First R/D glass bow... build along (Finished)

[bowhntineverythingnh03743]

Patients isn't my strong point and since I am waiting on my glue for a BBI bow I figured I start my first R/D glass bow. This will be following the great Kenny M design 62 tip to tip shooting for 50# at 28 inch draw....That's if I remember the taper correctly lol.

Well I got out of work at 0800 hours so I shot down to the next town and picked up a few odds and ends to help me square up the zebra riser. This is my first time trying all of this on my own so bare with my inexperience.

After two hours of work squaring up the riser block I traced out the bottom radius for the back of the riser. Cut it out on the band saw and went to work on making it light tight.... I figured I would stop before I was super tired and make a fatal mistake.

Here is where my riser is so far at the end of two hours.....

           

Small gap in the lams and riser...
           
Try not to focus on the very bottom of the form. For some reason there is a small gap along the outer most edge so it looks like there is a void but trust me that there is not. Look at the pencil marks on the riser and you can see that arch. I used these three clamps which are just holding down everything with very light pressure because I couldn't hold the riser in place and take the picture. I can feel slight humps in the arch so I plan on trying to smooth them out to glass tomorrow morning after the midnight shift.

One question I have for you folks is the ends of the riser are lifted off of the form right now. I traced out the copy of kenny's design so I just want to make sure I am doing this correctly. Please don't take this as if I am questioning kenny's design at all... I am questioning myself if I am doing this correctly. Being a total newbie to glass and this being my first R/D bow ever I am just not used to it.

Here is a picture of what I am talking about...
             

Anyways it is time for bed... Please comments and tips are sought after!!! Hope you all enjoy my adventure as much as I am excited for the journey!

Justin

[Trux Turning]

Those ends need to be flat to the form- can't have that gap. Do you have your glass and lams under the riser? I find if you run your tapers on the belly side and parallels on the face you can use the form as a template- if you run the tapers on the face (which is what I usually do) I put them on the form and fit my riser to them that way.

[Robertfishes]

Like Trux said I also trace a line my riser block directly off of the form..I also have a riser template made off of the form. I am thinking once you sand down the fades they should be thin enough to bend down onto the shape of the form, much better to not have to force it down though... I like to make a long thin fade myself, no thicker than 1/8" 2 inches from end.. If you have a little light or small gap between the form and lams you can put a narrow piece of tape on top of the form to build it up..I always do a dry run and double check for any gaps or potential glue joint problems.

[kennym]

The geometry of d/r in the bow make the riser tips stay off the form for bout an inch. No probs if you get fades thin nuff.

[kennym]

U do need the.002 taper, a parallel, and the glass under it when fitting tho

[bowhntineverythingnh03743]

OK Kenny... The glass, a set of taper zebra lams, and then the parallel boo core is under the riser in the pictures. That is why I have the clamps on the form to take the pictures. It is about only an inch off of the form at the ends of the riser. I found my template that fits the form perfect so I will try and trace the line tomorrow and get it fitting better.

This will be a slow going build but I am glad you all are amazing guys and will steer me in the right direction.

[kennym]

Mine isn't quite that much off form, but don't think you will have any prob after you grind fades. Do a dry run before mixing glue...

I usually use a swing jig at 27" R for the 62/64 , clean up on disc sander and its ready to go.

[bowhntineverythingnh03743]

Ya I dunno why but my swing jig needs a tune up of some sort... I will get it all fitted tomorrow... Just may loose an 1/8 of an inch in height.

[kennym]

[Razorbak]

Good luck...looking forward to this

[bowhntineverythingnh03743]

Thanks razorbak... I am waiting on glue, lams, overlays, and bamboo to come in so I can work on some bbo. We shall see where this glass bow takes me... People say that bbo are harder than glass but because of my lack of experience it feels like glass is harder.

[bowhntineverythingnh03743]

Tuesday morning 90 minutes of work...

Today I continued to work on the riser of my bow. I was able to get the back of the radius looking much better and light tight. I then traced and cut out the belly side of the riser and got them shaped pretty well. Tomorrow I will get all my pieces together and do a dry run of the whole bow in the form and take pictures and adjust as necessary. Here are some pictures of today's work....

Riser all cut out....
 

My lil stand I taped together to hold the riser after it was cut out for sanding...
 

Ends are looking paper thin...
 

One end...
 

The other...
 

Just a picture of my corner work area. Not much to work with but it will certainly do...
 

Anyways, I got out of work later than I wanted to and it is so humid and hot today that 90 minutes is all I could take. Plus I am drained and need my sleep... Don't wanna wake up with white hair like some ol man I know... Not you though Roy  

Have a great day everyone and again comments are welcomed... Till tomorrow!

[Razorbak]

looking good...I like your radius on your riser, I cant even do that very well...looks like your on your way

[takefive]

Looking good!  I'll be following along cuz I want to build one, too.  I just made a hot box and picked up a sheet of plywood for the form.  Soon as that's done, I'll be emailing Kenny.  Best of luck on the rest of your build    

[rmorris]

Looking good!

[bigbob2]

Yup looking good!

[Dan Bonner]

Right on track! Coming along nicely.

Bonner

[kennym]

Lookin good Justin. You are gonna do fine ,man!!

[bowhntineverythingnh03743]

Thank you guys! Once I remembered I had a better fitting template to copy for the back radius it was much easier to make a better fit. My tips of my riser are still off of the lams by about an inch but its not by much and I was able to force them onto the lams with just my hand pressure. The fit was fine and I think that I will still be ok...

One question I had for you guys that I forgot to ask... Do I have to make grooves into the riser like I do when toothing a BBO bow? Or if I just sand with the 60 grit paper I have been using will that be enough?

Thanks for the kind words fellas... I eager to turn out the best bow I can for my first and make ya'll proud!!

[kennym]

40-60 grit is great, don't tooth yer fades!!    

The riser tips will be off just a bit, they will lay right down at glueup.

I wanted the longer riser to get nice fades and have a good site window, and wanted the limbs to start reflexing soon too, you can't have it all sometimes!! LOL