Jan. 27 Update - Cutting in the Shelf
I got a real early start this morning and my shooting student was delayed as his trip involved a ferry, so I got a lot done. I got the shelf cut in and all of the mouse sanding done. All that's left is the hand sanding to prepare the wood and glass for finish. The next set of pix really will be the final pix in this presentation.
I cut the shelf with these rasps and files. It's really hard to find a quality round rasp of a good diameter. This one came from Italy via a lot of searching on the internet. The long square file has one edge ground "safe" on my knife grinder, so that I can file a selected surface without damaging the one next to it. The big rasp is not the famous Nicholson, but one I found that was much less expensive and has proven fully adequate.
For this operation I mount my gunstock vice on the bench, again using one of the dog holes. Note the support blocks. These live under the bench and can be arranged to provide support for a variety of operations. Here, they solve a problem that resulted from a mistake on my part. I dished the riser too soon. I should have waited till after this operation so that the riser still had two flat sides. With the dish, much of the contact surface was gone and it wasn't too stable in the vice. With the support, I could grip the riser relatively lightly and still cut with the rasps.
Always cut toward the center of the bow, cutting only on the inward stroke. It's not a big problem on the wood, but if you try to cut on an outward stoke on the glass, you'll pull fibers from the glass. Go slow or you can get chatter marks in the wood. Here I have started the shelf cut with the round rasp on the wood, just below the end of the glass, then turned the bow around to cut the glass side in.
The glass side has been cut in. I leave a very slight crown to the work, so that the arrow will have minimal wood contact. The shelf has now essentially been established and only has to be cleaned out to final shape.
The lengthening of the sight window is accomplished with the big rasp. Here I've tipped the rasp up so you can see the cutting surface. This is actually the fine side! This rasp is used very carefully and slowly, with little pressure, essentially letting its weight do the cutting.
The sight window has been opened up and what is left is to clean up and shape the edges and the bottom, fully establishing the crown on what will be the side plate. Cleanup is also needed in the bottom corner where the shelf joins the sight window.
I used a narrow round file to clean up the inside edge, then used the square file with the safe edge to add a gentle arc to the surface of the shelf, again so that the arrow will have minimal surface contact. The shelf is 1/4" deep plus or minus depending on how the work goes.
This whole process took just over half an hour.
Next step is to sand the riser and the limb edges with the mouse sander, starting with 50 grit on the edges to round them from their square profile to a curve or angle in from both back and belly. I normally do a bit more of this limb shaping than I did on this bow since, as you will remember, I am trying to lose as little draw weight as I can. Sanding proceeds with 80, then 120 and finally 150 grit pads. When on the 80 grit, I use the mouse to shape up the tips and make them attractive. Note the support block clamped in the end vice. This give you a more solid approach to the limb edges and prevents the limb from picking up the sander vibrations and rattling against the bench top, which reduces the effectiveness of the sander and is also annoying.
Next step is the hand sanding, which will start with 150 grit paper, going over the riser and the glass, to take off the glass's protective glaze so that the finish will adhere. Additional hand sanding will go through 180 to 300 grit papers. Two coats of finish will be applied and rubbed out, then the lettering will be put on, then two more coats of finish. Next set of pix will be the finished bow, ready to be shipped.
Dick
Topic: Dick's Bow Swap Build - Part 2 - Final Pix Added - Page 4 (Read 2047 times)
