A bow for Caroline / finished pics

[Swissbow]

After I finished my first recurve my daughter Caroline also wanted to have one like that. She asked me to build her a 'real' bow. As soon as I got the actionwood from Kenny she was really giving me a hard time. So here we go...

First we start with cutting out the riser...

 

... work it with the rasp...

 

... and the drum sander...

 

... until it perfectly fits the bow form.

 

That's all for today, there will be more soon. It was a real pleasure to work with Caroline, she wanted to do everything by herself and I had to give her only very little guidance and help.

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Andy

[kennym]

Looks like a good bowyer in progress, Andy!

Nice to see young folks interested and kudos on the safety equipment!  

[red hill]

Tremendous post!
Stan

[Roy from Pa]

Very nice.

[Robertfishes]

awesome!

[Brent Hill]

Very Cool.  Makes all of us dads happy to see that.  Thanks for sharing.

[timbuckII]

Great to see the enthusiasm, look forward to seeing the progress.

 TBKII

[DVSHUNTER]

awesome! That has to be a proud parent moment.

[Swissbow]

Ok, here we go again. Before we finish the fades of the riser piece we will prepare the glass and the lams. Caroline is covering the glass with masking tape, to prevent them from scratching...

 

... after that it's time to grind the splice on the lams...

 

... and glue them together with CA superglue...

 

Tomorrow we will glue it  up... d:-D

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Andy

[Moen]

Cool. Homemade spindle sander, Andy? Fun to see kids with healthy hobbies. My son who is 12 years old, follows me like a shadow when I'm in the shop ...

[Pennsyltuckey pete]

That is GREAT~  I wish I had gotten started that young.

pete

[SoNevada Archer]

Very nice to see a young person willing to work with her Dad...wish my kids would have been more willing. Way to go!

[Pete W]

Good as it gets.    
 That will be a special bow for many reasons for both of you.
 well done Caroline, and Dad

 Pete

[Swissbow]

Ok, here is the next episode. First Caroline is grinding the fades of the riser on the drum sander. With a piece of wood she supports the h a fades, so they can't break off.

 

the result is looking good... :-)

 

Now we lay out all the lams and the glass, clean them with acetone and we are ready for glue up...

 

First we laminate the camo strip to the back glass. Apply a lot of epoxy and make sure that the linen is completely soaked with it...

 

... and now we laminate the rest of the bow together...

 

... apply the rubber bands...

 

... and it's done !

 

Yeah, gimme five ! Apply a few more rubber bands and all we can do now is wait.

I really love those moments with Caroline. It's is great if you can share your passion with the ones you love.

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Andy

[scottm]

Looking great!Good job Caroline, and Dad!

[Swissbow]

Took it off the form today and had a quick look at the camo and the lams. It's glued up nicely, the glue lines look good and there are no bubbles under the glass.

Caroline wanted a 'Safari'-style bow, so we added a leopard camo under the back glass.

 

Together with the desert camo riser and the honey locust lams on the belly this is really a lovely wood combo...

 

Caroline already wanted to continue with the bow but I had to remind her not to forget school and homework...

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Andy

[Swissbow]

Today I sanded the limbs of the bow. Since I didn't want to expose Caroline to the glass dust ( not even with a good dust mask... ) I did this afternoon while she was at school. Cleaned off all the excess glue...

 

After that I started to sand the limbs. It's coming along nicely, the draw weight is still a few pounds to heavy for her but with all the sanding that lies ahead that's just fine.

 

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Andy

[walkabout]

awesome man, thats gonna be a great bow for her. wish my son was that interested in the process,lol.

[ChristopherO]

That is so good for the two of you.  A project you will never forget.  
Great looking bow so far, too.

[Swissbow]

Thanks guys for the kind words. Caroline and I really enjoy our bow project so far. But now I have a problem that is the lower limb has a slight twist. I have tried to get rid of it by sanding the edge of the limb but it didn't work. I have also checked the form and it's in perfect right angle, but I still have that twist. Are there other ways of correcting that ? Is it possible to bend back the limb by applying some heat with hot water or maybe a heat gun ?

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Andy