Designing a recurve ! (Build along) KABOOOM!!!

[Trux Turning]

Mine start at 1.75 and depending on which one I'm building end up at 1.60. I don't usually do a straight taper from the fades to the tips either.

[rmorris]

Alright... I got a little bit of shop time in today so I started on the riser for this recurve I am planning on building. I am going to try an "I-beam" riser and I choose mesquite and bloodwood for the riser. This is what I got done today...

 

 

 

 

I will post more as I get it done but I think this is going to be a slow build.

[rmorris]

Alright I had to modify my lamination maker to go from 1.5" to 1.75" but I did get 12 blank laminations cut out of some bamboo flooring and I got my riser all squared up...

 

[rmorris]

Alright I feel like I was getting ahead of myself on this build so I went ahead and finished up the design. I will take this PDF down to a print shop in the morning and get it printed out in full scale. The top object is profile of the limb that I will cut out and laminate and use as a guide for cutting out my limbs, the riser pattern will act as a template and the lower profile will be the pattern for my form.

 

[fujimo]

tell us alittle more about your lam maker.
looks interresting.
watching this build with interest

[rmorris]

Just got to thinking... I use the air hose method and I am set up for 1.5" wide longbows. Has anyone had success in using the longbow hose for the wider recurve form? It is only 1/4" bigger so I don't think it should matter too much...

[rmorris]

Alright, I  made it back out to the shop today and got some more work done on this recurve.

I went down to the local print shop and got my plans printed out full size.

 

I then cut out the shape for the form and cut a piece of corrian to size for my template.

 

After I attached the template to the corrian, I then cut out the corrian with the band saw.

 

[rmorris]

I then did some finishing work on the corrian template with some sandpaper to make sure I have a nice flat surface where the limb will overlap the riser and also took out all the major imperfections .
 

I then transfered the template to the LVL and also cut it out on the band saw with about a 1/8" extra.

 

 

I then used the router with a flush/ trim bit to match the form to the template.

 .

[rmorris]

I did not get the form finished , but here is where I left off. I plan on getting back to it Thursday.

 

[Buemaker]

Looking good so far, but the suspense is killing us. How about taking a couple of weeks off from your studies so you can finish it. Bue--.        

[Sharpend60]

Looks great.
I've made a hand full of self bows, now I'm think of trying my hand at a FG recurve.

BTW
I'm also in New Mexico.
We aught to gather up a group and have a Pow Wow.

[rmorris]

Alright I did some random work today on building my first recurve. I finished my bamboo .001/in taper sled for a 1.75" laminations.

 

I fadiddled with my wedge maker to allow it to make 1.75" wide wedges.

 

I also took that print out of the riser and taped it to my riser so I could start to finalize my riser design. I like how the back of the riser looked so I cut that out and I will be playing around the next few days to finalize the belly side of the riser.

 

By the way this bow is my first recurve and sort of a test bow so I am attempting to use as much scrap wood as I can to make it. Currently the riser is mesquite and bloodwood with a bubinga overlay on the back of the riser and the wedges will be padauk. I am thinking bamboo and black glass for the limbs.

[scottm]

Looking great!keep us posted!

[jess stuart]

Can't go wrong with black glass and bubinga, great combination.  Looks like a winner for sure.

[coaster500]

Nice Ralph...  I like the palm swell on the riser, looks real comfortable and a good sized sight window. I shoot longbows and can't get used to the massive risers on most 3pc curves. Yours looks like it will be lean and mean!!!

[BenBow]

Looking good!

[Dan Landis]

I really like to look of your riser, nice clean lines.  Your attention to detail is amazing.  Looking forward to seeing it all finished up....Dan

[rmorris]

Alright, so I had some free time today to work on the riser... I now wish I would have called a few buddys over, drink some beer and play on the slackline.
 I decided I would cut the riser shape out close to what it looked like in the previous pictures and after cutting the top portion out I realized that was a huge mistake! It only lift me just over 1.2" of thickness on the riser ( I am surprised I did not cut into the double threaded insert). Here are some pictures on how disproportional this riser now looks but I think I will be able to fix it with some luck...

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I think I am going to sand it off to the black line I drew in the first picture and then glue on a few layers of 1/8" strips to get it back to operating thickness.

[damascusdave]

Not sure why I am forwarding this picture of the riser on my Jon Gharing built bow, but I hope that it may give you an idea for the build up of yours.

I once handed this bow to a fellow in a motorcycle shop, he looked at the contour of the riser and pointed out something about the design that made it special (wish I could remember what he said). When I asked him if he was an engineer he got a funny look on his face and asked me how I knew that. I replied that once before I handed a bow to a guy who immediately noticed the i-beam construction, and he turned out to be an engineer.

BTW the materials in this riser are macassar ebony and the stripe is padauk. The limbs are static tip , bamboo under clear glass.

Hope you find this useful or at least interesting.

DDave

[rmorris]

Dave, that is a great looking riser! I dont know if that will help me salvage my riser but it does give me some great ideas for the final "ascetics" shaping. Thanks for the great picture.