A little horn bow

[welch2]

This is my first bow to post on here.It's a gemsbok bellied bow.51"long ntn and 3/4" wide at the handle. The core is bamboo flooring ,the siyahs are hickory ,and the sinew (4 layers) are dyed black.I made it for my 9 year old son for Christmas. I tried to copy the look of of the 'mirkwood bow' in the first lotr movie. And I used the bows from King Tut's tomb for construction ideas.

[ratty]

cool

[tom sawyer]

Real nice bow, your son looks proud.  A bow like that should be nearly indestructible too, good for the young ones.

Whats the poundage?  And what glue did you use to glue the gemsbok horn on the belly?  Any tips for flattening the gemsbok?  Did you use 1/4 of a horn for the strips or 1/2?

[welch2]

It's 25 pounds at 28" ,even though I've pulled it 31". I'm hoping he can shoot this one quite awhile.

For glue I mixed hide glue and fish bladder glue 50/50.

for the horn I didn't flatten it, the bow is only 3/4" wide at the handle .So I sawed the horn in two ,trimmed the sides off,then sanded the core side of the horn flat.I also sanded off the ridges.  The horns are butted at the handle ,and tapper in thickness until paper thin where they end just after overlapping the V-splice joint core to siyah.

The horn and core were both grooved with a toothing plane blade. And after deflexing the core with steam ,I glued a piece of oak to the belly side of the core to build it up and to make the the horns butt together straight instead of at the deflex angle.

Ralph

[Hillbilly]

That's a really nice bow, Ralph. I'm sure your son loves it.

[tom sawyer]

I made a composite with gemsbok horn, but I cheated and used resorcinol for glue.

[welch2]

good to know resorcinol will work on horn.I used urac once it works too.

Thanks Hillbilly he's bringing it to the Tennessee Classic saturday.

Ralph

[AndrewS]

Ralph, what a fine bow.

I wish you are my daddy ( and my name is Ralph)

[welch2]

Thank you AndrewS ,but my wife says I can't have any more kids.

Ralph

[Coo-wah-chobee]

....Good lookin' bow Ralph ! Did it take long to build it ? Boy looks like he luvs it !.....bob

[welch2]

I worked on it for about a year ,waiting for each layer of sinew to dry, and having to work on it only when my son wasn't around, took up alot of time. I let each  layer dry about a month . If I make anouther and try for higher draw wieght ,I'll try to pull more reflex into it as I add sinew layers.

Glad you like it Bob 

Ralph

[Jbell]

I love it! My son is pretty jelous I have been telling him I would build him a Mirkwwod bow for quite a while now, since you are making me look like a bad dad I better get on it, LOL. It is good to know that urac works on horn, I have a horn bow project in the works(wow I feel selfish )

[welch2]

Jbell, I need to add, I lined the bamboo flooring up so that the glue lines from the laminations show on the belly and the back of the core.I think it adds lateral stability to such a narrow bow.

Ralph

[medicinewheel]

really nice bow! .....i have various horns laying around, maybe i should get started 
frank

[DanaM]

Great  job I bet yer son is bragging ya up to all his friends. Major dad points.

DanaM