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

[SwampGhost]

Looking good!

[Dry Bones]

Horn Chaser that sounds like your bow is going to be SWEET. Limbs look good too.

[bassmatt72]

Any progress over the weekend?

[Hunter Todd]

looking good

[Horn chaser]

Any progress over the weekend?

Nope I work all weekend. My weekend starts when I get off work today. I don't get many real weekends off. The material I ordered for overlays on the limbs will be here today and the lumber I ordered to use for the riser will be here Wednesday. Hopefully it gets here early so I can get started on the riser.

[WTK]

Hows the build coming along? Looking good so far and nice veneers.

[Horn chaser]

I have gotten a little bit done as I can't do a whole lot till I get the phenolic I ordered from Big Jim over a week ago to glue to the back of the riser. This will catch you up on the little bit I have done as I wait.

I decided to use a block of Koa I had for the riser. The first was squared the block of Koa at 15 inches. Then I made a jig out of some scrap plywood and clamps so I could cut out the limb pad angles on the table saw.





Making the jig makes it a quick and simple task of doing the limb pads.



After cutting out the limb pads I sanded the back of the riser to the curve I wanted in the middle.



Now that I have that done I make sure the limb pad is square. As long as my table saw is square I shouldn't have any problems here.



Now that everything checked out square I decided to draw the rest of the riser pattern on the bow while I wait on the phenolic to get here.



When the phenolic gets here I will glue it to the back of the riser. Doing this will give the riser a little extra strength. Once I get it glued on I will work on mounting the limbs on the riser. Hopefully it gets here soon.

[SwampGhost]

This is going to be sweet!

[SwampRabbit]

I am really enjoying this build. Very educational.

[Pullersboy]

I've never seen a build before. This is very cool. I'm impressed. Now I have something else I'd like to try my hand at someday....along w/ knife building. Following.

[Hunter Todd]

Really nice thread, thanks!

[Horn chaser]

Got some more done this week now that the phenolic strip showed up. I didn't take any pics during the limb bolt attachment work mainly because I was cussing it during the whole process as I was doing it. Next time I will rig up a jig so I can use the drill press instead of using a hand drill and the drilling jig alone.

Anyways after fighting and cussing the limb bolt work I finally have an idea of the shape the bow is going to take. I am thinking now I should have went with a 20 or 21 degree limb pad but I will continue on and see how this one works and hopefully I am overthinking it.



After I got the limbs attached I taped off the limbs and ran fishing string from one tip to the other to make sure I cut the limbs out straight and the string runs center of the bow.
The limbs drawn out and ready for shaping.



After shaping to the lines on the belt sander this is what the limbs look like.



And how they look with the tape removed. I had originally put the limb pad overlays on and then decided I wanted to do them different.




Now to the fun part I cut out the belly of the bow so I can start shaping it. Bolted the limbs back on to get a better idea of how its going to look.



I cut out the sight window on the bandsaw and I have started shaping the riser with rasp. I tend to do most of my riser shaping with a rasp as I worry about screwing up with a power sander on this part. I can take my time and make sure it shapes out like I want this way better for me. This is where I am at now on the bow build I still have some more rasping to do then I can start sanding the riser smooth.



Also since I forgot to take a pic of working on the limb attachment here is a pic of the limb pad and what I done. I used a double pin attachment with the limb bolt.



This is where I stand as of right now I am going to glue on the tips in the morning before I head off to work and continue shaping the riser. Not a whole lot longer and I will be able to put a string on it. Then I will find out if I should have gone with the bigger limb pad angle or not.

[bassmatt72]

Looking really nice! I tapered my limbs before I drilled the limb bolts, I got lucky and it all worked out. I like how you bolted the limbs first and found center with a string.

[Southernshiver]

This is looking awesome! Can't wait to see the finished product.

[bmc09]

Looking really good, sir