Getting my feet wet/ finally some bow build pics

[Don Batten]

Ive built a few selfbows over the years but never tried a glass lam before. After seeing some of the build alongs on here I kinda got the itch to try. Well I met up with Ruddy(aka broketooth) and he gave me a firehose, form brackets, drum sanders, smoothon, and 3 sets of bigham plans. I put them in my shop and said " I'll get to it sometime. Well last saturday I got a call from my buddy John Dill (Kanati Quivers) and he was cleaning up his shop and said "come up and I'll give you some stuff". I went over and what he gave me was: 3 forms, about 30pcs of 3'black glass (.040) a stack of tapered actionwood laminations a 4x6 pc of honey locust about 6 feet long, several riser blocks of action wood, purple heart etc. a box of overlay material and two easton redline shafts that he had borrowed to test. they were robinhooded of course. (LOL). Well , with all this free stuff at hand and a freshly clean up shop, I'm setting out to try my hand at building one. I have a well stocked shop with bandsaw,tablesaw,jointer,spraybooth, duplacarver. Iv'e built a few guitars and mandolins so I got a good feel for working with wood. I guess I'll go for it and see what happens. I been takeing pictures and will post some as I go along. wish me luck. Don

[kennym]

I'll bet you do great!! Keep us posted ..

Pics????

[broketooth]

man i cant wait to see what you come up with don. i'll bet it will be great  

[Don Batten]

Kenny, I'll keep you posted. got alot of good ideas off your site.
 
Ruddy, thanks man.

No bow pics but here's the last two mandolins I built. these were in the finishing stage at the time.
 
 
 
 
At least there's no binding or scrolls on bows, that a pain in the butt. and you can see by the pics I'm not that good at it. DB

[Don Batten]

Well after several dry runs I finally glued up my first longbow this afternoon. It's in the oven now. I been takeing a few pics along and if it turns out, I'll get them on.
Had a time getting the fadeouts to be thin enough. When I'd pump up the hose, I could see daylight at that point. I sanded and sanded and finally did a mock glue up and put some wedges under the firehose. that seemed to take care of it, but I know there must be a problem with my form or riser fades. I'll keep in touch. Don

[Lewis Brookshire III]

Don, I play Guitar and Mandolin as well. My 8 year old son is learning to play now. Those are some GORGEOUS Mandolins you make there!!!

Do you have a website??

[LC]

If you build mandolins like that I'm sure you'll do just fine building lam bows. Nice work.

[razorsharptokill]

Man if you can build musical instruments you can build any bow you want I'd think!

[Colt]

Don,

I love bluegrass. Those are gorgeous mandolins.

[Don Batten]

I got my first out of the oven and am in the process of cleaning it up and glueing on handle overlays. It's off a form that was given to me by John Dill. It's kinda a cross between a 21st century and Mike Treadway. I got a few pointers from Ben Graham at a 3d shoot yesterday. Ive been takeing a few pic along and plan to post them when I get a string on it. Thanks for the coments on the mandos. I don't have a website. It's just a phase I went though a couple years ago. I got 3 more started and hanging out in my shop. more later. Don

[Don Batten]

been on this off and on for couple of weeks now. First thing I did was build an oven. got the thermostat from broketooth(thanks Ruddy).
 

This is the form I got from John Dill. He used C clamps on it but since Ruddy had given me a firehose and brackets, I decided to make a top for it and try that method.
 
This next pic is the top with the pressure strip and firehose inflated.
 
When i did my mock glueup I had a hellava time getting the gaps tight at the fadeouts. I'd take it apart and sand and sand. This weekend I was talking to Ben Graham (hummingbird bows) about my project. after telling him a few particulars, he said " your pressure stip is too thick. John used clamps and the stip is 1/4" alum. Ben said go with a thinner strip with the firehose. Next one I will for sure. Don

[Don Batten]

Here's a few more goodies I got from John.

 
center section of the riser is brown action wood. here I'm sanding the fadeouts.
 
After several dryruns I glued it up. I used actionwood lams, and used a bow close to the weight I wanted to measure limb thickness to come up with a recipe . Here it is after the top of the form is off.
 
off the form. Looks kinda rad to me at this point.
 
more to follow

[broketooth]

hey don, great pics keep goin this is gonna be a great build-a-long

[Don Batten]

Cleaned up the glue a bit on the handle area. Then I cut some riser overlays. Kinda going on trial and error here, as I have no bow here to go by.
 
glue up of the overlays with guitar clamps.
 
clamps off. looks like a gooey mess.
 

[Dano]

Keep up the good work, I love to watch you guy's glue these up.

[Don Batten]

Cut the sight window. this stuff is tough on bandsaw blades. gonna have to spring for some carbide i guess.
   
I decided to cut nocks and put a string on this beast before I spent alot of time on the riser. I figured if It's gonna blow I'd rather it blow now. I stung it up at a high bace height (shortest string I had) and it looked fairly good. tiller at fade outs was almost perfect(even I shoot 3 under). I put it on my tiller board and pulled it a few times. Limbs looked to be bending even. I think my scale is off. I was unhappy when It only registered about 40lbs at 28. then I weighed 4 bows and they all weigh around 8 lbs less than marked. guess I shouldn't have left the scales out in the rain all year. If this is correct my scales are around 8 lbs light and this bow should pull , Im guessing,around 45+-. the tiller board is visible in the pic. Its at the top left over the air compressor. I use it when I make self bows. works really good. have a pulley and rope and graph on the plywood. Don

 

[Don Batten]

working on the handle.

 
back of the handle area in progress.

These last two are the last two I took tonight. been working on the grip and sight window. working around the shelf is proving to be a slow go. (any tips ?) I probaly won't work on it any more this week. Need to get ready for the NC state shoot in Hickory this weedend. I have learned alot already though. It's kinda like my dad told me when he turned me lose with my own frameing crew, many years ago. You learn a whole lot more by screwing up and haveing to fix it, than someone telling you how to do it. Thanks for looking. Don
 
 

[broketooth]

wow don , you took alot of pics , very cool build-a-long! oh by the way, its lookin great  

[John Dill]

Holy Sh#$%^&#$T.......Man that thing looks awesome!!!!! You did your homework and it shows. Glad the form has been put to good use!!!! I can't wait to shoot your creation. Just in case you start taking orders......52 lbs. at 28 64 AMO Black Micarta riser with red accents and bocote lams under clear glasss for limbs. Call me for the wait time(LOL)

[kennym]

Lookin great Don!!