1st BBO...The building of Halcyon

[Zradix]

Thanks
I'm thinking it'll look ok.

It is ebony..with a strip of osage between it this time.

Last time it was just solid ebony..but that was going on ipe.

I thought the osage needed more than "just a dark block" for the handle.

I almost used some ebony for the PL..but it sometimes felt brittle to me. Seemed to cut on the table saw in big chunks instead of dust too.

Just didn't feel comfortable doing it.
So I went with some walnut I had for the PL...hopefully it won't look too bad.

[Echatham]

I think ebony would have been sweet as a power lam. a nice little black accent in there.... sandwiched between lams with all the glue... I don't think you have to worry about it being brittle or something.

[Zradix]

You might be right Eric.

I'm sure it would look better than the walnut.
I'm thinking of possibly of carefully staining the walnut with ebony stain...

[Echatham]

tricky to do.

[Zradix]

yeah.
I've done some similar fine line staining before.
I normally use a small artist's brush with only a few fibers in it for the edges.

If you use a small enough amount of stain it'll bead just slightly at the glue line.

the wipe down after is the fun part...lol

...we'll see.
I'll wet the bow down with some ethanol before I try it.
Just to see what color it'll all be.

[Zradix]

Here's how it's looking...
Fades look pretty good.

The bow looks uneven in the last pic but it's really ok.
Once I got the handle pc to fit nicely the belly side wasn't quite straight up and down....so it's resting on one limb and part of the riser.
Fitting that piece is the worst part of the build for me...lol

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Echatham]

lookin good man

[John Scifres]

John,

Please don't take this the wrong way but you are killing yourself with all these extras.  Let's get some successful bows under your belt before you start adding power lams, and 3 piece handles and overlays and underlays.  They just make it so much more painful when the bow doesn't live up to your expectations, which is nearly inevitable on the first few.

If fitting the handle piece is the worst part for you then you are putting way too much effort into fitting the handle.  Focus on making the wood bend, not making it pretty.

You are going to have hard time enough working out that extra R/D you added.  You gotta walk before you run.

[Zradix]

I do appreciate the advice...and certainly won't take it the wrong way.

I thought the PL was needed or at least helps stiffen up the center so the handle isn't so likely to "pop" off.

Aside from using multiple thin slats that will bend into shape for the handle..how else can you do it?
I'm all ears my friend...fitting that thing is a pain..lol
My sander's table isn't ridged enough to use so I end up doing it by hand with a scraper and sanding block.

The 3 pc handle was a "might as well" item to do while I was waiting for a replacement boo pc to come in the mail. Heck that was a simple little deal...wish it was all that easy...lol

[Zradix]

now speaking of the r/d...

The first part of tillering this bow will be to try to get the middle 1/3 of the limbs bending correct?

Kinda want the innermost part of the limbs and the last 6-8" or so to darn near stay still until the limbs are about flat at around mid draw...right?

Then tiller a nice curve at draw.

[John Scifres]

My recommendation is to keep it simple.  I don't even know what a power lam is and I've made a bunch of BBOs.  I highly recommend Dean Torges' video "Hunting the Bamboo backed Bow".

[Echatham]

John its just to stiffen up the fades so that the handle doesn't pop off. i used it on mine just cause my ipe was only 3/8" thick to begin with, so i didn't have much room to run the fades into the ipe. got the idea from poorfolkbows.com

[Bowjunkie]

I too have made a pile of bbo bows and never put a 'power lam' in there. Never had a handle pop off either.

Isn't the extra lam used to gradually increase the limb's resistance to bending BEFORE it gets to the fades/dips? IMO, this would only be needed if the dips weren't executed in such a way as to gradually slow and then stop the bend, and/or the glue joint was inadequate.

I too also highly recommend Dean's dvd. I have one of his bbo bows, there's no 'power lam', and you can tell by the design and shape why it isn't needed.

I lent that dvd out and it never made it back home. I should buy another one. I should get another Bowyer's Edge too while I'm at it  

[Draffish]

sorry guys but im going to throw a cat in amongst the pigeons, i think a bow just look a real beauty with a power lam / accent it just says the guy put some love care into what he was doing.
i must admit i also thought it was to stop the handle popping and to give more strenght if putting a shelf in.

by the way love your bow zradix its coming along real smooth take your time and im sure this will be one to remember.   :cool:

[Echatham]

pretty isnt everything.... but it is something!

[Zradix]

can I cut some grooves into this bow as is for tillering?

Or do I need to glue on an overlay or horn to keep the boo from splintering?

...just for tillering..

Thanks!  

[Bowjunkie]

You can cut regular string grooves in it, just dont violate the back of the bow... cut into the sides and wrap them onto the belly a bit maybe, but not down into the back. Then if you decide to later, you can grind em off and glue on horn, antler, hardwood or whatever.

Before I got onto doing the horn overlays the way I do now, I made bamboo backed osage bows with no overlays whatsoever, and they worked fine. A friend has been shooting one of those bows of mine for almost ten years and while it's taken a little set, and the tips are slightly worn, they're fine structurally.

There are a few benefits to the horn, but it's not imperative that they're used. They're more durable if you tend to use your bow as a walking stick, you can file the string grooves down into the 'back' of the horn to better protect the string from wear, and they look nice... like new in fact for a long, long time.

I used to cut in temporary nocks to use throughout the tillering, nowadays I either tiller the first 8-10" with a long tillering string with leather boots on both ends, then grind the ends, put the horn on, shape em, cut in string grooves, and sand em smooth, make a short string then continue tillering... OR I'll put the horn on and finish them before I ever began bending the limbs at all. Depends on how good I feel about the bow  

[Zradix]

Thanks for the reply Bowjunkie.

I think I'll just glue some horn on tonight and eliminate some of the risks.
No good reason to take a shortcut at this point I guess.

Thanks!

[talkingcabbage]

Hey, what's up with the bow?  Got her done yet?

[LittleBen]

Regarding the power lam, it serves the same function as the wedge in a takedown limb. It's not necessary in a 1 piece, but I think it's a nice touch.

Regarding a pretty bow vs. a well tillered bow. I'd take the well tillered bow any day. With that said, I have a number of fairly roughly finished bows that are well tillered that I wish I had spent a little more time on and made a bit nicer. None of them are from my first few tries though. I probably made half a dozen before I backed one, and another half dozen before starting any fancy tricks. Now I Always try and make something pretty because I can reasonably expect that the bow will be tillered well and I wont end up heartbroken over a trashed bow.

So I'm with John on the walk before you run, at the same time, a few extra moments here and there aren't going to kill you. PLus as many of us are limited by money as well as time, if it doesn't cost too much, or take a ton of time, sometimes a little embelishment on the bow is worthwhile.

What's your plan with the width taper on the limbs? I assume since you have all that R/D, and you want the midlimb to bend more than the rest you're going to keep the limb parallel till past midlimb then taper to the nocks (maybe the last 8-10")? That'd probably be a decent plan since you'll need more width in midlimb than a pyramid shape will give you ...