50" recurve- Finished pg 5

[bjansen]

I agree that would be a nice experiment  Bill. I was also thinking in addition to adding the 1" on both sides like you said, adding  .001 of taper to the stack,.  A combination of both I would expect to give a smoother draw and longer draw.  Most recurves I have seen over 50" start to add taper to the stack.

[Swissbow]

Hi bjansen,
I'm impressed. This is the perfect bow for hunting. On the picture where you draw it just looks awesome.

I'm also thinking about building a short recurve for hunting. I have already drawn some ideas but I'd like to compare with your bow. I would really appreciate if you could send me the profile of your bow.

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Andy

[bjansen]

Sure, no problem.  I sent it to your email address.  Thanks

[Swissbow]

Thanks a lot Brad.

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Andy

[Bob Barnes]

great job...now I need to make a 2 piece form for making short d/r longbows...  
thanks for sharing.
Bob

[bjansen]

Ok I made some progress on it this week.  I glued on tip overlays, overlays on the front and back..... and tonight I started to shape the handle.  I took alot of pics on the shaping process to show how I did it.  I am open to any feedback you guys have on how to do this better or different.  When I did my first recurve handle I studied pictures of all of your builds and bows over and over to try to figure out how you got a block of wood into a nice handle.  So maybe these pics may give someone else some ideas on how to start.

Here I have all of the overlays glued on (brazilian kingswood, white and brown glass).  I sanded the overlays smooth and covered them with a thin coat of superglue.  I like to do this after I am finished rough sanding because it seals the thin stuff up and also adds a bit of protections from dings and such while I finish the rest.

 

 

Next I took my template and made some rough marks.  

 

 
Then to the bandsaw to cut the shelf.  This was cut a bit past center.

 

Now I took a handsaw and cut some off the front and back as a start on the shelf radius.

 

[bjansen]

Then I take the round file and smooth the joint. This determines the depth of the shelf in the riser.  After that, I take a rough file and join the rounded groove with the rest.  

 

 

 

 

[bjansen]

Now for the shaping, cut a bit of excess off on the bandsaw first

 

Then to the osc. spindle sander

 

 

[bjansen]

 

 

[bjansen]

Now I glued on a thumbrest....
 

Feel where it should go

 

and sand it to where it needs to be

 

[bjansen]

I will draw out the general shapes that I want then take it to the sander to shape it whilre constantly re-gripping to make sure it feels right.

 

 

 

[bjansen]

 

 

[bjansen]

This is where it stands as of now.  Next I need to get the limbs ready to go. I cant wait to shoot the first arrow on this one to see how it is.  

I do think the riser is too fat..it looks a bit too funny up top I think.  I am gong back and forth on if I should take an arch out of the back of the riser above the grip...but I am hesitant to do so. I think I may just leave it as is and round it more during the final sanding.

 

 

 

[drewsbow]

looking good  

[Bob Barnes]

looking good!  The more I watch the more I know I need to make me a 2 pc r/d longbow form...and now I need an oscillating spindle sander... LOL.
Bob

[Russell S.]

I love the thumb rest i think i am going to use that idea on my next one!

[Jesse Peltan]

Looks great. I'd just suggest changing one thing.  You raduised the rest but you should also raduise the sight window.  You could also raduise the shelf a bit more. I like it when the belly side on the shelf doesn't have glass on it anymore and the back is 1/4in above my hand. This gives the best arrow clearance.  The belly side could be raduised so that the belly side of the shelf ends halfway between the grip and belly of the bow. If you decide to raduise the sight window too it will make the bow less critical of the correct spine weight.  If you're not sure what I'm talking about pm me your e-mail and I'll send you some pictures.  My computer doesn't like photobucket so I can't post the pictures here.

[Igor]

That's looking good. What is in the thumb rest?

Thanks
><>
Chief

[bjansen]

Jesse I sent you and email. I appreciate the input.  

Igor the thumb rest is just a few scraps of that white glass and Brazilian kingswood.  


I sanded more, worked on the tips and the limbs and shot it.  It shoots quite well, but I still need to do some tillering.  It is too heavy for me that is for sure...It is still 57 or 58 # @ 28.  I need to drop about 4 pounds and was thinking of thinning the limbs a bit.  Here is the tiller as is.  

 

[VRB]

You could also sand a few thousands off the belly glass to reduce weight and tweak the tiller.I think a little material off the belly side sight window and shelf would look good.Similar to the 1 piece Widow recurve.  Bill