First bow Project

[ChrisM]

Well gonna make my first bow.  Its going to be a Yew bow with hickory baking in the american longbow style.  Getting the Yew from Fujimo and the hickory from Pine Hollow.  The wood has not arrived yet however I have been doing some prep.  Here is what I have so far.  This is the glue up of my form.  Ignore my clutter as this is a working barn.
  Need to cut out my profile.

I have not decided on if I want the bow to bend in the handle or have a thicker rigid one.  I go back and forth every day.  This is a piece of Osage that I got out of a barn.  It was split all to hell but was able to cut out a large enough piece to make several handle laminations.
 
I have little experience in Osage so just for education sakes does this piece have too much early wood?
 
All I know is that is some dang hard wood with tons of weight to it.
Will add more as I proceed and welcome any advice.
Chris

[gorillabows]

Im no expert, but if it is for the handle, Im not sure if the "early wood" would matter.....please somebody confirm this.

Im looking forward to seeing the rest of your project.

[ChrisM]

Yea I figure the early wood won't matter here.  That question is just for future reference when I build a Osage bow.

[fujimo]

i would say a lot of early wood- tougher to chase a ring.
if you wait until the wood gets there( i know thats hard to do!!) but i did send cardboard templates of a mild r/d bow form and for the reflex form that i use- and you can build that reflex to bend thru the handle or not. Roy from PA, had a nice instructive text on fitting the handles to his bows, after the shape was glued in- ask him!!
whichever way you go- you will have fun.
 cheers

[ChrisM]

Yea Fujimo I figured after some asking and playing with some form shapes that I will just have to wait until it gets here.  In the mean time I have made myself a string jig and ordered some B50 to make a tillering string.  Tomorrow I will make a tillering board.  Then I think I will be ready to move when the wood and template arrives.

[Roy from Pa]

Your going to need a lot of clamps. You might want to clamp the form and bow to that table edge when you glue it up. Depends on how much reflex you induce, the bow wood could cause your form to bend up, resulting in you losing some reflex. Note my form below, it's 1 inch thick oak with 1 inch angle iron bolted to both long edges. You will want to pad the Hickory backing with something so the clamps don't indent the surface of it. I would use Unibond800 for the glue up, Three Rivers sells it. You should trace out your bows profile on the Hickory backing before you glue it to the yew. Glue it up and let it sit somewhere at 70 degrees for at least 24 hours. Don't cut it out yet. You then want a riser piece about 12 inches long and as wide as your bows handle section after glue up. Find the center of the bows handle and center the riser section on that. Lay the riser section on it's side and lay the bow on it's side on top of the riser piece. Trace out the shape of the bow onto the riser and cut that out. Rasp or sand to insure a nice tight even fit. Glue it on and wait another 24 hours at 70 degrees, Then cut the bow out.

   

 

   

[ChrisM]

I have a lot of clamps but the form will be turned up on end and after I get the profile I plan on attaching some angle Iron to it to keep it running true.  I will be using rubberbands during the glue up.

[Roy from Pa]

Good deal then, keep us up to date with pictures.

[ChrisM]

Well still waiting on my Yew.  Got my Hickory.  So in the mean time I learned how to make my own strings.  I couldn't stand paying for a Tiller string what it would cost for the material to make tons of em.  First one was a bust but second attempt and an OK string was made.  That second loop is kicking my hide.  Well here it is on my Wesley special.  20 shots and it didn't blow.  
 
 House 40yds behind, First Trad kill 30 yards in the timber in front.

[So-Mo Archer]

String looks good Chris! Prettier than my first try! That osage for the handle looks good, provided you go with a stiff riser. Good luck on the bow, it is an addiction once you start! Keep us posted.

[KellyG]

chris,

I have never messed with yew is there a reason you want to back it with hickory? From what I have read yew does not need a backing.

Kelly

[ChrisM]

Kelly the Yew I am getting is just a yew board.  No Sap wood.  It is cheaper and I don't have to worry so much about chasing grains and such.  I just figured that any variable I could take out would be better at this point.  Also putting a back set in would be easier instead of haveing to heat it.

[fujimo]

hi Chris
the wood should have been there by now.
i will track it on my end here today.

on tillering strings, i like to make them really long with a loop on one end and i tie a bowyers hitch on the other.
 that allows me to adjust the length as i tiller, as one wants to get off the long string as quickly as possible, as that will skew your tillering.
i like to serve a very long center section, so the string is protected through all lengths.
i make it with about 14 or 16 b50 strings.
there will be lots of other good advice here.

[Roy from Pa]

Yup on the bowyers knot, if ya don't know how to tie it Chris, just do a search on you tube.

[ChrisM]

Is a bowyers knot the same as a timber hitch?

[Roy from Pa]

Yes.

[ChrisM]

Had some time this morning so I started rough sanding my Hickory backing.  Got this piece from pine hollow.  
There is some grain run out on one end but most will be taken out when I cut it down to width and length.
 
Here you can see 1/2 or bow over 72" of lenght.  I think that I can take some of this out when I chase the grain run out and reduce the width .
 
It comes back in line really easy so during the glue up it will easily be trued back up.  Just wondering if it would be benifical to due some mild tillering of this piece independent of the whole bow.

[hickorystyk]

Roy, what order do you apply the clamps on your form?  The ones over the bases first, then all the individual clamps?  Will smooth on work on this as well?  I'm used to using a heat box but I really like this form.

[ChrisM]

Still moving forward.  My Yew came in the mail and it looks good to me.  I am almost done with the form.  I used a template that came with the Yew for a backset.  It is cut out and almost ready.  Had to use some wood puddy on the surface since my router chattered a little, so tommorrow I will palm sand it a bit, true it up and will be ready for my glue up.  No picks yet.

[ChrisM]

Ok here is an update.
This is the completed form ready to go.
 
Top is the Yew and the bottom is the Hickory.
 
And Finally the glued up bow.
 
Now just to wait to see if it comes out right.