First glass bow buildalong (Finished bow page 5)

[bamboo]

aluminum is very stiff and unforgiving--light galvanized sheetmetal will close up your ramps better
riser fades could be thinner--but looking good!

--one thing I found using bands was - when you are gluing up--work BOTH limbs simultaneously-it helps keep the riser from creeping

 layout and planning is everything in this game--you got this!

[Robertfishes]

Don't forget to put plastic or saran wrap on top of form so you don't glue the bow to the form..I also wrap my pressure strips and air hose with plastic. The 0.5 mil thick plastic painters drop cloth works pretty good. Be careful with the pin, maybe lightly wax the hole in the form..that way you can separate the bow from the form and use the same hole again.

[Lee Lobbestael]

Thanks guys, Yeah i'll saran wrap the form. do I have to worry about the epoxy sticking to the rubber bands?

[KenH]

I wouldn't worry about epoxy and rubber bands.  They get will come off pretty easy I've found.

[Lee Lobbestael]

So I did a dry run last week and everything looked great so I was about to glue up when I dropped my riser on the work bench and took a big chip out of the corner!!    I was not pleased!      After talking to Kenny I decided to shorten an inch on either side, making it 16 ". I ran to work early sat morning to use the drill press and drum sander there to re sand my fades. I spent an hour re sanding them to knife edges. On the way home I was driving down my dirt road and I picked it up to admire it and (you can't make this up) I went over a pothole and bounced it off my steering wheel chipping it again! Yeah i'm that type of clutz. Fortunately the chip was minor enough that I could put it on my form and fix it with a block sander. Anyway I glued up on saturday. It was a sticky mess but a lot of fun. It happened to be a 79 degree day here so I stuck it in my truck for a hot box. I used painters plastic stretched and taped over my form.  I popped it off the form and here is the result! Looks great to my eye. Nice tight glue lines. Man is this glue hard! Cut myself on shards of dried smooth on more than once.

[KenH]

Congrats!  Now the real fun begins...

[Bvas]

Looking good so far.    

Take your time cleaning it up.  Power tools can make for quick cleanup, but also make for quick mistakes.

[Lee Lobbestael]

Thanks guys! Yesterday I marked it out and cut the profile into the limbs with the band saw, staying just outside my lines. Then I sanded down to the lines with a block sander and 80 grit paper. I started tapering 12" from center on both limbs and tapered to .6" at tips for now. I'm basically copying Kenny's buildalong here! Next I marked the knocks with a 45 and filed shallow knocks with a chainsaw file. Here it is at low brace for the first time! What do you guys think? I'm waiting for tip overlays before I get full draw because I don't want round my knocks around the back before I glue on overlays. Also this string is horrible and I'm afraid it will get cut through if I draw it. I have tip overlay phenelic and a doubleloop fast flight string on the way!            

[kennym]

Looks good Lee!!  

[Lee Lobbestael]

Thanks Kenny! Thanks to you everything is going very smoothly! I'm so pleased with my first look at brace height

[Lee Lobbestael]

my first look at it braced I mean

[kennym]

That profile may look better than with tip wedges and power lams!!

[Lee Lobbestael]

So I glued the handle and tip overlays on and shaped the handle with a rasp and sand paper. I started to shape the tip overlays but still have some work yo do on them yet.            
According to my measurements I have 1/8" positive tiller at the moment. But although I have no way of accurately measuring it at the moment, the full draw looks pretty even. Its measuring 53#@28". Shooting for 50. What do you guys think? Does the tiller need any adjustment?

[kennym]

It looks really good from here!

[Lee Lobbestael]

Thanks Kenny! Had to shoot it a couple times yesterday. Its very fast compared to any of my selfbows! How much do you guys round over the edges?

[Lee Lobbestael]

Also what do you guys use for finish coats? I was thinking spar urethane or poly. Do you coat the glass as well? And if so do you sand the glass to give it something to stick to?
Thanks guys

[Mad Max]

You did a fine job on that riser  

[kennym]

Minwax spar urethane is good but yellows things a bit. Holds up well tho. Works on zebra.

You can round over pretty well, I wouldn't leave sharp corners, but don't get too deep either!

I sand the glass with 220 before spraying.

[kennym]

Check the thread on VHT wheel finish too...

[Bvas]

Looking good!!!
Spar is good. Poly is a little soft for me, but is alright for filling grain. Currently I'm using poly to fill grain then finishing with the VHT.  So far I'm liking it.