2021 Bow Trade - build in progress

[Kidder]

I’ve got something a little overly fancy for my guy. Hopefully it doesn’t bite me in the butt but plan B and C are done. Plan A will take me right up till the shipping date.

If you don’t post pictures it didn’t really happen! That said we do need to see some progress photos from people!

[Kidder]

So I managed to get my new belly lam done up without too much drama. This piece is actually prettier than the first one. I glued on handle wood that is mostly sapwood except on the shelf side where the heartwood extends barely to the edge. I did this because I’m going to do an inlaid strike plate and the solid color should look better. Was also able to get my glue up done this afternoon. Putting in about 4 inches of Perry reflex. Hoping that once it’s taken off the form it keeps 2.5-3 inches which would mean if I do all as I hope to, it’ll maintain about 1 inch of reflex once it’s shot in.

[Mafort]

I’ve already got the stave roughed out lol

[stuckinthemud]

Let's play guess what.  27 inch billets been nagging me for years,  may well be plan A but what are they???

[simk]

Kidder - always good to realize early enough that you have to restart  this one will be fast, enough reflex for sure 
Stuck - must be somewhat dense wood with that small diameter  my guess was something cornus sanguinea?

[simk]

welll... the next chapter of my b-project: my perfect piece of elm had some strange wood in it, some whitish and crumbly/crispy. dunno what it was, probably some kind fungal defect. Never occurred that before. So the perfect piece developped into a worried child - took down ring after ring and also narrowed it further and further to get rid of that stuff.
finally I ended up with a very narrow stave, its maybe 1 1/2" now. To keep the grip thick enough I let some additional rings on the back then. I actually wanted to make a pyramid-d/r. >>>>>>Now its only gonna be a d/r. I will have to make the profile a little more conservative than I had planned. Take away some bend from the inners, reduce reflex and do less aggressive recurves finally. As narrow it is, it also will be a test of what elm can do/take...
That's how it looks like now, roughed out. Just pulled 45# to see what it does, no tillering. Off course the lack of width-taper makes it too stiff towards the outers. At least it's hinging evenly for the moment. I now will tiller it to 28" and then bend in the recurves. The rings are so fat that I only have two of them in the limbs     

[simk]

...and well... as already announced I went for another hike to find the perfect piece for my A-project. After 2 hours came back with something. I now have two absolutley wicked yewie branches roughed out and clamped for drying. Either of them will be a pain to give away  one maybe is going to be a hollow limb, the other a 5-curve...

[stuckinthemud]

Not cornus, but a small dense shrub is heading the right way

[Flntknp17]

I made a stop at a local sawmill recently and picked up some fantastic hickory that I will be using for my trade bow.  The sawyer bemoaned the fact that had had one large hickory tree that was so straight and knot-free that none of his furniture building customers wanted it!  I bought half the tree and may well go back for the rest because its the best hickory I have seen.....and I've built a lot of hickory bows!  I got about 26 board feet of it.  So straight that many of of the 36" billets I have cut thus far have any grain run-out on either the sides or the back/belly.  A really nice tree for sure.  I cut the billets for my trade bow and have W-spliced a set and rough cut the profile for a BBH longbow with some Perry reflex.




I need to get back to finishing the bow.....but I have been distracted lately working on building a fiddle from scratch.  I have the sides complete (on the bending form in the pic) and have about half the carving done on the fir top plate. 




Matt

[TimothyR]

I'm planning on a bamboo backed padauk and maybe a bamboo backed Ipe. I'll get picks up as soon as I can

[Kidder]

Pulled my bow off the form and unwrapped it. As expected it maintained 2.5 inches of reflex. The glue line appears “ok” - not perfect, but acceptable. In hindsight I would use a little more glue, but I’m not seeing anything that is likely going to be a problem so to speak.
Simk - the very idea of a yew 5 curve gives me heart palpitations!

[Santanasaur]

Here are some staves I’m considering for the trade bow. I’ll rough a few out and then decide on designs. I’ve also been tanning some snapping  turtle leather and if it turns out well that might show up in the bow. I’m torn between a clean stave of tip top hickory or something more fun and characterful. Will decide after the rough outs

[Digital Caveman]

Personally I would use the clean wood for less risk or a higher weight, but you certainly seem able to turn interesting wood into good bows. 

[TimothyR]

 (=)I'm going on vacation for a few days so I won't be posting anything till next week. It's gotten cold here so a soon as it warms up I'll get a couple glued up.

[simk]

Nice to see everybody gettin' along so well 
Mafort, we want pics 
While my yewies are loosing moisture I had time to correct string alignement on the deflexed elm and tiller it to 48# @ 28" => its time to recurve and heat treat now  a little over 1" of set so far seems ok - will anyway start from scratch after the heat treating...
cheers