first bow need some guidance

[ordcorpdw]

Awesome! Thank you ...........I take it flat is bad.

[ordcorpdw]

I don't know if I can post where I bought the "skin" but if you want ill send you a private message. So not too bad for my first bow? Def a learning experience. Actual string expected to be here this week. Hopefully I'm close enough I won't have to adjust much from what I was using to tiller with.

[Roy from Pa]

Flat is not bad, but it's not what you want, and it means you are still safe and can remove more wood from where it is flat and have the whole bow looking like a nice quarter moon.. You are doing well and you are close, just remove wood "slowly" where it is flat and pretty soon your whole bow will have a nice gentle arc..

[ordcorpdw]

Thanks Roy from pa.I appreciate your knowledge.  I stared at that thing till my eyes were bugging out. I can see it now.

[Roy from Pa]

It's a lot easier to take pictures, then study them. You can see much more than when in the heat of the battle.
Make sure you exercise the bow at least 30 times after every time you remove wood.


Your welcome Dave.. Roy

[ordcorpdw]

Ok thought I was happy with it......lack of edumacation on bow building...now to those flat spots. I hear the word scrape a lot. Is it really a cute little scrape or shaving removing thin curls of material? I just don't see much much going on with a scrape. In my terms.....ouch I just scraped my knee or dear mother of pearl I have shaved six inches of flesh off my knee, gonna need stitches. Somewhere in between maybe?

[DVSHUNTER]

Scraping is just what it sounds like. Making little curls with a scraper or anything like one.  You can use almost anything that will make a curl when you drag it accross wood.

[ordcorpdw]

Cool I have just the tool. What is sick is I am already hunting for materials for another.......sick sick sick. Since I did this one with nothing other than hand tools I'm kinda hoping for maybe a band saw for Christmas.

[soopernate]

I made my scraper from an old butcher knife I got at goodwill for about a buck and a half. Just about any thin steel works..I have a few old bandsaw blades around too that make good scrapers.

[ordcorpdw]

Wow I still can't wrap my mind around a knife blade scraping wood from an oak board. Just strung it up and got it to brace height.....probably put the cart before the horse but had to try it out. Shoots so nice...

[soopernate]

I dont know where I got that idea myself but I ground the blade edge flat by holding its edge on a belt sander and then burnished the edge like Dean Torges suggested doing and walla...I have a nice handle to hold on one side for a good grip and my hands dont get tired.  It takes whisper thin slices of wood off a stave and leaves behind a nice shiny almost sanded surface

[Nim-rod]

Yea send me a PM where you got the fake skins and how much they were.
I use a folding knife that I carry often to scrape my bows. When I get real close I sometimes use a Razor from a utility knife because it is nice and flat. Does not take much off but it does keep the belly flat and not much sanding required after.