Tip overlays

[Roy from Pa]

I hunted in -5 below once, for about 30 minutes:)

[Kirkll]

I've archery hunted in the snow a few times for both elk and black tail deer, and it was pretty cool sneaking around in that quiet stuff. But i don't do well after it drops below 25 degrees any more. A good book in front of the wood stove is much prefered on days like that.    kirk

[BigJim]

I hunted at -5  to 5 deg in Saskatchewan for a week. Ran a buddy heater every hour or so. Being so close in for archery, the noise of the heater kept the deer away.
Backed off to 100 yards and finished with a rifle.. still, pretty darn cold even for a Minnesotan. Now fishin in the cold? that is where it's at!  above zero is for hole hopping and panfish. -5 to -40 is for walleyes and heated fish houses. 

BigJim

[Bryan Adolphe]

 When the Whitetail rut  is cranking here in Saskatchewan we’re hunting anywhere from -10 c to -30 c all the time plus the wind chill,  yes some of us gotta be a little nuts but it’s fun.

[Tim Finley]

If you want to hunt when it is good you go when its cold the deer move almost all day they need food . Ive bowhunted in -35 here when i was young and in a coyote tournament when it was an -80 windchill , we won that one cause no one else would go out . I dont do that anymore its got to be above zero now .
  Not all antler tip overlays will come off but the chance is always there and if you are on a trip or in a stand and notice one missing its one to many .
  Linen micarta is still the best .

[darin putman]

On selfbows and bamboo backed bows, I use wood or the leather saturated with superglue Pat spoke of. I use 8125 for my strings,loops served with .024 halo, 14 strand continuous loop mostly, never a problem.

[Kirkll]

On selfbows and bamboo backed bows, I use wood or the leather saturated with superglue Pat spoke of. I use 8125 for my strings,loops served with .024 halo, 14 strand continuous loop mostly, never a problem.

Do they still make the 8125 ? That stuff made some pretty small diameter high performance strings, but I haven’t seen it in years.    Kirk

[darin putman]

I buy it off the big auction site, seems to be a lot of it. Unsure if still being made or not.

[Kirkll]

Tip overlays…. We got side tracked….Check out this one..

Kirk

[Mad Max]

Is the red phenolic Kirk?

I see you using gloss finish, do you knock the shine down?

[Buggs]

Love that glossy look Kirk, gives a lot of depth

[onetone]

Classy looking! Why the additional black lam on top of the red?

[Roy from Pa]

Very nice Kirk

[OldRawhide42]

Kirt what bit do you use to cut for the string ?

[Kirkll]

Is the red phenolic Kirk?

I see you using gloss finish, do you knock the shine down?

Yes… linen phenolic from Binghams. The high gloss is lacquer I use as a sanding sealer. That shine gets nocked off with a fine scotch pad before my satin clear coating. The wood is Bocote.

[Kirkll]

Kirt what bit do you use to cut for the string ?

I use a 1/8” ceramic tile burr like this one…. It’s VERY aggressive when brand new, and very difficult to use. I typically nock the edge off the bit on a piece of stone or marble before using it on string grooves. These last a long time and do a great job getting the rough groove cut.  Then I finish it with a chainsaw file and use some emery cloth twisted into a rope to center up the tear drop shape. 

I’ve tried using various emery cords in 1/8”and 3/16” sizes, but cannot find it in the course grit I like for shaping. All the emery cord I’ve found is very fine grit, which works fine for polishing, but not shaping.    Kirk

https://www.amazon.com/Dremel-562-Tile-Cutting-Bit/dp/B00004UDIC/ref=asc_df_B00004UDIC/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=309763890402&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=9512524487379705605&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=t&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9052493&hvtargid=pla-441763816545&psc=1

[Kirkll]

Classy looking! Why the additional black lam on top of the red?

I like to use 3 layers of phenolic under the wood for both looks and structural reasons. Without that second black layer the string puts more pressure on the wood, and more importantly puts more pressure on the glue line itself from wood to phenolic. The phenolic to phenolic bond is much stronger than wood to phenolic.

It also serves another purpose…. When shaping these tip overlays with a solid piece of material it is real easy to get the shape and depth of the groove off center a bit. You want a perfect tear drop shape. Using different colored phenolic you can see the shape and depth you are filing just by looking at it. This really helps in consistency of the finished product.

Years ago when I was into a lot of performance testing,  I did some tests using different thickness and different types of tip overlay material to see how it effected the speed…..On hunting weight bows I found very little difference between a solid G10 overlay, and lighter weight wood overlays as long as I kept them moderate in length. I even taped nickels to the tips one time to add tip weight, and didn’t see a big difference at all….Some… but not a lot.     Kirk

[Mad Max]

Use a dremel tool

[Kirkll]

Use a dremel tool

Yup…. Me too. Those bits fit nicely in the Dremel tool.

[Longcruise]

I even taped nickels to the tips one time to add tip weight, and didn’t see a big difference at all….Some… but not a lot.

I did that with quarters on a 66" straight ASL.  If I recall correctly,  I got over an ounce on each end and lost around 13 fps.  Speaks to that style's efficiency with heavy arrows.