Reflex/Deflex Bamboo backed Osage Tri-Lam build-a-long

[wytetale]

I ended up taking to much off in the mid limb area, and not enough in the last third. I wanted to leave the tips fairly stiff, but not that much.Sometimes when your tillering everything seems fine. You stop come back to it and you see something different. When I posted this it was the first I saw the pic and could really see how much it was bending in the mid. What I am going to do is start to get the last third of the linbs bending more.

[wytetale]

Did a little more work on the tillering. Got theouter third of the limbs bending a little. Looks alot better, lost 5# doing so.45# at 28" now. The whole key to tillering I think is getting your thickness of your lamination or your belly wood at the proper dementions before you glue up. This one was way to heavy to start. The demensions I used worked fine for a 66" bow, but for a 60" it was way to stiff to start with. The more wood you have to remove and the more you have to tiller the more you have a chance of getting a hinge or fret in the belly. Probably should of had a taper of 3/16 to 1/16 on the mid lam and kept the 1/8 on the belly. That will be in my notes for the next one.

[wytetale]

Tillering is done now to lay out the handle, you can lay it out on the bamboo before you glue it up and cut to shape then, or like I do I do it after everything is glued up. I draw a centerline through the handle length wise. Find center of the bow and mark it.Next I measure 2 1/4" off each side of center. That my handle. From center again measure 4 1/2" off each side that will be the end of the fades. At the end of my handle marks I mark the width on each side 1" overall. Then draw my lines in. Should look like this.

Then cut it out

Now to cut in the shelf, word of caution make sure you mark the top or bottom limb, I have cut the shelf on the wrong side already, you either have a lefty or you have to go back and retiller it to switch the limbs from top to bottom. I measure 2" up from center for my shelf, Then I go 3/8"deep and taper up 3" for the sight window.

[wytetale]

After the shelf is cut out I will measure down 1/4" and draw a line across the handle and then draw a radius on it. Then I will mark the handle. and cut it out.

[wytetale]

Now for the fun part shaping the handle. Everybody has there own way and shape they like. My dad does a lot of bird carvings and two dremel like tools that run on a cable. one is set up for taking the bulk of the wood off and have the other set up with a sanding drum. It takes me a bout 15 min to cut the radius on the shelf and to shape the handle.

[wytetale]

Time to shape the nock. first I brace it at 6 1/2" and then draw a pencil line along the string on each side. That gives me my marks to file for my string grooves then. After I file them in I will lay out my tips to the shape I want. Always experimenting with tip shapes.

[wytetale]

All thats left is a final sanding and to dress her up with a little stain and leather grip. That will be this weekends project along with finishing up two more bows. Here is a full draw pic and a braced pic. Shot about 20 arrows out of it and it shoots really sweet.

[david w.]

Looks great! this is a great buildalong

[Dustybaer]

excellent. thanks for doing this.

[radius]

yes, this is totally awesome...i have just got one tillered in...i shot about 20 arrows out of it, and they f'n fly.!!!  but when i weigh it in, it's only 30# at 28!!!!  What's up with that?  It's 64" long, so I'm going to pike it and see where that takes me...

[radius]

I lost a couple of pics when my batteries went dead.I t was showing how we fit the belly lams to the fades, I will explain it. First you want to make sure that you have a real smooth transition from your fades on to the center lam. Once you have that mark your belly lams 6" up from the end and taper them to about 1/16". I just use the belt sander. Then Take a couple of spring clamps and clamp the Lam on to the fades and see if you get a tight fit. You might have to sand a bit here or there. After you get a good fit,what we will do is take a heat gun to the lam while it is clamped to the riser so it will take the shape of the fade. It takes stress off of it and it also makes it easier gluing it up. When your ready to glue it up use the blocks that you cut from the fades and use them to clamp the lams in place on to the fades. We are going to make another one this weekend and I'll post the pics of it.

Wytetale:  You don't find that using heat on the belly lam, while it is clamped to the bow, affects the glue-up at all?  I tried heat-treating the belly of a bamboo/maple bow and the epoxy crapped out on me...

[radius]

First pull with the longstring was about 14" when I hit 50# When we get a bow off the form. Ilike to be able to pull it to about 20",Then I know that I will be pretty close to getting a string on it at about a 2-3 in brace. I only had a 1/8" belly lam to work with on this one, not a whole lot of room for mistakes. I took some more off from the fades to mid limb and started to get it to bend. Got a short string on it and am at 50# AT 22" with a 2" brace. right limb is a little stiffer yet.

to pull it to 20"...how much longer than the stave is the long string?  4 inches?  8?  just barely long enough to latch onto the nocks?

[seantOH]

Wytetale,

I love the look of your bows!  I am going to try to build my first bow using your design as a model.  I have a couple of questions.  Where did you get the Argentine Osage and the Boo?  What are the the measurements of your form? How long is the form, what angle is used on the end blocks and how tall are the 2x4 blocks that create the reflex/ deflex?  Thanks for the great build along!!

seantOH

[radius]

EVERYONE!!!

Bell Forest Products in Michigan (i think) has just rec'd a large shipment of 4/4 argentine osage.  The price is $18 a board foot.  You can get a piece 12" wide by 6 feet long by 1 inch thick for just over 100 bucks.  Compare that to paying $30 or more for a "bow blank"!!!! 

The email address is eric@bellforestproducts.com.  Please tell him that Scott McCall referred you.  Thanks.

Scott

[Newen]

Hello Good Afternoon excuse my intrusion a little late (120 days) but I would tell them that in my country Argentina there timber Osage wood that is very similar to the Osage that you know is called Cloudberry or yatauba
I know it's late to clarify this issue but be careful with people who are cheating maybe telling them about our country's wood that does not exist
For any information about this please contact us at: arcosnewen@gmail.com from esters and their willingness to tell them about our wood, we clarified that Woods is my country and I work with them every day making bows.

http://arcostradicionalesnewen.jimdo.com/

I'm sorry if my English is not good

Regards
Gabriel