A bow for me! (R/D longbow build along) (update 6/23 pg4)

[bornofmud]

Alright guys, doing one for myself here and thought I'd make a build along for it in an attempt to help folks the same way I was helped!  Just got the last of the wood I needed from Kenny today, so time to get working!  

It's going to be a 64" ntn longbow, powerlam, tip wedges, wood stack is .348 @.006, powerlam and lam closest to back is a-boo, lam closest to belly is maple.  .040 glass.  The veneers are going to be mahogany and the riser is macassar. Also going to be using antler for the tips and hopefully the riser highlight, excited for that.

Started riser work today, will get the build along going later today!

[Trux Turning]

We all like build alongs so post away as you go.

[talkingcabbage]

   

[bornofmud]

Here we go!  So I had an issue with this riser piece, which is that I did the cut across the back about a month ago to speed the drying time. At the time, I thought I could get by with my riser design with no I beam, which I later found to not be the case.  

So, I bought some g10 this time around to dodge the issues with linen phenolic and I got it 1/8" thick. I decided to do a center beam of riser wood instead of my normal 1/4" pheno straight through the middle.

Here's after cutting the center beam, so the riser is in 3 pieces, two 1/2" pieces and one 1/4" piece:

   

Then I had to cut the g10 to match.  This all would have been a whole lot easier if I hadn't done that riser cut across the back. Also, g10 is some serious stuff, gruesome on my bandsaw. Definitely need ear protection.

 

Next I ground down the lams to splice them. I just clamp a piece of plywood to my edge sander.  

   

And then glue them together, using a straightedge to make sure they are dead straight.  I use the gorilla ca glue with rubber for this.

   

Next, I cut the mahogany veneers.  Didn't get a shot of how I do this, but I just use a thin metal yardstick, clamp it at each end after marking 1.5", and run a razorblade down the edge.  I do two at once and it came out well.  Here's the mahogany I'm using:

   

The last thing I got done today was gluing up the riser pieces from the first shots.  Didn't get a pic of this either, but you'll see them tomorrow when I flush everything up.  Was quite a nightmare with the epoxy and all the pieces shifting about, but think it'll work just fine.  

Tomorrow I'll join one set of the veneers, shape the riser to the form, cut out the belly side of the riser, do the fades, and prepare for glue up on friday!

[fujimo]

[fujimo]

[timbermoose]

[bigbob2]

looking good. what is G10?

[bornofmud]

G10 is a plastic made from fiberglass and epoxy.  Normal phenolic is made with linen, cloth or paper and epoxy.  This stuff is much more heavy duty. Not so nice to work with though haha.  Should make the riser relatively indestructible though.

[bigbob2]

thanks, as I've never experienced it over here.

[MB_Sweden]

Looking great!
Thanks for sharing.

Martin from Sweden

[MCNSC]

I used to work in a machine shop where we would sometimes have to machine parts from G10 and G11. It has good electrical insulating and heat resistant properties. Keeping it wet while working with it helps with the dust and therefore the itching. Using a vacuum to vacuum up the dust helps too. I can pretty much look at the stuff and start itching.

[chackworth3]

Lookin good

[bornofmud]

Hahah, for some reason fiberglass doesn't seem to bother me much.  I don't have dust collection, and wear my normal clothes when I work, but never seem to be itchy.  

Also, here's the main riser piece after sanding the glue off and truing everything up.  Came out nice considering how tricky the glue job was! I'm more worried about the other pieces (I use the leftovers from the cut across the back as the handle and sight window pieces on the belly of the riser), but I think they'll be fine too, still waiting for them to dry as I don't need to work on them today and didn't have them under a spotlight all night. Will post a picture of those soon so you know what I'm talking about.

 

[bigbob2]

Liking it!

[bornofmud]

Next was sanding the belly side flat and flush.

     

Then fitting the back to the form.  Nowadays this just takes a few minutes, used to take for ever haha. I use my edge sander for both of these tasks.

   

After that I draw the line for the cut across the belly.  I draw the fades, then mark 1.25" from the back and basically connect the dots.  I tried to take a picture of the pencil line but it didn't show up too well.

     

Here's a picture after doing the cut on the bandsaw.  Was really rough, two layers of g10 and the ebony.  Just went reeeeaallly slow.  

   

These are the extra pieces from the cut across the back.  I also had to glue the g10 i beams in these, don't know how much luck I'll have getting all the layers to line up.  

   

So the original riser is now in 4 pieces, here's a pic of how they all fit together.  I only use one 1.5x2x22" block for my risers.  You can also see why this would have been about 1000x easier if I hadn't done that first cut.

   

[bornofmud]

Alright, so after getting it fit to the form and cleaning up the other pieces, I worked the fades and smoothed out the angles and everything from the belly cut I had just done. Again on the edge sander.  I put the other 3 riser pieces to the side now, as I won't be touching them again until after glue up.

   

Sanded the ends and glued together one set of the mahogany veneers.  I only have to do the belly side veneers as I'll be cutting through all the layers on the back later.

 

All that's left is to sand the lam joints, mark center on my p-lam, and start the glue up!  I'll sand the lams and make sure everything fits nicely today, then heat the shop up tomorrow and do the glue up.  Here's the riser ready for some lams to dress it up a bit!

   

That's all for today!!

[soy]

Looking good  

[bigbob2]

X 2!

[kennym]

Lookin good Nick!!          

I urge you to get some dust collection tho ,man!!