Robert Carter's new hog slayer!

[Apex Predator]

I've been really looking forward to building a bow for RC!  I am building this one with an osage and zebra riser, bamboo cores, and red elm limb faces.  He wants something in the 52-53@27 range.  I'm building this one 66" NTN, but he will be real happy if it comes in shorter at 64".  I cut the riser one inch shorter, hoping I have to pike it to 64" to make weight.  I will know tomorrow, if all goes well.  

Here is the riser block, the finished riser, and all my lams layed out.  I sand the two lams together to create a matching bevel on the ends for gluing them together.  Here the three full length ones are glued and being held down by two riser blocks.  

 

 

 

 

 

[TNstickn]

 Love your builds Marty!!

[PV]

Nice fades Marty!. Just put osage and zebra overlays on a bow. Great combo.

[bjansen]

Looks Great Apex...that riser is nice...is this going to be a straight longbow

[kennym]

   

[Apex Predator]

Yep!  This is another straight one.  I am building 8 straight ones to every curvy one.


Alright folks, here's the next installment!

Tonight I cleaned up the lams.  The glued joints needed sanding, and the splinters on the edges needed taking care of.  If you get a splinter under your glass during lay-up you will invent new words.  Something like "horse feathers", or worse!

After the lam edges are sanded and dusted real well, I like to tape the smooth side of the glass to keep off unwanted epoxy boogers during glue up.  Then I lay all the parts in the proper order on the form, clamp the riser down with a c-clamp, and put my pressure strips on top.  

This is one of the most important steps, so pay attention!  This is the time to pick the prettiest sides of your lams that are gonna show under the glass.  Also look really close at your glass.  Clear glass is really bad now a days.  If you find a streak or worse, lay it up where it will be cut out from your final bow profile.  When my pressure strips are layed on top, I put pressure on the fades to see how they press the lams into the fades.  If they aren't applying quite the perfect pressure, now is the time to tweak the bend so that it applies the pressure just right.  My pressure 1 1/2" strips are made of 1/16" aluminum with rubber on the contact surface.  I also have glued a 1 1/4" pvc lattice to the top to avoid the center raising after applying pressure to the edges.  I keep the whole pressure strip wrapped in plastic wrap to keep glue off of it.  You want no gap here at all!  I then wrap it with two rubber strips for each limb.  If all looks good then I am ready for glue-up prep!

Here is the whole works with two rubber clamping strips on each limb.

 

Here is are two close-ups of the riser fades and what your should have on the dry run.

 

 

This is one of my most used tools in the shop.  You need to check every lam for actual vs. ordered specification.  Record all your lam thicknesses in your bow building log book.  That way you will know what thickness to order the next ones.

 

I was planning to glue this one up in the a.m. before work, but discovered that I was short a couple of rubber strip clamps.  I had to throw a couple away last time.  If you keep the epoxy off of them, they last a long time.  I will have to stop off by the bike shop tomorrow and pick up a couple of inner tubes.  I will share how I make my clamping strips then.

[Apex Predator]

The second to last photo shows the very end of the fadeout.  The line marks the end of the riser.  This is where you should have no gaps at all.

[TNstickn]

   :cool:    

[ChristopherO]

Marty,
Thanks for the build along.  
I suspect you already have your riser glued up as tight as it looks in the dry run.  Is that correct?

[Apex Predator]

The two wood riser is glued up, but the rest is not.

[Apex Predator]

Yesterday I picked up some more bike inner-tubes.  Last night I cut them into clamping strips.  The first one was rather fat, and made three strips.  Here are a few photos of the tube, before and after.

 

 

 

Here are my lams all cleaned with acetone and laid out in order.

 

Here is my form with plastic wrap over the top in four layers.  I rotate my alignment washers so that they are just above the surface of the form here.  I will spread the smooth-on with the lam right on the form to the second side of the lam.  I apply it with my little ipe stirring stick, and spread it out with a 1” wall paper seam roller.  Works really well for me.

 

I measure smooth-on in two separate cups in equal amounts.  There is about 4 oz of each part.

 

[Apex Predator]

I then lay everything up, being careful to make sure no debris make it into the epoxy as I go along.  After the whole stack is in place, I rotate the washers into the highest position and fold the plastic wrap over the whole bow.  I am careful to leave it a little loose around the edges to catch the squeezed out epoxy.  If it’s too tight, the squeeze out will rupture and leak epoxy all over your rubber strips and form.  It will happen occasionally anyway, but didn’t this time.  You can see a lot of rubber here.  There are 6 strips on each limb, and twice as many on the fades as anywhere else.

 

 

 

Next step is to tuck everything in for the night!  This thermometer is the reading after about one hour.  It normally takes about 1.5 hours to get up to the final temp, which is around 170 degrees.

 

 

 

[Apex Predator]

This morning I was like a little kid at Christmas!    Here you can see the glue boogers that make the plastic wrap bulge out around the form.  Without the plastic wrap, it can take hours to separate the bow from the form.  With this set-up it takes me just a few minutes.  Yeah, I can hear many asking if I need to use so much epoxy!  It let’s me sleep better at night knowing I have enough!  I use this tool quite often, and is perfect for knocking off a few glue boogers.  It’s  ½” X 18” belt sander that I bought at Big Lots for $30!

 

 

 

After getting her out of the form, I use my band-saw to cut off most of the epoxy on the edge.  Then I take it to my 6X48 belt sander for the rest.  After the sides are fairly straight and true, I run it through my table saw with carbide blade.  I will run the straightest side through against the fence, and just rotate sides until I get the whole blank down to my desired width.  In this case, one and one quarter inch.  Now it’s time to pull the tape.  It’s starting to look like a bow now!  That red elm is classy looking, and goes really well with the osage and zebra.

 

 

 

[bjansen]

Man that bow looks sharp...excellent build along Apex...Thos epics sure would have answered alot of my building questions when I first started.  Looks great!  I am going to have to try the innertubes.  Thanks!!!!!

[madness522]

Excellent build along Marty!  I like watching your creations!!

[Scout Two Feathers]

Apex, I should come down to Bwk. and let you show me how you do it, I used to live down there. My mom and some of the family still do.
TF

[ChristopherO]

You've become a fine craftsman on those bows, Marty.

[TNstickn]

[Apex Predator]

Last night I built some overlays.  I epoxied them together with smooth-on and cooked them last night for three hours at 170 deg.  I decided to go with black linen phenolic and osage.  I think it will look great with the osage and black accent line in the riser.

 

This morning before work I cut the shelf and shaped the riser.  Just before I had to get ready for work, I laminated them on the bow and put the heat lamps to them.  Timer set for three hours at around 140 deg.

 

 

 

This one is cut 1/8" from center.

 

[BMN]

Really great stuff Marty! Thanks for sharing.