First bow is coming along....

[snag]

Well there it is, starting to look like a bow! This weekend we will laminate the overlays and the tip laminations and saw out the shelf.

[snag]

Just another view of the "master craftsman" at work...yeah, right!!!  When I get instruction from Steve on how to do a process on a machine he makes it look so effortless...then I try it and it is like I still have training wheels on...not ready to ride with the big boys yet! Sure is fun trying though. Having lots of fun. Don't want it to end...hmmm, what wood do I want to try in the next bow?!!!  

[BMN]

The bow looks great so far. The bolivian rosewood is sweet! What do you have planned for the overlays?

[Surewood Bob]

You are right about Steve being a perfectionist,
but that helps make him a good bow builder. I have known Steve for ... well to long I guess. We
are both getting a little "long in the tooth" you
might say.He's retired and I should be,but that's
another story. Steve has built bows for me and I
also have had the pleasure of building a couple at
his shop. When he dies I think Peggy should turn it into an art studio. I followed the construction
last summer and believe me nothing was spared or
held back(NICE SHOP)Bottom line is Steve is just
now about ready to start selling bows although he
has been perfecting his bow making skills for many
years now and his bows now are looking as good as
they have always performed. Steve, your welcome for the free add and maybe some day you can repay
the favor. Really though, Steve has given away many bows to our local club here in Oregon and
helped many guys like David and myself build them
in his shop for little or no profit. Anxious to see the finished product...a new "Savage Blaster"

Bob M.

[Oregon Okie]

Hey David, how did you get steve up on that chair to take that pic of you on the sander. I think that might be a safety violation.
For sure Bob. Also, with a name like SAVAGE you know the bows are going to be deadly.
Snag, we should take a pic of the ebony bow that steve just made and put it on here.. Of course that takes the shine off of ours.      
hey, it's like a mini-TAO meeting on here.

[snag]

BMN, the face overlays will be bubinga/myrtlewood,then the same bolivian rosewood on top. The limb tips will be white glass, bol.rosewood and then gaboon ebony on top.

That is one thing I like about working with Steve as a teacher, he is a perfectionist. All the steps have been explained and shown to me by him. We don't move on until it is down as well as possible.
 
Bob, you are so right. Steve has been very generous in sharing his shop and his knowledge. He is a very good bowyer!!! Like I stated before, if I was in the market for a bow I would buy one from him...no doubt! I love his work and the design of the recurve he builds. I remember attending the first or second club meeting in your building. He brought in a couple of his bows he had built. As I gripped one I thought, "now this is how a recurve grip is suppose to be!" Fit like a glove. I was thinking of buying it...until I saw it was a little low in poundage. Shortly after that I started building one in his shop.
I need to come up with another name for this model of bow though...Savage Blaster?  How about
    "SS" designed by Steve Savage    (SS=Super Slayer)

[Surewood Bob]

David, good thought on a name. We have kidded Steve about the name of his bows in the past,
but all in good fun. You are a business man
with some knowledge of marketing so maybe you
could help the poor old fella out. His son, Riley
paid for a web page for him a few years ago, but
Steve wasn't ready to go then. Maybe there is a
professional web builder out there who could
work out some sort of a trade with Steve? Just
thinkin out loud.

[snag]

A man who works for me does websites. I'll have to talk with Steve about this. Can't wait to put a Surewood douglas fir arrow through this bow!

[snag]

Here is the tiller clamp that Steve had made up. It is screwed onto the limb tips BEFORE tapering and shaping the limbs. The limbs are 2" wide at this time. I screwed them on and then strung the bow up. Placing the bow face down on the floor you lift slowly up on the string until the string is off the limbs only. All the while you are watching for limb twist and how the string travel is. If there is some twist in the limbs and the string doesn't travel straight up and down you need to unstring the bow and loosen the clamps and move them slightly, 1/16" to the opposite side of where the limbs twist to. Screw them tight and restring and check again. Keep doing this until the string travel is good and no limb twist. I got lucky, or rather because Steve was helping me, there wasn't much adjustment needed. Then you scribe lines in the belly of the limb where the edges of the clamp are and where the string contacted the limb. The clamp edges will be the diameter or the tips!

[snag]

[Mounter]

That rosewood does look sweet!!!!!

[snag]

Mounter, I like it too. The tips and face overlay were glued on yesterday. Tonight I'll take it out of the hotbox and start shaping the tips. The tips will be gaboon ebony, bol. rosewood, and white glass. Can't wait to see how it's going to look once it starts getting shaped!

[snag]

Last night we cut my bow IN HALF!!!    Actually I cut out the window and shelf and trimmed the tips down. Then "hogged out" a lot of wood to start getting the contours in the riser. Still a lot of wood left to take out. But it's starting to look like a bow more and more!  

[snag]

[snag]

[snag]

I was so tentative in grinding wood off not having done this before. Also I am trying to think what the bow will look like and how to take wood off to get there...rookie. Steve just grabs the bow and instructs me to do this...as he grinds away effortlessly. I think he could do it in his sleep! Pretty cool to watch him.

[Oregon Okie]

There you go.. starting to take shape now. It's going to be pretty. I took mine off slow too. Thought I was done several times and then would go back into it. I'm still eyeballing mine and thinking I make take a little here or there.

[Apex Predator]

That's looking great!  Love the rosewood!

[snag]

So Russ, when do you say "I'm there, that's it, no more filing and sanding"?

Thanks AP, I have often appreciated the bows you make and post on here. You are a skilled bowyer!

[Oregon Okie]

after about the third time you think you are done.