Take down build- along - COMPLETED

[Shaun]

After posting my take down yew, a couple folks asked for a build-along. Well, here goes...

I have made a total of one of these before so we will be winging it just like the first one. Please feel free to chime in with better ideas, suggestions, experience and criticism as I am here to learn too.

I have met several other bowyers who - like me - picked up a sleeve type take down on a whim and had it knocking around for years. That one became the Yew Tube bow. I ordered a couple more from 3 Rivers (sponsor) and they arrived today. I got one large and one small sleeve type handle sets.

I picked out a funky but dry stave, chased a ring and then whacked it in half to represent billets. Here's the "billets" with the small sleeve set.

 

The first thing I do is take the set apart using a drift to hammer out the one brass that is all the way in. It looks like maybe the makers expect one to fit the top limb into the assembled handle and glue it in place. Fortunately, no instructions come with these sleeves, so we will not be feeling any guilt about the usual practice of ignoring the instructions. Shown here are both handle sets with the smaller one disassembled

 

My method is to fit both brass pieces to the billets, glue them up and then fasten one into the handle and fit the other for easy take down.

These take down sets consist of a steel outer tube and two brass insert tubes. They are bent into a narrow "D" shape with the flat side being the front of the handle. When I cut the stave into "billets" I did a rough lay out first and cut through the center of the handle area which is slightly below the center of this 60" stick.

Mark the end of the billets for the outline of the brass sleeves.

 

[Shaun]

Now it starts getting a little deep. How are we going to get these things to line up? I have seen some suggestions for gluing up the pieces in the assembled handle, but this seems like a recipe for a steel handled one piece to me. By using billets, we have some play in the layout after glue up and we can put the whole thing on a caul after floor tiller rough out.

So we are going to set the pieces up in a vise - 3 or 4 hands would help with this - and mark the handle.

 

Note that I have marked a center line to help with sighting the layout. And used a wedge to help line up the closer billet.

 


Using the steel tube for a template we mark the handle path.

 

[Shaun]

Here is the long view of the layout. The close end is the bottom limb and it has some real issues near the tip - we'll worry about that later.

   

From the handle layout I marked 1 3/4" long fades with 1 1/2" width at the end of the fades. Using the band saw I've cut one out in this picture.

   

A few moments with a rasp and viola!

   

[Shaun]

OK OK it was a Jet 6 x 89 rasp - I am trying to do this in a timely fashion. You can do it with hand tools and I did on the yew bow with spoke shave and Nicholson rasps.

 

Here both ends are fitted into the brass and a trial light fitting into the center handle for alignment check.

 

The brass tubes are soft and easily deformed or stretched out of shape, so its better to have a little play in the fit than to force them over an out of shape end.

They say to always use Smooth On MT-13 for this glue up and sometimes I do follow directions. Here is the set ready to glue.

 

[Shaun]

And the glued up project for a good place to stop for today. I did sand the inside of the brass pieces to cut through any oils left from manufacture and tried to eyeball align the brass pieces after buttering glue on both wood and brass.

 

[Pat B]

This is gonna be good Shaun. I started fitting a large sleeve on a set of osage billets but I didn't like the big grip. What do you think about the small compared to the large? I ended up giving the sleeve away without completing the handle fit.
  I like the idea of a take down bow so I'll pay close attention to your progress.     Pat

[Shaun]

Pat, there's not a lot of difference in size between the large and small. The large one from 3 Rivers has a stainless steel tube and the small one a standard mild steel tube. Large straight grip handles do feel a little weird if you like me are used to bulbous handles but they shoot fine - good enough for Howard Hill. I used thin deer skin on my first one and did a skived glue  lap instead of stitching to to keep it as small as possible.

[Pat B]

I do prefer a bulbous grip. I guess the round sleeve could be filled out with leather to make a bulbous grip.     Pat

[The Gopher]

this is great i've been meaning to make a take down.

Pat, are giving away anymore bow building supplies?  

[wislnwings]

Shaun this is exactly what I wanted to see.  I've got the itch to do a sleeved takedown BBO.  I assume the process would be the same?  One question comes to mind though.  When sleeving a BBO does the sleeve fit over the bamboo backing or do you rasp down through it to fit?  Forming a shelf thatthe sleeve butts up against.  

I'm also a fan of a bulbous handle and was figuring I could just build up the sleeve with leather to form one.

[bluegill]

Looks great Shaun! I met a fella at Mojam a few years ago with a bulbous grip TD. When I asked him how he built up the handle he smiled and said "Bondo". Said it was waterproof,easy to shape and remove if you are not happy with it.

[Dano]

Just great Shaun  :rolleyes:  Where were you last week when I started my first take down.    
  Nice job, I wish I had just bought the sleeves, I used an old bronze umbrella pole connection, that I crimped into an oval, works ok, or we shall see.

[NEW GUY]

Nice job Shaun.  Thanks for the pics.

[BMN]

Very nice! I'm going to be following this one with great interest. Thanks Shaun.  

[Shaun]

Back to the project. Glue sets up overnight or faster with heat. The first thing you will notice is that the brass sleeves which were a real tight fit before now don't fit at all...

 

Good thing they are brass and soft enough to file with hand tools. Carefully file and test fit then file some more. The places that are still not fitting will show up as scratches in the brass as you try to force the pieces together. File off the scratched areas and try again.

 

The top limb only needs to be able to fit in once and it can be real tight. The bottom limb that will be removable needs to fit smoothly. Take your time and only remove the marked areas. Then polish it up.

 

[Shaun]

The top limb is tight but who knows what will happen over the years so we are going to pin it in place. I drill a hole just slightly smaller than my 3/16 brass rod stock into the handle. Then drill a 3/16 hole through just the metal.

 

Pound in the brass "nail" and cut it flush, peen it and file to finish. There, that outa hold it...

 

Got the bottom limb fitting just so and polished so we add some bowl wax to keep it from sticking and assemble.

 

[Shaun]

Here is how it turned out

 

Not perfect but within correctable margin since we have not laid out the profile or bent it on a caul yet. You could come a lot closer if you spend more time fitting the brass sleeves and checking lay out.

Next step is to get it roughed out closer to shape and floor tillered so we can put it on the caul.

This was a marginal stave with some lengthwise cracks. These don't bother me much, but they do need attention and thin super glue.

 

Here is the roughed out bow ready for heating on the caul as soon as the glue in the cracks has set up.

 

[Pat B]

Coming along nicely, Shaun.  Nice work.    Pat

[Shaun]

Next it gets worked down to the point of floor tiller. To me this means the point at which it is just starting to bend evenly trough the limb.

 

 

and the troublesome bottom limb too

 

[Shaun]

And onto the caul. At this point - before substantial bending has taken place - the wood can be shaped. Once you have the limb bending and learning to bend its harder to make changes.

 

Now for the judicious application of heat via the heat gun and some grape seed oil. As the wood becomes pliable large "C" clamps are set with small wood pads to keep from denting the softened osage.

 

Here's how that twisted bottom limb tip was hopefully tamed.