St Jude Auction Bows are Underway

[Dan Bonner]

As Promised to the winers Horneshooter & Whitehat I am posting a buildalong on the progress of their bows.

here is what we started with:
 
35"x5"x1.75" leopard spoted African ebony board.
this is what I di with it tonight:
 
 
 
now we have four 17.5"x2.5"x1.75" riser blocks.I cant believe how cool these bows are going to look.This is the wildest lumber I have ever seen. Anyway now I need your help. Would you flare these roisers with some other wood? If so What wood? Use some accent stripes? The next place these are headed is to the bandsaw and then glueup. Im sorta thinking about doing a same wood flare with some phenolic stripes and maple veneers on the outside of the phenolic as I dont want to add another wood that would detract from the beauty of these risers. The high bidders have given me some creative license. What do yall think? Sorry about the phone pics.

[Robertfishes]

Are you thinking 1/8"black phenolic with 050 curly maple on each side of it? What ever you choose I am sure it will look awesome. I seem to use black and red glass in a lot of my bows. I will be following this build a long...

[Robertfishes]

Double post....

[Dan Bonner]

I was thinking .030 maple and 1/16" black phenolic.  I can get them around the bends in a flared riser a little better but it seems we are thinking along the same lines.

Bonner

[Trux Turning]

Outlined flares would look cool!! That is some awesome wood.

[Dan Bonner]

Pig hunting tonight so no update till tomorrow.

[Horne Shooter]

No more pig hunting till bows are done!!! LOL

signed...HorneShooter and Whitehat

[Dan Bonner]

Got the flares cut today and the risers are glued-up, clamped and curing.
 
first marked the flares and checked with riser template for proper location.
 
made the cuts on the bandsaw.
 
this will give you an idea how much figure these risers will show once I start shaping them.
 
cut the phenolic after grinding all the "shiney" off.
 
Used phenolic as a template for cutting out the maple veneer outlines
 
here it is all stuck together before glue-up
 
heres what it should look like when its done.
 
I drill 2 holes with a 17/64" bit on either end of the riser wide of where the riser will end. Ithen use a 1/4" dowel in the hloes to keep the parts aligned during glue-up.

[Dan Bonner]

 
ready for glue-up
 
time to glue all 13 layers together.
 
it helps to sharpen the dowels a little so they can find their way through all the layers after glue-up.
 
all glued-up and ready for clamps.  
 
clamped and curing

[D]

That wood is freaking sweet.  Looks great so far.  Look foward to seeing the rest of it.

[whitehat]

Me too !

[Trux Turning]

Wow that riser is going to be bad a$$...

[scottm]

Man thats looking great!

[Horne Shooter]

I'm ready to get mine in my hands!

[Stripstrike1]

Very nice indeed!

[Dan Bonner]

Made a little more progress yesterday morning.
 
Cut pad angles with Rockler jig on table saw. these are about 7 degrees.
 
they matched up well with template.
 
glurd on phenolic limbpads with gel CA. Notice how they are not centered? At this point risers are 1.75" wide and I use 1.5" limb stock. I cheat over towards the shelf side alowing myself to cut them 3/16" past center without losing too much width in the narrowest part of the riser adjacent to the shelf.
 
I use the cut offs from the pad angles to level the pads for easy clamping.
 
next I marked the limb pads for the bolt and pin holes.
 
leveled risers in drill press. Notice my custom drill collar?
 
drilled holes.
 
and tapped.

[Dan Bonner]

cut the shelf.
 
Used this bit in the press to acheive the perfect cut past center and to radius my shelf. I then used a 4" angle grinder with a paint removal disk to blend in the "stair steps"
 
I like to use a 1.5" hole saw in the press to cut the throat and the little radius under the grip.
 
no build is complete until there is a little blood and a whole lot of splinters.
 
got a little carried away working and forgot to take pics of a couple steps. So I cut out the riser profile on the bandsaw, and then rough ground to shape with the spindle sander and a 36 grit 1.5" sleeve.
 
 
 
a little better light so you can see the figure its starting to show. this is gonna be a cool bow!

[Dan Bonner]

Please dont make fun of my shop.Some dudes are fastidious and everything has to be in its place. Some dudes are not...

[Robertfishes]

the grain in that riser is gonna pop when you spray it!

[jsweka]

Awesome build along Dan!