Who is up for a bow build-a-long?

[dropem]

All caught up. Looking good!!!

[CollierAnderson]

in.

[TXMark]

This will be just another thing that will affirm for me that y'all bowyers can keep building bows, and I will just buy them from you!

I envy the work y'all do, but in no way do I have the patience to do it!!!

Bisch

I'm with Bisch. Way above my paygrade.

[Caddo]

This will be just another thing that will affirm for me that y'all bowyers can keep building bows, and I will just buy them from you!

I envy the work y'all do, but in no way do I have the patience to do it!!!

Bisch

X3!

[Dry Bones]

Any development?

[Horn chaser]

There has been a little bit. I finally have a couple days off work starting today. I am going to finish the form for the limbs today and start working on the riser block. Hopefully my supplies will get here soon and I can glue up some limbs.

[Hunter Todd]

Gonna be fun to watch!

[Horn chaser]

The next step I done was put in a block so I can butt the limb up to during glue up.





My next step I took some washers and attached them to the sides of the form. They will help keep everything lined up during the glue up. I have them attached so that I can move them higher or lower depending on the limb I am gluing up.



The final step I took in making the form is attaching some spacers to the side of the form and drilling the holes to attach the press locking bars to the side. I attached them so that I would have a 1 1/4 inch space between the top and bottom of the form.



As to this point I am done making the form until I get my new pressure hose in and other odd and end supplies. I ordered them last week and they were just shipped out today. When they come in I can do a dry run and see if I need to modify the form any.

In the meantime I started sketching out some ideas for the riser today. As of right now this is the riser design I am leaning too.



I am going with an 18 degree limb pad and a 15 inch riser overall to start with on this bow. I might end up changing the limb pad angle later on depending on how it turns out. Hopefully I won't have to though.

Now since I will be waiting on supplies I will start working on the riser block tomorrow.

[Dry Bones]

Form is looking good. I don't believe I could design a full form just off the profile of a limb I liked. Sort of like a person who hears a song for the first time and then plays it.
Nothing but respect.

[Horn chaser]

Got another day off work and got the materials I needed in to complete the form. So I am back to the bow build today. I had been waiting on a new air hose and pressure strip to go with this form. I got the core wood ground and the veneers sanded to thickness. I decided to use some Bocote I had left over from the bow I built for Mitch Moreland on this build.

This is a pic of all the materials for the limb laid out.



Now that I got everything ground its time to do a dry run and make sure everything works like it should. I did have to make one modification to the form in that I had to cut a little section out of the top of the form so I could maintain an even spacing for the air hose going over the left side of the form.



Now that the test run shows no gaps and everything lines up correctly its time to start the glue up of the limb.



When putting the glue on the veneers you can get an idea of how they are going to look under the glass when done. I think these are going to look pretty good when done.



Now that I have glue on everything its the fun part. When glue is on everything the limb is slippery as snot and keeping it lined up can be a pain. So far though on this glue up it was considerably easier to keep everything lined up than it is on a one piece bow. After laying all the pieces together I wrap tape them together on end with the wedge and wrap it with saran wrap. You can also wrap it with wax paper if you want. I prefer saran wrap so I can see everything and make sure everything stays lined up. Wax paper comes off easier than the saran wrap though.
Now I then put the limb on the form I start with the big end with the wedge and tape it to the form with some clear packing tape to help keep everything lined up. Curving the limb around the form I add tape to the middle and the tip end. Now the whole limb is in place and secured with the tape and washers on the side of the form. The next step is to put the pressure strip on top of the limb and lay the air hose over the form. The last step is to bolt the top of the form on and air the hose up to around 50 p.s.i.



The great thing about using smooth on epoxy is that it gives me plenty of time to make sure I have everything lined up during the glue up and getting it in the form. Once I have it all set to go I put the form in our bow oven to help cure the smooth on epoxy. The timer is set to keep the heat on for 4 hours and then turn off.



I have this one in the oven and in the morning I will come back and pull the form out of the oven and get started on the second limb in the morning. Now if tomorrow will hurry up and get here so I can see how this limb looks glued up!!

[DesertDug]

You are a craftsman

[bmc09]

Very cool.

[chackworth3]

It's coming along nicely Tommy. The pics don't do the bocote justice

[KenWood]

Smooth on is the best. I used to use urac until it was discontinued.

[hoythunter28]

Really cool