2018 Bow Trade-Completed

[Morgan]

Beauty of a bow Hoosier. Feel bad for the feller getting my bow to be now lol.

[Swampman]

That looks real good Hoosier.  Nice work.

[hoosierf]

Thanks fellas. I don’t usually make them pretty but the backup designation of this backup bow is for a birthday in August so kind of killing two birds with one stone.

My birch is kind of in limbo. I probably have to make another plan. Its pretty clear to me that my stave is not long, dense, or wide enough to hit my target weight without taking too much set. I’ll probably finish it and see how it comes out while i ponder my options. I want to hit 55# 29” but even sinewed it’s not gonna make it. That stave wants to be a 40# bow. The bugger.

[M2A]

Nice bow you finished there hoosierf!

Been making some progress on my piece of osage. This piece has more character than any I have worked on yet and its been a fun kinda challenge for me. String alignment has been a concern from the layout of this piece. So I left the nocks and handle wide. Got the bow braced and tillered to 20 inches yesterday. Then used Mr. Burchett's method he posted for this and was able to work the handle down to center string. Getting that done was a big relief however I had been leaving the last 12" of each limb heavy for side to side nock adjustments.

Plans from this point are to heat treat belly wood on cull, then get outer limbs narrowed up close to what I want. Then I can concentrate on getting them to bend enough to not over stress the rest of the limb as I work on tillering the last 8 inches or so. My hopes for this one is to round the fades and handle, no straight lines.

IMG_1877 by Mike Allridge, on Flickr
IMG_1876 by Mike Allridge, on Flickr
IMG_1875 by Mike Allridge, on Flickr
IMG_1871 by Mike Allridge, on Flickr
IMG_1873 by Mike Allridge, on Flickr
                         

[Swampman]

That is looking real good Mike.  Looks like a challenging build.

[burchett.donald]

M2A,
        That look's gorgeous...I love the bend and that front profile is beautiful...That's one of those bows you say, jeesh I hate to send this off!
                     Don

[Morgan]

Looking fine mike! Gonna have to use that string alignment tip!

[JWMALONE]

Well guys the busy busy busy is over for awhile so I should have plenty of time to work on my bow this week.

[stickbowbeard]

Some great looking bows coming out of this!

I was hoping to be further than this by now, but I reckon I've over-committed myself.  I started a bow-building class for some teenagers from church this last week after many requests by individuals to teach them how to make a bow.

I did finish getting the profile roughed out this last weekend, and will start working on the tiller this week as time affords.  I should be able to fling some arrows through this one within the next few weeks.

20180526_153219 by Eric Beard, on Flickr

[Mo_coon-catcher]

I made a bit more progress on the ERC longbow. I excercised it out to 24” where it’s pulling 50#. So I went ahead and fit some nocks. I still have to shape them and clean up rasping marks everywhere. It should still stay above 50# at 27”. If so I’ll be happy. I’ll get some more pics once I get the nocks shaped out, everything cleaned up, and hopefully pulled to full draw. And like every other cedar bow I’ve built, there is no noticeable set at this point.

Kyle

[hoosierf]

Nice, ERC bows are just plain cool.

[JWMALONE]

Forgot to take pics before I glued it up. This is bamboo, black walnut and a Lemon wood belly. Found a piece of jatoba for the riser, should match nicely. The bow I'm holding is Lemon wood and ipe, it should look pretty similar. I will put a few coats of Tung oil on it when I'm done.

[Morgan]

Ought to be a quite pretty combo JW.
Humidity here has been nuts, I’ll get back to tillering my stick when the air dries out some.

[JWMALONE]

Got the riser glued on, its all over but the crying now fellows.
We have had t-storms every afternoon, talk about humidity.

[Swampman]

Lets hope there won't be any crying this time JW.  Looking forward to seeing that one.