Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: lebhuntfish on March 31, 2014, 08:02:17 pm
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Ok so I have a question. I have read a lot on here about everything from splitting a stave to final tiller and the finished bow. I have read that certain parts of bow making is your favorite part. My question is, What is the part or process that you dread doing the most while in the building process? What is the most likely part in the process that you will stop and come back to later?
I find myself dreading the initial removal of the belly area after the roughing out of the shape, the part where I get it to floor tiller, myself. Especially on a static tip bow where your only bending part of the limb. I guess it's because in makes me nervous about messing it up. I'm still pretty new to this.
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I enjoy the whole process until I get to the finish, once I shoot the bow in I tend to loose interest in it. Removing the belly wood is one of my favotite most relaxing aspects to the job.
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I would agree with Badger - Once I start shooting it I get interested in the next one. I have several that are ready for "finish" that are hanging on the wall...waiting!
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The hardest part? Giving them up! :(
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Sanding and tip overlays ,also removing the cabruim on a seasoned hhb stave! Oh yay getting set in the wrong places!
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Well I like removing belly wood once I get to floor tiller but I guess it wouldn't be so bad if the first one I tried to make was Osage and the next was a 2.5" wide limb molly. That and I didn't know how to use a rasp.
I actually really like the finishing process because I just love how beautiful wood is when it's stained or cleared. Its like I get to show everyone the natural beauty of the wood in my own mind.
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I love chasing the grain on osage, dunno why but I do... Hate finish work. Handles wraps! Man I suck.
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Finishing work is my least favorite part. I intend to do better on that. A good bow probably deserves to look it's best, but I have to make myself do the finishing work. Once they are shot in, I am looking on to the next one.
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I really, really dislike the initial floor tiller stage. The part where there is not though wood to risk using more aggressive tools than a rasp, but so much wood that it seems like it will never start bending.
Patrick
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Definitely finishing, you gotta wait on the stuff to dry before you can shoot it more!
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Caused by my ignorance and impatience of course. Can you see the twist of the string?
Really though,
Trying to sneak in time from the wife and kids and then getting in a hurry and screwing up hours of work... :-[ :-[ >:( >:(
I have grown to like tillering a lot more now that I have done a few with an actual scraper ;D I used rasp, files, and sand paper on the first 10 or so and didn't know haw great a scraper is. Don't much like saw dust boogers. Love most of it though.
Doobs
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I hate chasing a ring on thin-ringed wood. There is no way to make it go faster or be more certain. Just have to stare at the wood and figure out what is early wood and what is late. When it's hard to tell, I hate it even more.
I've made a lot of bows, but I'd rather be shooting.
Jim Davis
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Ouch DuBois, that looks painful! I guess another thing I don't like is how sore I am after about 6 hour's, on my shaving horse. I tend to slump over to see what I'm doing better. Then I will pay for it with a sore back for a week. Luckily I have a lot of free time to work on a bow.
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Cutting bow wood, splitting and waiting on it to season. I enjoy everything else. It surprises me that some guys don't like finish work, to me that's the best part of bow building.
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I know tallpine, it's kinda like show off time. I made a bow and it shoots good, but look at its beautifully shiny curves. It's time un show off all of that fine file and rasp and sanding work. With some beautiful finish.
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Bark and sapwood removal on osage :P Sanding would be a close second.
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Breaking 'em and sanding.
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Honestly, I can't think of an aspect that I care for less than the others. I like it all.
Cleaning the shop maybe?
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I like the whole process until the end, sanding is sooo incredibly boring.
I actually like finishing but I usually rush it to get shooting again and my finish never looks top notch.
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Cutting, splitting and hauling it to the truck. But even that is worth the effort once you step back and look at what you got out of it. I like pretty much all the rest of it. I struggle to finish one completely before I start another, like Badger, but I enjoy the finish work.
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I like it all but my least favorite would be roughing out the bow with my hand axe. No bandsaw not do I want one. Jawge
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Giving the bow away to someone else, ;D
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I think the addictive part is the tillering, I love working the bow down by hand usually with a draw knife and as i approach the tillering stage the tension level starts gradually increasing, I call it the pucker factor. Some bows seem to tiller themselves while others seem like every inch is a fight. That seems to be the fun part.
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Ouch DuBois, that looks painful!
Yeah, sorry about pasting my gut all over the place. Not sure if it was wood or just whipped me with string but it sure felt like somebody hit me real hard in the belly with a bow :o
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Looking at someones hairy gut with a huge red scrape on it. HA! Just kidding! That takes a lot of "guts" to do that. ;D You're awesome DuBois! :laugh:
sanding out the last stubborn tool marks.... especially the fades and tip overlays. I don't hate it but it's one part that causes me to want to put it down for another day. I can't stand having tool marks and some are just very hard to get out....
.....another one would be getting within an inch of full draw and hearing a faint tick / cracking noise....oh that causes such a deep rooted sick feeling... I've broken enough to know to just move on and start another and I've learned to try not to get too attached too soon but it's still tough to hear that noise when you have gotten so close...
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I find it all rewarding. The worst is when it goes snap but now a days I even get over that quick. Other than that taking a large stave down without power tools can be exhausting on my hands. When working a new stave I spend many nights without feeling in my fingers. :)
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Man guys you have come up with pretty good ones. I find myself grinning when I read some of these replies. Because some of what you all dislike are things that I haven't dealt with yet. I can say that same of you have built many bows by the comment you have left. Looks like I have a lot to look forward to. I am pretty new to the bow world myself. And have found out that being somewhat of a perfectionist is not always a good thing. ::)
I really like threads like this, it gives you the opportunity to share your troubles and or do a little rant. Patrick.
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finishing..which is probably why i like the no frills meat gettin bows..all business..no dresses!!
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4dog pretty girls can hunt too
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I just hate making bows. PERIOD!!!!!! Cause it consumed my life and I can't stop,and it has taken away a lot of time that couldve been spent with the ones I love.
Haha Jeff....I just cleaned the shop yesterday....its been a long cold winter and it was a fricken disaster and stuff really got piled up everywhere....now I have a huge bonfire in the making :D
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As most others have said, it's generally all enjoyable as heck, but personally I hate the early bend stage. I usually end up with one limb doing strange things as a result of imperfect tapering (tricky on lumpy yew staves!) and it takes me a long time to get my eye in as I'm so inexperienced. Once it's down to brace height I'm usually relaxed again! I tend to take too long at this point which results in set that doesn't need to be there but I'm sure that will improve with time.
I used to hate roughing out (from a split log) but with a power planer that's now a 5 minute job to get it from a piece of tree to a 2" x 2" blank.
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I don't like splicing (that's why I've not spliced a single bow yet), and heat correcting.
Everything else is pure therapy. I can sand for hours on end. I love it when you see those tool marks disappearing underneath your fingers, up to the point where I have blisters on my thumbs from sanding!
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The finish
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Removing tool marks has come up several times here. I use a cross cut metal file followed by a scraper and it seems to make short work of tool marks. I also like to keep a bow in a semi finished state throughout the build once it has been roughed out. It does make finishing go faster. Sanding a finished bow can be measured in minutes rather than hours.
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What Badger said. Even while beginning tillering I alternate surform with scraper like tool. Once I string it no more surform just the scraper. Jawge
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bubby...never said they COULDNT hunt...it just messes up the hunt when they break a nail....lol
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Ditto george and badger!
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Removing tool marks has come up several times here. I use a cross cut metal file followed by a scraper and it seems to make short work of tool marks. I also like to keep a bow in a semi finished state throughout the build once it has been roughed out. It does make finishing go faster. Sanding a finished bow can be measured in minutes rather than hours.
I do basically the same thing. Following the rasp with scraper really cuts down on tool marks and sanding.
Patrick
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Its all good but the part I like least is tip overlays. The part I like most is finishing actually :)
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Removing tool marks has come up several times here. I use a cross cut metal file followed by a scraper and it seems to make short work of tool marks. I also like to keep a bow in a semi finished state throughout the build once it has been roughed out. It does make finishing go faster. Sanding a finished bow can be measured in minutes rather than hours.
This is what I'am using now [course cross cut metal file] 8) talk about a time saver, and save on sandpaper as well. The daunting task of sanding is not as futile.
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I like it all from looking for the tree to the finish .
What I hate the most is when I get in the mood and start a few bows and then the mood leaves before I get them done , I have a couple right now that I need to finish , one is to the tillering stage another needs a sinew wrap on one limb ( when the stave was split out it split down the center of a knot and a splinter is trying to lift , has a nice hole in the other limb) and one needs tip underlays and overlays plus a snake skin . I tend to make mistakes if I'm not in the mood to work on them and last weekend I wanted to but have been fighting alergies and I figured I'd play it safe and not takle the bows while feeling miserable .
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The bit I hate with a passion is when you are looking over the nicely finished belly and you see a silvery line at 45 degrees running across it and you feel sick to your stomach. a chrysal >:(
The other killer is that 'TIC' when you are pulling her on the tiller, it's probably going to be followed by a V load bang, just before you can... BANG too late sucker :o
Del
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I love the zone I get in chasing a ring. The time spent with a sharp pencil and dawn's early light, finding the shape of the bow in the grain of the wood, absolutely magical. Roughing out the bow with a hand axe and hogging with a heavy draw knife while making manly grunts is just plain cool! Then the hours and hours spent with an LED flashlight held at every possible angle to eliminate the finest tool marks is that zen thing all over again. Hand rubbing finishes, as far as I am concerned, is just a labor of love.
What I hate. And hate is such an understatement because it does not include the terror that grips my guts...is the tillering.
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The worst part for me is finding the time to devote 2 or 3 hours at a time, rather than 20-30 minute spurts which often becomes detrimental.
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I do the final bit of tillering with sandpaper. The finish I am talking about is applying a finish
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sanding, i dislike sanding very much.