Need advice on handle...

[hova]

ok so heres the new work in progress...

 
so far im basing it off of sams build along ...guy at the lumber mill said its white oak , but the end was marked "qtr RO" , so i dont know if they just messed up , but there's no red to it like the last board...


 
this is the end grain. tips are 1/2" wide , hardly any early growth. the other end is a little slanted , and a tad bit smaller , but its not too bad. ill get a pic if anyone thinks it could be an issue...


 
heres my proposed handle , its not currently in the right location , as this was 78" long , and i lopped about 10" off , as it would have been sitting on the ground when she gripped it...

the handle curve is about 4" , as thats as short as i could do it , and still fit my hand.

my dilemma comes from this...
 

some reason i had a brain fart , and thought i could chop two 2" pieces off , for overlays , then cut 8" off of that... i messed up and measured two 2" pieces , and measures the 8" piece from the first mark , so its actually 6". With a 4" handle area , and a 6" riser , obviously this only leaves me with 1" fades , if im lucky.  This isnt going to be a heavy weight bow , maybe 30# , but i need some advice on either shaping the handle as it is , with no riser , or using the riser piece i have.

Otherwise i need to wait till payday and pick up a piece of hickory (its what the next one will be , for me of course) .

I'm not a big fan of the riser look , and the wife has small hands , so i was half tempted to just use the pieces that would be cut out , and glued to the front and back , a'la 4est's build along...


Anyways , i'm rambling , so let me know what y'all think...

-hov

[Loren Holland]

IMO, 1 inch isn's enough fade and you be in danger of seperating the riser from the board.  ofcourse if you sand down from the edge of the riser, making your fade extend into the board itself like Sam shows this will help too.  i would just use a different piece of wood for the riser, it doesn't have to be from the same board.  another idea (if you want to incorporate a piece of the same board to color match) would be to get your length from some accent color pieces and then glue on the 4 inchs as the top layer, that way as you sand shape the 4 inches will be enough and the top layer of the grip and rest area will tie into the bow color wise.

[hova]

I haven't quite figured out how i plan to shape the limbs and all , as I figured i'd need to get the riser figured out before i mess with shaping the limbs.  i wasnt sure if sams bow actually put the fade into the limb , or if that was just a bevel on the sides. im not sure if i like the way sams goes into the limbs like that , as this is only my second attempt.

i was thinking the same thing , as far as finding a material for an intermediate piece... i knew a guy that used to carve corian , and said it acted similar to wood , but he wasnt using it for bows. i thought about using some green corian for tip overlays , and trying to find a piece for a handle , but havent had much luck online.

im not against using a different piece or a different wood , so i may look into that.

the more i think about it , i dont think im ready to try taking the fades into the limbs , as this will be for the wife , and i want to keep the handle as foolproof as i can. sams ethod leaves a lot of room for me to screw up.

come to think of it , has anyone ever used acrylic or plexiglass as a sort of laminate layer?

[hova]

also , i had laid it out , so that most of the handle was actually below center , if you can see in the pictures.  i figure it would help to not have to mess with tillering it to make up for handle placement being dead center.

i was planning on using a leather shelf and striker , but the more i think about the handle design i have , i wonder if using a shelf , with the curve the way it is , if i would have to straighten one of the curves to give a bit of room....


im sure ill have a million more questions , thanks for putting up with all of them...

-hov

[Rick Enos]

I've built a couple of these board bows but I use red oak.If my pics. turn out you can see what I do.They seem to work fine.I back all my Red oak bows.I'll put 2 pics on of bows with dry wall tape backing.3 layers seems to work.etch the entire back of the bow with hacksaw blade & apply drywall tape, cover each layer with titebondIII glue.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Pictures didn't turn out the way I had hoped.I fist mark the center of my 70" board 35".Measure 5" out from the center point on both sides,This gives you a 10" handle-In that 10" middle is where I glue on a 10" handle piece--Then measure out 15" from the handle on both sides--Then I measure another 15" taper from that point to the tips 1/2" on both sides.This will give you a begining.I thought this would be easy to explain but I confused my self.

[hova]

my setup is layed out similar , i have 15" tapers from the tips in , and the handle is about what you have there , i just wasnt sure if i needed a riser/handle piece if i was barely taking anything out of the sides of the handle are , but after holding a few pieces of firewood that were shaped different ways , im going to try to find either a short piece of white oak , or something that strikes me...

the lumber yard had blocks of exotics pretty cheap , but they all seemed to be about 4x4x2 , so those would only be useful for tips. im not sure if they have the exotics in other sizes.


like i said , its going to be relatively light , im shooting for about 30# , so i didnt know if the added handle material was absolutely necessary...


im not planning on any backing either...not a big fan of the looks of anything but wood....