of the bow,I left 2" over the center of the form so you can run the router just past center without runnin out of template and makin a big gouge in the form. After ya do 1 half,unclamp the template and flip to the other end and run that end with the router.

 

[Osagetree]

Good stuff,,, thanks for taking the time. I know alot of guy's are watching this one!

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Great idea using a router Kenny....How much are you figuring for your air hose? Kirk

[kennym]

The form is done as ya can see by this pic,got all the hardware,hose for clamping the bow to glue it up,all done up!I leave 1 1/4" between form pieces when I put the hardware on for the firehose clamp system.
 

 

[Osagetree]

Is a pressure strip for the hose and a heat box required for this?

If so,,, Why do you need to use a heat box?

[SOS]

One other way of doing it if you don't have a big router that will handle 1 1/2" is to make the form to your liking on one 3/4" inch piece, cut and glue the second piece with a little extra, then use a contour following router bit to match the other half. Then it goes from this:

 

To this:

 

Can't wait to see the rest of it Kenny!

[kennym]

You can copy a bow you really like or design your own(very time consuming and can be $$$$)
 This particular form had one bow off it,didn't think it was what I was after,so I gave it away and started over. Recut the form twice and it got too narrow so I had to start over.................

[kennym]

OT,I use the metal pressure strip,its sposed to give more even pressure when ya clamp.don't guess you have to use a heat box with smoothon,but its habit. Fred Asbell(Bighorn Bows) said epoxy would fail above the temp it was cured at so I heat....??

Steve,bandsawing the form made all the diff on routing,when the chips can fly its easy!!

[kennym]

Heck,I'll just go on with the bow outta this form...........

Bandsawed and ground the riser to shape ,a couple of the lams were only 36" so I beveled them and superglued them into 1 piece,thats whats clamped to the table in the next pic. From the left,the form,2- .060" red elm,2-.040" black glass(covered w/masking tape),1- .050" S.A. lam, 1-.090"  S.A. taper(.002 per inch),oh yeah the riser is that skinny piece of walnut layin there in the middle of it all(gets a big overlay on the glass on the string side,the belly of the bow) The plastic wrap is to keep all the glue off the form,also waxed the bottom piece ,shoulda done the top but out of wax....

 

The glue,Smooth-on epoxy,a 2-part heat cured epoxy

 

[kennym]

Here everything is glued up,sorry no pics of that,I was quite busy by myself!! Laid all the lams with the riser sandwiched in on the form,taped the lams down to make it easier to get the top 1/2 of the form on,hadda use a pipe clamp to squeeze things a bit to get the bolts in. Tightened the bolts up ,aired up the firehose a little,checked to see everything stayed where it was sposed to,aired to 75#,and put her in the oven to cure the epoxy!!

 


Got er outta the oven and ground the excess glue off the limb edges,here we check the limbs to see if the ends line up with the center.They did!    
 

[kennym]

Then I glued the piece on the belly for the handle section,also with smoothon and back in the hotbox....

And heres the riser section roughed out

 

OK worked on her again ,glued a piece of osage on the front of the grip,found some stuff I ain't real happy with,but heres what she looks like now....
 

As you can see in the above pic,the string is very near the limb ends,translates into more noise when shot. Also the limb tips don't unroll completely into a smooth arc when drawn,but then it ain't a longbow,more of a hybrid.... still workin on that. It does seem to shoot fairly fast and hard with my 525 grain carbons. I put more of a recurve grip on it,figured I could take it off,but its harder to put back on!! Heres a few more pics,plannin somethin different on the finish,but you gotta wait to see that!
 

 

 

[kennym]

OK folks,here is the next to the last thing I'm gonna do cept for shootin the heck out of it!!Sorry these pics are horizontal,bad camera work!! This pic is showin all her slender curves
 

Now for some details......................
 
 
 
 
Now then,I hate the black limbs, they show up terribly when huntin and after all,that is the reason I make bows,right? So--I'M GONNA PAINT HER!!!

[kennym]

Well,the sun is shinin,almost 13 degrees,may have to try to warm the shop up!!  

[BUCK-EYE]

Great pic`s Ken. The weather here is the same. I`m doing a longbow, and today is a good day to get alot done on it.    Keep up with the pic`s. Don

[Osagetree]

The osage one the back makes the bow, IMHO!

Don't paint the osage!!!!

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Good stuff Kenny!....i'm getting a pretty good pile of bow forms stacking up myself... i'm going to try and design a air form you can put "inserts" into your form to alter reflex /deflex and optional risers. this is for those seriously addicted bow builders who just aren't willing to let "well enough alone" if you get my drift.... Here is a photo of a hybrid form i used with an insert to build a youth bow.
This is what gave me the idea.....I mean really....how many bow forms does a guy need? I've got 4 pairs in my first year and am building more again...

You have to look closely to see the bow in the form and the insert i used around the tiny black walnut riser. the form was designed for the hybrid standing in front....this is the bow that was still in the clamps below
 


Didn't mean to hijack your tread bro....i just wanted to share something along the same line...Kirk

[kennym]

Good idea Kirk,seems like the Bingham recurve form had a deal similar to that. Hadn't thought anymore about it really. Now you've done it,I'm thinkin again..........