2019 Bow Swap Thread

[kennym]

Brad, I like the way you lammed the grip! Cool!

Cody, Roy really liked that, he used BIG letters...

[Flem]

I was curious where the Koa was native too. Holy Crap! That stuff is the platinum of woods! And the curly stuff is beyond exotic.
Who ever gets Dave's bow is going to need a security detail to take it out of the house.

[goobersan]

I'm up for the challenge 

[canopyboy]

I was curious where the Koa was native too. Holy Crap! That stuff is the platinum of woods! And the curly stuff is beyond exotic.
Who ever gets Dave's bow is going to need a security detail to take it out of the house.

This wood has been in the family for a few decades now, maybe some of you will appreciate hearing the backstory:

My dad is a custom cabinet builder out in OR who went into business for himself back in '74. In the 80's he had a slighly older gentleman named Jim who worked down at the local lumber yard for years start working part time in the cabinet shop as well. I grew up with Jim around; he was a fountain of knowledge, tips and tricks, and positive attitude. The guy whistled the entire day as he worked. When I worked in the shop as a teenager, we would always stop at 10:00 and have a tea/coffee break. There were 3-5 guys in the shop usually, and we'd spend 15 minutes maybe sharing some donuts and definitely stories. It was a good way to grow up. Jim has since passed on, and while I planned to just talk about the wood I couldn't help but take a detour...

So, the lumber yard in question had all sorts of mill work and hardwoods as well. Back then koa was still being exported as raw lumber from Hawaii (my understanding is that has since ended, generally only finished koa products are exported now.) Jim would keep his eye out for boards that had some curl to them and then grab them for my dad. They went back in the lumber pile. I know there's some other good stuff in there, but I didn't know about this until last year when my dad pulled it out to re-do his dining room table. He had maybe a dozen 6" x 6' boards and was going to slice it up into some fairly thick veneers for the table. I told him to keep me in mind for the scraps. When I went out back in January, he had two boards he hadn't sliced up yet. I picked out the one with the most character and shipped it out to Viriginia. I hope the curl really shows up under the glass, but even if it doesn't it's still koa and the bow will still have a bit of Ol' Whistling Jim mojo in it for the recipient.

[Flem]

Pretty cool to have beautiful wood that also has provenance

[Buemaker]

Good story. I see that Cook woods sometimes have some Koa for sale. Cost a few gold coins though.
https://www.cookwoods.com/products/koa-lumber-31

[wood carver 2]

Well, I’m back from Ohio. Sorry Bue, I took the recurve out for turkeys but I  wasn’t able to get a shot. I saw a lot of birds all week, but the hens were still laying and they were out in the fields with the toms. The closest I got was about 50 yards. I got a big gobbler on Friday, but I had to use a different weapon. In six days of hunting we only managed to get three birds.
My friends loved the bow when I showed it off.
Now I need to get busy with my swap bow. I think I’m going to build two bows at the same time to hopefully avoid any problems.
Dave.

[canopyboy]

Just a reminder -- it's May 1st! To be on time, your bow needs to ship by the end of this month. (That's 4 weeks from Friday.) No pressure, but I'd like to see no one go into the grace period. We did pretty good last year, but with 4 weeks and a small, responsible group I think we stand a good chance get to 100% by May 31 this year.

[BMorv]

It's looking pretty good on the long string.  After Dave's friendly reminder, I'm really contemplating if it's a good idea to cut this one in half 

[Buemaker]

Nice curves. Would be scary to cut it in half, perhaps shipping cost would be less.

[Flem]

That looks really nice Ben! You have an artists eye.
Maybe too nice to saw in half 
If it's for me, I'll split the shipping with you

[Roy from Pa]

Cut it in half?

Ouch....

Not me.

[goobersan]

Up to you Ben.  I'm willing to wait if you need more time to make it a 2-piece 

[Crooked Stic]

Me like two piece.

Sent from my SM-J737V using Tapatalk

[Srlbenn]

Got mine almost to full brace and tillered out to 21". Lost more reflex than i like so will probably heat some back in when i get it closer to full draw.
URL=http://imgur.com/bFqjBOU][/URL
URL=http://imgur.com/ixH0reY][/URL

On a side note. Would you prefer  the yew natural or faux snake skin backed?

@BMorv  cutting a good bow is like jumping out of a good airplane isn't it?

[BMorv]

Never had a yew bow before but always wanted one.  My vote is au naturale.

Well, I heard a wise old goat once say, 'what u skeered of?'
 I'm gonna cut her in half.   
Plan C, heaven forbid, will be a one piece.

[TradBowyer]

I've never had  a yew bow either and as much as I like skins I would choose it natural. just something about the sapwood back but that's just me

[canopyboy]

Thanks for the updates! Looking good!

I'd like the yew natural if it was me. Too pretty to cover up. Snakeskins are cool, but should be saved for covering up sinew IMO.

As for cutting it in half, no guts, no glory. But when I've done it, I've done it before I get it down to final floor tiller, let alone long string (ok they were glass and no long string involved.) That gave me a bit more wiggle room to make sure if the alignment moved a touch when sleeving them back together the bow and tiller were just the way I wanted them as a 2 piece.

[BMorv]

That's a good reminder Dave.  I plan to tiller it out to draw before I cut it in half, but I'll leave it a couple lbs heavy and a little wider to allow for adjustments. 
1st one didn't move as far as alignment goes, but I did take a good 10 minutes making sure tips and handle were aligned before wrapping.

[Flem]

I'm a vote for natural, Steve. That creamy sapwood on Yew is beautiful. Looks like Ivory after it's aged for some time.