Robin bamboo build along

[Ice Mike]

I have a newb question for you Sam..

Would it have been easier and more prone to keep the shape if you would have heated it---did a preliminary bending run leaving it on for a few minutes--then take if off the form and spread smooth-on on the osage and the boo and then re-heated and immediately clamped them together  to the form and let cure?

I'm not sure if this would be better or not, or if this would pose other problems elsewhere..just curious to get you thoughts on my methodology..

[Sam Harper]

I definitely would've held its shape better if I had glued the bamboo to it at the same time I was bending it, but then what about the other end?  You have to do the glue up all at once because if you try to glue it up in parts, it's not all going to lay down smoothly because the smooth on that gets pushed out of the joints will harden, leaving a bumpy area that you can't smooth out.

[Sam Harper]

After heat bending both ends of the Osage, I heat bent the bamboo the same way.  The last time I made one of these, I didn't heat bend the bamboo (at least I don't think I did), and during glue up, some of the curve came out.  I'm guessing part of the reason was that the stiffness of the bamboo pushed it out.  So this time I pre-bent the bamboo.

You have to be careful with bamboo if there are nodes anywhere in the bend because the node will be stiff, and that'll cause it to want to hinge on either side of the node and possibly lift a splinter.  One way to deal with that problem is to put shims between the nodes.  Another way is to put clamps on both sides of the nodes where you expect it to hinge.  Just be careful.

I didn't have that problem because my nodes were far enough back from the tips that they weren't part of the curve.  (Thanks Robin!)

Another problem I've had with heat bending bamboo is that it'll warp a little, and the flattened part will no longer be flat.  I reckon my bamboo wasn't dry enough when that happened.  One way to deal with that is not to flatten it all the way before bending it. Then, after you bend it, you can flatten it some more, and if it's bowed a little, that'll take care of it.

I also pre-bent my wedges.  I'm using wedges 7.5" long on the tips because I want them to be kind of stiff.  I don't like working curves in all wood/grass bows because over time they work themselves out.  The last time I made one of these, I used walnut between the bamboo and Osage for contrast.

 

This time I used Osage just because I had already made them and they were ready to go.  I'm lazy that way.

I didn't leave the bamboo or the wedges clamped up nearly as long as I left the Osage, and you can see the difference in how well they held their bend.  The bamboo barely held any bend at all.

 

It's too late to do a glue up.  Maybe I'll do it in the morning.  It's ready to glue up, though.

[J.F. Miller]

you might consider bending all three pieces together. and boiling them instead of dry heating. they will retain their shape better, but the downside is that you have to let them dry out again before gluing.

[Ice Mike]

Originally posted by Sam Harper:
I definitely would've held its shape better if I had glued the bamboo to it at the same time I was bending it, but then what about the other end?  You have to do the glue up all at once because if you try to glue it up in parts, it's not all going to lay down smoothly because the smooth on that gets pushed out of the joints will harden, leaving a bumpy area that you can't smooth out.

Thanks for the insight Sam and pardon the dumb question!

Carry on sir! Looking great!

[Sam Harper]

I went back and forth on whether I should have a power lam or not.  On the last one-like-this, I used a power lam, but it turned out to be unnecessary.  Look how much the Osage tapers from the handle to the end of the power lam here.

 

I think I could've gotten away without a power lam.  But the starting Osage is slightly thinner on this one than on the last one, so I figured it's better to have a power lam and not need it than to need it and not have it.  Besides, it looks good, and going with tradition, I decided to make one out of walnut this time, too.

The original power lam was 15", but I made this one 13.5" because it fit more neatly between the blade and the throat of my bandsaw.  I'm going to make the glued on handle part 9", so that power lam will extend 2.25" past the handle on either end.

Here's the power lam all nice and tapered so you can see how thin I got those ends.

 

As usual, I didn't take any pictures of the glue up because I had glue on my hands and didn't want to handle my iphone.  But basically, I used Smooth On and put glue over all the surfaces, wrapped it in plastic wrap, put masking tape around it in a few places to keep it from sliding around, then put squeeze clamps on it.

I'm not using a form.  It's resting on a couple of pieces of wood near the middle, and I'm letting gravity give it a little bit of deflex.  Having some deflex will make it more stable.  By "stable," I mean less likely to have the tips twist one way or the other when it's under tension, which is harder to prevent with recurves than with longbows because recurves are inherently less stable than longbows, and by "stable," I mean. . . whoa, deja vous.

 

Can you see that string?  I thought maybe if I put a little c-clamp on each tip and tie a string between them, I could keep more of my curve than on the last bow.  Here's a close up of the c-clamp.

 

I used a broken arrow piece as a tourniquet to tighten the string.

 

I put that in the hot box, and I'm going to leave it on for 4 hours and probably not take it out until tomorrow or late tonight.

[Sam Harper]

All I did today was clean it up a bit with the bandsaw and belt sander.  Check how much curve it retained compared to the last one.

 

I'm pretty pleased with that.  Now, if only the tips line up.  I'll leave you in suspense about that for now.    :p  

I also went over the back and pealed off all the glue from the bamboo with a pocket knife.

 

It comes off pretty easy because the rind is waxy.  I'm going to take the rind off after I glue on the handle.

[Sam Harper]

Oh, here's one more picture to show it has a slight amount of deflex.  Gravity probably wouldn't given it more deflex if not for the string.  But it'll probably gain some deflex during tillering.

 

[takefive]

Looking good Sam!  Your bow's going to have some sexy curves, too      I'm always thrilled when reflexed tips hold as well, especially after the bow has been shot in.

[bigbob2]

Watching with great interest Sam, looks great

[Mad Max]

Looking good sam

[Sam Harper]

Today, I glued on the handle and tip overlays.  Before gluing on the handle, I took a piece of 40 grit sanding paper, wrapped it around a piece of wood, and prepared a place on the belly to glue the handle on.  The 40 grit makes a good gluing surface.

 

I decided to use a piece of pecan for the handle because I happened to have a piece that was just the right size, and I had nothing else to do with it.  Besides, I plan to put a handle wrap on this to cover up the splice on the back, and there's no sense using a pretty piece of wood if I'm just going to cover it up.

Since there was a bit of deflex in the handle, I couldn't just glue the handle straight on.  I had to curve it a little.  If there's a lot of deflex, I'll use the bow to trace a line on the handle piece and use that as a guide to bandsaw it to shape.  But there's just a tiny big of curve to this one, so I just used the belt sander.  Here's the before picture.

 

After some sanding and check and sanding and checking (which can be maddening if you're me), here's the after picture.

 

It's not perfect, but I'm going to rely on clamp pressure to take care of the imperfections.

Preparing a nice flat surface to glue on tip overlays has always been a struggle for me when making recurves.  This is one reason I prefer to make longbows.  But here's how I do it.

 

Sometimes I use the disk sander.  The only way to avoid digging into the limb of the bow on accident is to have that grind go through all layers.  In other words, I don't just sand the surface of the bamboo.  I sand all the way through to the belly wood.

 

Here's the handle and tip overlays all glued up.

 

I used Smooth On, but I'm not going to stick it back in the oven this time because I did that last time, and the Osage developed cracks on the belly.

 

I filled those with superglue and after hundreds of shots, it's never been a problem.  But I'd still rather not have them in my bow if I can avoid it.  I wonder if I could avoid this problem by wrapping the whole bow in plastic before putting it in the hotbox so it doesn't lose as much moisture.  I don't know.  But I'm just going to let this one cure at room temperature.

Perhaps I will post more tomorrow.

[Sam Harper]

There's a couple of things I forgot to mention.

First, I used Ipe for tip overlays just because I already had some tip overlay sized pieces ready to go.

Second, whenever I use c-clamps on bamboo, I use some kind of padding because if you don't, the c-clamps will put dents in the bamboo.  I use thick leather for padding.  Squeeze clamps don't have that problem.

Third, before gluing on the handle, I draw an arrow indicating the top limb.  I sometimes don't decide on a top limb until near the end of tillering, but I had to in this case because that splice is off-set with the intention of having most of it be under the thick part of the handle, and the arrow shelf being above it.  Drawing that arrow keeps me from making a booboo later on.  Or at least that's what it's meant to do.

 

Fourth, I forgot to show you the tip alignment.

 

[bubby]

sam I use a high quality super glue for my overlays, just hold it for a few seconds, no clamps, no problems

[Sam Harper]

bubby, can you give me an example of a high quality superglue?  Like a specific brand, and preferably a link to it on Amazon?

[takefive]

This is what I like to use and I've heard it recommended by quite a few others.  The bond is amazing.  Just make sure that your pieces are aligned where you want them, 'cuz you only have a couple of seconds of working time.  

 http://www.amazon.com/Loctite-LOC1364076-Super-Glues/dp/B004MEXDH2/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1406012031&sr=8-7&keywords=loctite+super+glue

[Sam Harper]

Thanks takefive!

[Sam Harper]

This morning, I cleaned the bow up some more with the belt sander, got the handle and tip overlays flush with the rest of the bow.

Then I cut out the fades.  I really wanted to use this Bowie knife I'm working on to trace the fades because then I could tell people, "This fade matches the curve on my Bowie knife!" but because the handle is going to be so short on this bow, I wanted the curves to go up faster.

 

"Faster"?  That's not my usual way of putting things.  I suppose 2000 years from now, scholars may look at this and say, "Faster" is not a typical Samine way of wording this description; therefore, this build along must be pseudonymous.  (For those who didn't get the joke, I'm poking fun at how some modern scholars dismiss some of Paul's letters as being inauthentic.)

Where were we?  Oh yeah, the fade.  So I just drew a straight line where I wanted the fades to be, and cut that out with a bandsaw.

 

Then I shaped it a little with the elbow of the belt sander, being careful not to dig into the limb.

 

And that's all I had time to do this morning.

"But wait a minute, Sam, if you had time to update this build along, you had time to work on the bow some more."

Well, I did work on the bow some more.  I just meant that I didn't have time to do anymore updating on this build along.  I'll have time later today.

[Sam Harper]

Except for the fades, I leave the handle square while tillering so it sits in the tiller thingy better.  I'm going to go ahead and cut an arrow rest since I've already designated the top limb.

I'm just getting the bow ready to tiller at this point.  I rounded the tips overlays, too, but didn't fully shape them.  I'm going to cut string grooves and not fully shape them until the end.

I also remove the waxy rind before I tiller.  I've used various methods to do this with--a pneumatic drum sander, a piece of sand paper wrapped around a t-shirt wrapped around a piece of wood, and a cabinet scraper.  I've gotten to where I really like the cabinet scraper.  I didn't used to like it as much, probably because I wasn't very good at sharpening them.  Let me explain the procedure I use to sharpen my cabinet scraper.

First, I want to get the edge perfectly square and smooth, so I lay a piece of 320 grit sand paper on a slab of granite (glass would also work), lay the scraper on it flat, and move it around in a circular motion.

 

I do that on both sides, and I also do it on the edge.

 

You don't want to lean it when you're doing the edge because the idea is to get it square, like this:

 

Don't press down too hard when you're doing the edge because you don't want to deform it.  After I do the 320 grit, I do the same thing with 400 grit.  Lighten up on the pressure again when doing the edge.  You can go to 600 grit, too, and that might improve things a little, but 400 grit is good enough.

Then I clamp it in a vice and use a burnishing tool (a screwdriver would work), and rub it along the edge.  

 

Be sure to hold the burnishing tool perpendicular because you want to cause the sides to flare like this:

 

That's why you want to get it perfectly square to begin with and use a fine grit, so it'll create a good sharp edge when you burnish it.  If it's not good and square and good and smooth, it won't make a good edge.

I can't tell you how much pressure to use or how many times to stroke it.  You just have to figure that out by experimenting.

Once you've got a little edge (and you can feel it by pinching the scraper between your thumb and finger and pulling up to the edge), then tilt your burnishing tool and burnish a little more.

 

That makes your edge hook down a little like this:

 

Yeah, it's not the best drawing, but you know what I'm talking about.

[Sam Harper]

I used that scraper to remove the rind.  I saw a thread somewhere where James Parker questioned why people remove the rind.  I look up to James Parker as kind of a bamboo guru, and it sounded like he doesn't remove the rind. I still remove it, though, for a couple of reasons.

First, you saw how easy it was to remove Smooth On from the rind with a pocket knife.  Obviously, things stick to it very well.  It doesn't take a stain as well, and it doesn't take a finish as well.

But the rind actually has two layers.  The top layer is thin and waxy.  Right below that, it's white and not waxy.  I suppose you could just lightly sand the whole back, get rid of that waxy surface, and leave the white stuff.  It'll take a finish and a stain.  But I remove it (or most of it) anyway because. . .

Second, I believe the bow is less likely to break if you remove the rind.  There are no fibers running through the rind.  The fibers are in the layer directly below the rind.  The rind is kind of brittle, and if you leave it there, your bamboo will be more likely to lift a small splinter which will turn into a big break.

When you remove that white rind, it's a little darker underneath.

Since this build along is meant to be a review of this bamboo that Robin Tan sent me, I want to talk a little bit about it and compare and contrast it with the usual stuff I get at Franks or wherever.

This bamboo smells different than other bamboo I've tried.  Other bamboo I've tried smells like hay, but this stuff smells kind of funky.  I don't know what to compare it too.  Maybe a pot that's been left on the stove too long.

The rind of this bamboo has a consistency very much like the early growth layers of Osage.  If you've ever chased a ring on an Osage stave, you know what I'm talking about.  It's that kind of porous crusty layer that's easy to scratch off.  You can kind of see it in this picture.

 

So I would definitely not want that on the back of my bow.  Whereas I'll sometimes leave a bit of white on my bamboo, I took this completely off with the scraper.  Other bamboo I've used has ridges running along the length that leaves white streaks when you try to sand the rind off, but this was fairly smooth.

It's a little more difficult to remove the rind around the nodes.  The nodes on this bamboo were kind of funky.  On one side, there were two dips before you got to the node, and one dip on the other side of the node.

 

It was like that on all the nodes.  The double dips made it a little difficult to get the rind off.

Once I got the rind completely off, I sanded with the 320 grit, then the 400 grit.  I like the back to be nice and smooth, and if there are any nicks or scratches, I'll sand them out.

Another thing I noticed about this bamboo that is different than other bamboo I've used is that the area immediately beneath the rind is a lot harder than other bamboo.  It was actually easier to remove the rind on this bamboo than other bamboo because there was such a difference in hardness between the rind and the bamboo beneath.  I was basically just scraping crusty stuff off of a hard surface.

I was going to put some kind of cool dye job on the back of this bamboo.  I'm working on a YouTube video right now showing various patterns and techniques, and I was going to add this one to it.  But because it's so dark already and had some interesting colouring, I decided to leave it natural.

 

I'm a little concerned about it because it looks like water damage.  It looks like some spalted pecan I have, and "spalted" is a euphemism for "rotted."  It's pretty, though.

I have to go pick up a friend at the airport in a couple of hours, but I have time to work on the bow some more, so I'll probably post another update later tonight.

I want to say one more thing about the scraper before I go.  You might have to experiment on the angle you hold it at to see where it cuts the best.  It'll depend on how much you brought that edge over with the burnishing tool.  I don't bring mine over that much, so I get the best cuts by holding my scraper nearly perpendicular.  I guess I've got it at maybe a 60-something degree angle to the surface I'm scraping.

When you first start to scrap a roughly sanded surface, don't expect to get those nice little slivers.  You'll just get dust at first and question whether you got the scraper sharp.  Then, once the scraper has smoothed the surface down, you'll start to get those thin slivers, and that's when you'll know your scraper is working properly, and you'll start to enjoy using it.  It leaves the surface so smooth, you barely need sand paper when you're done tillering.  I just use the sand paper to smooth over the ridges from scraping different facets of the belly.

See you later!