Weekend at the Sunbear bow shop

[Killdeer]

A boy with patience, and a love for paper and pen...I like this LC kid! He looks to be the type to grow into a good man. You lucky!

Plenty of time here to wait for more story, and so far it is well worth waiting for. Wish I could be a fly on a brown bottle, but this is good, too.

Killdeer
(Big Charlie looks good in a jumper...   :D   )

[Big Ed]

Great read along. I like LC's form.

[Gatekeeper]

LC is a Great kid! He is a prime example of how well a child can be growing up in a well balanced home. Always inquisitive, well spoken and determined to be helpful, LC is a joy to be around and include in our adventures.      

As for entertaining us, LC came up to me on a few occasions looking for someone to join him in an “out of building experience” and of course, I did my part to sooth he restless spirit. Here are a couple of examples of his approach to lure me from the shop. “Hey Tom, do you want to go look at the apple tree with me?” No not really….       ”Sure Charlie let’s go look.” There was something about the apple tree that fascinated him. On another occasion he approached me with “Tom, look at this” LC holds out an apple “do you want to see where I found it? There was a bumble bee there too.” under the apple tree I’m guessing…”Okay show me.”

While in the shop, I was looking out the window watching LC shoot his bow in the backyard, after shooting his three arrows LC, drops his bow, takes off his glove and drops it, removes his armguard and throws it back behind him then walks down to the target and kicks it over… I relayed the incident to the rest of the crew and that’s when the four of us switched our focus from our desire to build a bow to the young archer outside in need of an audience.


 

Originally posted by Killdeer:

(Big Charlie looks good in a jumper...    :D    )

I had a similar comment.  

[zipper bowss]

Good stuff here!!
Bill

[Jim Jackson]

OK, just got off the tractor after a good day of baling and wrapping hay...where were we...

Saturday morning began as it always does when LC is in town, with the door slowly opening and this little blond head peaking his way into the room followed by a headlong plunge onto my bed.  Best alarm clock I can think of!

Coffee and donuts have us out the door and Charlie begins by saying, "Lets have a look at that riser block."  We took off all the clamps and looked her over.  First step to the grinder.  Charlie did the rough cleaning of the piece so we could examine the glue-lines which were perfect.   Then we clamped on his longbow riser jig, and he handed it over to us with the infamous last words, "You can't screw this part up."  Even though each of us quietly was thinking in our heads, "Watch me be the first to screw this part up..." we rough shaped the riser block successfully.

   

(You can tell from my facial expression, I was serious about not trying to screw it up!       :eek:      

I began to see the classy lines of the riser becoming clear.  Charcoal actionwood, with a 1/4 inch piece of phenolic for strength, followed by a heel cap of honey locust to tie in with the limbs.

Next step: grinding the limb laminations.  Charlie recently added a lamination grinder to his arsenal and we spent the rest of the morning grinding and measuring bamboo cores along with the honey locust veneers for the belly of the bow


   


By now it was time to help LC check out the apple tree, fling some arrows, and dive into a early afternoon snack before putting everything into the form for glue-up...

[Jim Jackson]

I want to give credit to Tom for his great pictures.  He always thinks ahead to bring his camera and to stop and take a moment to snap some shots.  Without his pics this thread would be very two dimensional.  Thanks!

[bowhunterfrompast]

[JEFF B]

well looks like yall are having a great time kudos!!! BC LAMB      

[Rob DiStefano]

i love this thread!        

[Whip]

What a great weekend!  Sure must be special to have a hand in the birth of your own bow.  Loving the story and the pictures!  

[Jim Jackson]

It was time to get back to work…

With the laminations ground, Charlie used calipers to thoroughly analyze each one.  Everything came in right on the numbers, so it was time for the form.

Charlie set us to taping newspapers to the bench top for the messy part.  Tom starts laughing and we all look up.  He chuckled, “ Your bow is being born on the obituary pages…”  Charlie laughed and said, “Maybe we’ll call her Obit…”  Serendipitous in several ways, there was no doubt we had found the right name.

First was to ensure we had the laminations in the proper order for gluing.  Clear glass on the bottom and next to it the Honey Locust veneers.   Another group was organized starting with black glass, then a parallel bamboo, followed by a taper, and another tiny parallel to bring the limbs to a close.  These were laid out next to each other in two groups with the well practiced hand of experience.  Lots of questions from us newbies as the excitement built.


 


Next, it was time to set up the form.  We cleared space and broke the form down into components.  Heat tape, wax paper, and clamps were prepared

Third step glue.  Lots of it, by the soup ladle full.  I think each of us was thinking back to our first middle school experience with epoxy glue and how this could be a mess in a heartbeat.  I am sure it has been for many.  Not in this case, however.  Charlie carefully used a putty knife to apply glue to each lamination starting with the black glass.  Three bamboo laminations later and we had an epoxy sandwich going into the back section of the form on top of a section of heat tape.  Next the riser block arose from its beginnings to go into the form.  More glue and the honey locust laminations and clear glass followed.  The epoxy came out perfect, with exactly the right amount, no more no less.   Plenty of wax paper and the top heat tape was placed into the form.  Finally the fire-hose was placed on top of it all.  

There was an air of anticipation and excitement in the shop as we bolted the belly section of the form into place.   Everything was go, and Charlie gave the call to inflate the hose.  As quickly as you can think about it the form grew taught, and there it was… the bow was glued up in the form.  Slick as can be.

I’ve seen build-alongs in past where there is so much glue oozing from the forms that you can hardly tell what is in there.  Not the case at the Sunbear shop.  Each lam showed an equal amount of glue pressed out by the hose, but it certainly was not volcanic.  Everything was in order…

Charlie plugged in the heat tapes, pushed back from the form and announced, “Who’s up for some bowfishing?”  LC answered, “I am!”    

And we were out the door…  

[Gatekeeper]

I kind of got a little lackadaisical on the picture taking at this point so we don’t have pictures of the bow in the form, or coming out of the form….of course I may have been out looking at the apple tree.

Earlier in the day, while BC was tending to his craft of building Andrew’s bow, I was in the corner fiddling with a 60”, 42# Checkmate, Falcon that I have had for about a year. I bought the bow off of Trad Gang with the intentions of turning it into a fishing rig but I wasn’t sure how to go about affixing the reel to the bow. With his proven patients and his ability to multi task, BC stepped away from the primary project to lend me guidance with my little project. Thirty minutes later a hole was drilled in the bow’s riser, the insert was epoxied and tapped into place and 30 minutes after that the bowfishing reel was mounted. Thanks BC!  

As Andrew’s bow set cooking in the form, all of us boys piled into two trucks to head to a local fishing spot that Charlie knows about, this was my first time for bowfishing and I was excited to give it a try. As we were piling into the trucks to go bowfishing, Billie peeks her head out the door to remind us that we had to be back and ready to leave by 3:30 to make it to our dinner reservations on time…because we don’t want to be late meeting the pastor.   :eek:      :eek:    Nobody told be we were having dinner with a pastor, I would have brought my best t-shirt if I knew that.    

A short drive later put us on a gravel road next to a small creek (I don’t remember the name of the creek). We eagerly stationed ourselves on the bridge that BC had scouted out for us a few days earlier. Bows ready we all stood poised waiting for the first shot… but we couldn’t get any of the fish to play our game. Needing to shoot our bows we eventually gave in to the desire and started shooting at objects floating down the creek. No fish were shot or shot at but fun was had by all just the same.

We returned to the Lamb’s house to find Billie in the pool and young Lucky Lou, an orange tabby cat, drenched from an afternoon swimming lesson given to him by Billie. Apparently he likes swimming.      With time to spare before our dinner reservations we changed into our swim trunks and spent the remainder of the afternoon in the pool escaping the sultry day.

[Jim Jackson]

After an evening of fellowship and Thai food, we returned to have a look at the bow.  

Much to our dismay right at the center section of the riser, the fire hose had popped out of the form a bit and some of the laminations appeared to be a bit off center.  There was a moment of silence in the shop as everyone held their breath.  Charlie broke the quiet, “We might as well have a look at and see how bad it is.”  We disassembled the form and quickly found the problem.  With the barrage of questions from us newbies, we had distracted Charlie enough that we forgot to tighten the center lower bolts holding the belly and back of the forms together.  Just enough to allow the fire hose to slip.  We all feared the worst.

Charlie fired up the belt sander and ground off the excess glue down to the wood to allow a closer examination.  About 1/8 inch  of the glass and lams on the back side had moved laterally.  Thirty minutes of roughing out the bow, taking measurements, and continued work with grinder and files.  “Relax, no problem!” Charlie announced and we all remembered to breath again.  

Time to fire up a stogie and celebrate!  BC style…        

 

[Cody Roiter]

Looks like u guys had fun.....

Great Pics,

Cody

[Gatekeeper]

I love that picture!  

[BMN]

I agree Tom, what a great picture!

[Guru]

   

[Jim Jackson]

We stayed up late enjoying the satisfaction that all was well with the bow.   A swim, a few more brown bottles, and we ended the evening in Charlie’s den which houses dozens of bows.  We had to know the stories behind each.  Last words before we turned in for the night, “ You’ll shoot her tomorrow by noon.”

I slept well.

Sunday morning found us up with the usual LC wakeup call by dawn’s early light.  Coffee and some of Billie’s Killer Cinammon Rolls.   Several B.K.C.R.s later and an equal number of coffee refills and we were off to the shop.


We started by taping off the back of the bow and making basic measurements.  Charlie talked us through it all, patiently teaching as his vision came into being.  I’ve heard him say many times, “Its all about finding the bow hidden in the wood.”  We were able to see the reality of that come into place during our final day.

Here we are at the beginning of the morning laying out the details:

 

When the powertools shut down and Charlie began working in earnest with files, I began to really see the artistry of the bowyer.  

To me this was the magic day.  This is where it went from assembly of parts to artistry through sweat and finesse.  


Here the shelf has been cut into place and Charlie is beginning to create the grip:

 


Here is the backside of the grip working on the thumb groove:

 


And here is my favorite of Tom’s pictures.  The riser is clearly there, and just requires fine tuning:

 


Charlie had me grip and shoot his own personal longbow and get a feel for what I would like in the handle.  He spent the latter part of the morning getting the grip to suit me.  I couldn’t be happier.

Now it was time to check the rough weight of the bow.  Into the vice and after a couple practice pulls, she checked out in the upper 60’s about 10 pounds over our target weight.  

Charlie:  “No problem, time for the first shot!”

Here is a series of video stills from Tom showing my first shot with bow:

 

Smooth and right on target.  I shot a dozen or so arrows and it was time for lunch.  The thunder began to roll in from some ominous clouds, so we hurried in for another great meal.  

Charlie:  “Told you, First shot before noon…”

[Missouri CK]

Gosh, I could use one of those cinnamon rolls right now!  Billie should auction those things off next year during St. Jude's.  Yeast bread, raisins, walnuts, plenty of cinnamon and sugar all topped with cream cheese icing.

Eat your heart out Iron Bull  

[Jim Jackson]

The rain set in for good after lunch.  We hot-footed it back to the shop for the finale.  The finish files came out, and so did the personality of the bow.  Tip overlays jumped into final shape:  Black glass sandwiched between to layers of white, with the finishing touch of some ebony from the cutoff pile.  Charlie doesn’t let much go to waste, all of the cutoffs go into a pile for resurrection as overlays or accents.

Charlie and I mulled several pieces of honey locust over for the perfect grip overlay.   We picked a nice piece with some red swirling patterns and glued it over the top of the same alternating black and white glass.

One of the aspects of the bow that I like so much is the contrasts between the back and belly.  The deer sees only the black glass and charcoal actionwood.  As you travel around the bow, the phenolic stripe and hint of the heel cap come into view.   Finally, as you finish transiting the bow the honey of the honey locust pops on the belly blending into the riser.  From a distance, it would be hard to tell that the bow wasn’t a self bow if viewing the belly side only.  Beautiful classic lines.

With the overlays glued, final shaping took place.  The soft sounds of the rain on the roof balanced with the steady work of the files.  The grip absolutely fits my hand perfectly.  I can pick this girl up in the dark and it automatically is good to go for the shot.  Charlie’s signature move for the grip are the finger grooves under your thumb and it was really interesting to see him work with my hands and back with the files several times for the perfect fit.

Once the grip was tailored, Charlie began to work on bring the bow into final tiller and weight.  Steady and slow, file and sand…weigh, file and sand, weigh, repeat.  Never very much at a time, and she came into weight very nicely.

By this time, it was rolling into early evening and it was sadly time for us to start thinking about the four hour drive back home.  LC had been amazingly patient all weekend and the typical Sunday realization that work is right around the corner was particularly hard this weekend.

With great appreciation of the hospitality and patient instruction we had received we said our goodbyes and headed home.

Parting words from Charlie with a wink: “Look for a package in the mail in a week or so.”

I thought of little else on the drive home...