TG BOW SWAP 2011 (pics and post)

[Mark Smeltzer]

Thanks Keenan and LuLyn,
I'm glad you like it. I had a good time making it. I must admit though it's a bit nerve wracking making a bow that is going to Keenan or his lovely wife, I've seen many of Keenans bow and they are amoung the best.

Thanks Greg, now to get your bow into your hands.
Soon I promise.

Mark

[hova]

Let me start by sayin , that this is without a doubt the best forum on the net.It is a true gentlemans (women not excluded by any means) forum. I swear less since i have joined , i judge much less , and i have learned that you never know what youre capable of , until you try.


On that note , heres my fathers day gift . one whole hour of no interruptions to get as much done as i could on my log. i was hoping to have it a little close to floor tiller or even looking like a bow , but the osage laughed at my efforts with a rasp. the drawknife was getting a little bite-y , so until i can secure the stave , im on hold. the bright side , im going to my father in laws , and im going to see if he'll let me borrow his clamp.


Heres the pics.

heres where i started today.  the centerline and the two next to it are the only ones that matter.
 

heres about midlimb area
 

heres a knot...
 

here she is up against the neighbors vinyl fence. i think if i could find it , i would love to have and osage picket fence. just osage and tru oil. . .
 

our buddy...
 

the other side of one. ill probably tiller through this.

 

profile/twist. im sure a tiny bit of heat will get most of  this out. HF heatgun might just be my fathers day present to **** ********...

 


so i still need to get my thickness down and get her bending , but its close. i was sitting on it before , and i had to stop cause i can feel it giving a little. so if you shoot a 251# bow , ill string it and send it!


sorry for all the pics , they might be a little over 640x480...my feet were probably dirty too...

-hov


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edit

heres the one i said i would tiller through. the picture up top is the front , obviously. here it is on the side/belly area...
 

sorry for the edit , i was accidentally clicking things on PB , and got messed up.

end
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[b.glass]

Who ever gets Steve's bow is in for a real treat! John saw the bow that Steve made for me last year, so just ask him.

[KellyG]

Hova I would say take Joe's advice about keeping the pie shape on the osage. I did not know or think about it and my belly was a lot wider then my back on one limb and it took me some time to get it filed down. that is the only thing I would say. You are coming along pretty good. I better get a move on and get mine closer to being done.

[red hill]

Your welcome, Roy. I noticed that you shoot it a heck of a lot better than I did! And I will seek out advice on using bamboo.
Stan  

[hova]

kelly : i havent seen what joe says. we're off to the inlaws , so ill bbl.

the bow does have a bit of natural trapping that i was planning on leaving. i dont know if it was from splitting or me working it down , but its kind of like...   /~~~~\\    the narrow end being the back.


keep at it fellers! im getting a burr on my scraper and some gloves....

[John Scifres]

Got the finish on my bow today.  Handle wrap, a little ink, and some pics and then she's on her way to .......

Probably be midweek.

[Inuumarue]

Doh.... looks like I'm starting over again. Misread my checklist and tillered to 15# under the desired weight. Gonna have to kick myself for the rest of the week over this one.

Adam

[KellyG]

Outstanding John hope to see some pics soon.

Inuumarue sorry to hear about that you still got plenty of time unless you build bows as slow as I do.

[vanillabear?]

[jsweka]

Originally posted by vanillabear?:
I was thinkin about starting a bow today, but then I realized that it was only the 19th.....I guess I should probably let the board season a while longer. Maybe I'll just have a nap and see if I can dream up a bow.

 

My father use to say my motto was "Never do today what you can put off till tomorrow."

[b.glass]

I did a second heat treatment on my trade bow tonight. I need to make a string just for it so I can get it to full brace height.

It is a fully trapped, pecan, bend in the handle mollie with osage tip overlays and about 1.5" of reflex before this second treatment. Close to two inches wide and 56" long. I plan to put rattle snake skins on the back and stain the trapped sides with a local plant the Indians use to use called Bloodroot. I may heat treat it one more time before I'm done.

[eagleone]

hickory backed ipe with a bloodwood powerlam and zebra handle and tips.  I glued the tips on tonite - now the tricky part - finishing the tiller - my last r/d gave me fits sooooooooooo...........

 

I glued up another one today just to be safe
Bamboo backed ipe- bloodwood powerlam and cocobolo riser.  I just lifted the tips a little on this one.  Sorry about the mess-

[Goose Gossett]

I'd say that's the most organized mess I've seen in a long time eagle... if you call that "mess" I would hate to hear what you would call my place.

[WestTexan]

Real nice bows everyone....I put well over a 100 shots through mine yesterday morning and it was still 90deg.No way in the evening to shoot a bow here it's still a 100 at dark.I put 80 shots through it today and it puts them right were I'm lookin. Ruined one arrow yesterday and popped off one knocks. Killed another 3 knocks today...I gotta send it off before I ruin the rest..lol
Yesterday
 
Today
 
Kelly I'll let you know when it ships,Last week the wife had a lens replacement on her right eye and this week it's the left so that will be 3 days on the road.

[Inuumarue]

Well.. went through my (rather small) stash and it seems I'm down to my last hickory backing.  Guess I'll send her through the drum sander tomorrow and hit the ground running.  Here's to deadlines!

Adam

[red hill]

Nice bow, Eagle, I agree with Goose on the mess...    What mess?
Good shootin', West Texan. Hope the wife's surgery goes well. My bud is having that done this summer also.
Stan

[KellyG]

eagleone nice start you got there looking good.

WestTexan thanks nice shooter and I guess we need to add disclaimer stating we are not responsible for the knocks that get shoot off by any bow in this trade.
Better luck Inuumarue

[jess stuart]

Eagle I really like the apparatus you use to clamp you limb tip overlays on with.  Nice looking bow someone will be real happy.

[canopyboy]

Yesterday was going well.  (Nothing good ever starts with "was".)  Had it on the short string and up to about 20" of draw @ 5# below weight.  Bending very nice.  I then I thought I heard something:

 

And being as we're up against the right side of the schedule already, I thought I'd try to fix it.  I was able to get the failure out and make what I think would have been a good scarfed repair.  I figured I'd just leave the smooth-on to dry for long enough at room temp instead of getting the oven out again.  But then I figured I should at least add some heat:

 

But then I figured I'd do even better if I put a blanket over the whole thing.  I stayed there in the shop because I was a little concerned about fire hazard, but nothing ever started smoking.  I left the plastic mixing spoon in there as a cure indicator.  Well, 500 watts and a blanket make for something that was a bit too hot.  The plastic spoon was shriveled up into a little ball with hardened epoxy on the end.  The joint looked good.  Unfortunately the original lamination outside the clamped area separated in the heat.

So tonight we start over.  In hindsight I'm not that happy with how I ground my boo backing.  I had the edges feathering to nothing at a 2" width before glue-up, but the center definitely varied in thickness and became apparent when the bow was trimmed to shape.  The area of the fracture was where the boo was noticeably thickest.  I had a hard time believing people who said your backing could overpower your belly, but now I can't think of what else to point to.

Because of the impending deadline, I think I'm going to try again with the ipe/boo combo (but mill both sides of the boo this time - to heck with the nodes), but I'm also going to work on a hickory self bow as a backup to the backup.  

I hope I don't end up with any college all-nighter flashbacks in the near future.