Oliver Stacy's Cumberland build-a-long! FINISHED

[Oliverstacy]

Looking good!  Is something cooking?

Wow are the Cherry limbs going to look nice!

Josh

[Apex Predator]

Time for lay-up!

Here is my method for glue-up, which I don't think I've shared much of.  It's really hard to take photos cause you are covered with epoxy!  Don't really want to ruin my camera.  Here you see the smooth-on all mixed up, a 1" wallpaper seam roller, and a wooden stick.  I dab the epoxy down the lam and then roll it out with the roller.  Works well for me.

 

 

 

After the roller, I eye-ball the whole lam looking for this, a dry spot!  Can't have those.

 

After all the bottom lams are buttered and stacked, I butter the riser bottom and clamp it on top of the stack.  I make sure the center is indexed to my form.

 

Check out this cherry with smooth-on applied.  This is close to what it will look like under the glass.

 

[Apex Predator]

Now I fold the plastic wrap over the bow from each side and secure the whole works with a couple of wraps of electrical tape.  I'm careful here not to trap any plastic wrap between the lams.

 

 

Next I place the pressure strips on top and start wrapping bicycle innertube clamps.  I use lots of rubber here folks!  About 7 strips per side.  A typical bike tube will yeild 2-3 strips depending on the diameter of the tube.  I pay special attention to the fadeouts here.

 

Then I set up my oven.  It's a simple affair, but works great!  During the colder months I will use four 100W bulbs.  When it's warmer, like now, I use four 75W bulbs.  My timer is a $6 job from Lowes.  I want 140-160 degrees here for around five hours to set the smooth-on epoxy.  My cover is made of pvc and plastic/foil water heater insulation.

 

 

 

Medium-rare beef is what we are shooting for!     It takes about an hour to get up to full temperature.

 

[Oliverstacy]

That cook'n smells good to me!

Awesome!!!

Josh

[kennym]

That cherry looks real good Marty!! As does your work!  

[Apex Predator]

This morning I took her out of the form.  Here is the blank with all the excess epoxy on the sides.  I've always been one to use too much, but I sleep good after putting one in the oven.  It only takes an hour, or even less to clean it up.  First the bandsaw, then the belt sander.

 

 

 

My favorite part of bow building is cleaning up the blank and peeling the tape!  This one looks really good.  Perfect glue lines and zero air bubbles under the glass.

I'm really liking the wood combos Josh chose!

 

 

 

 

[SteveD]

Wow Marty. That looks great. Perfect glue joints.

[juneauhunt]

I'm drooling over that combo! And that riser is some kinda' fine. Go slow now, so I can savor every upcoming moment.

[soopernate]

CHA CHING....that rise is money. I have got to get ahold of some ebony soon.

[Oliverstacy]

Marty…when you posted the picture of that Cherry limbed bow last fall I was just sucked in!

It is all that I was looking for and much more, glad I went with the Ebony as it should be amazing when sprayed!  The lines are flawless and the limbs just came alive under the glass.

Josh

[Shaun]

That is one sweet glue up - the fades are inspirational. You have set the standard high for quality. Thanks for showing us how.

[Apex Predator]

Next step is to mark the center of the riser. I use my fancy centering jig here to mark the center of the riser.  Then I stretch a line that bi-sects the center, then mark the tip centers.

 

 

 

Then I mark the top of the limbs 3" outside the fades, and make marks on either side of the tip centers for a 5/8" wide tip.   I draw a straight lines from mark to mark.

 

Then I take it to the belt sander and take the limbs down to the line.  After sanding there will be small fiberglass splinters on the edges, so be careful handling the bow.

 

I then take another little jig I made and make lines parallel to the limb edges on the last 10" of limb.  I then taper the last 10" down to these lines at the tips, until my tips just fit in my nock groove line drawing jig.  Lot's of jigs huh?

 

 

 

[Apex Predator]

I draw my lines with the little line jig in place, and then I cut shallow grooves.  I progress through the grooves with three tools in order.  I start with a tiny jewlers triangle file, then to the tile saw blade, and finally the chainsaw file.  The three steps allows me to make any needed corrections each time I move up to the bigger tool.

 

This lady now gets her first stringing!  Alignment looks good, the bottom limb is just a little stiffer, and she draws 65@29.  Perfect for this stage of the game.  I want her to be around 8# over my target draw weight, cause there is limb timing, tiller, and limb narrowing ahead.

 

Here she is with a little too low of brace.  Need to find a little shorter string before I continue.

 

Now its time to build my overlays.  I use my belt/spindle combo sander for this.  The fence I use is square to the sandpaper.  I thin pieces of osage and ebony for the overlays.

 

 

 

I will laminate the overlays on tonight.

[Jason Scott]

There is no doubt that if I were in the market to buy a bow I would buy from you.

[Teagus]

I was wondering about the secondary taper the last 10". At first I thought you were going to trap the last 10". Curious why not a straight taper from the 3" past fade? I'm thinkin it's about tip bend?

Mike

[Apex Predator]

It will, for all practical purposes, be a straight taper before I am done.  I like to start wide and work into the final limb profile in case I have any twist issues.  Still a good bit of limb width to reduce.  I have eight pounds to go!

[Teagus]

Marty,
 When you make tip overlays, considering if you want some overlay material remaining in the bottom of the string groove, and considering the loop diameter of a served three-lay 15 strand string, do you have a minimum target thickness of your total overlay? I just finished overlays on recurve tips consisting of .030 wht. glass/.030 blk glass/.060 bubinga. Looks great but wish I had gone thicker.

Mike

[Apex Predator]

I normally shoot for around .200 for the total overlay.

[Oliverstacy]

Marty...looks great!

It will be FF approved correct?

Josh

[Apex Predator]

Yes it will Josh.