hillowlblank

Note: Recently (June 2008) several folks seemed to have the idea of buying one of the Hill Archery Hill bow blanks and finishing it themselves. I know of at least four that were ordered in the space of one week... including myself. I seem to have been the last order. Marty Thompson received his blank and did a magnificent job both of finishing it and of documenting his work process. I asked him if he would let me use his material on the Howard Hill Longbowmen site and he graciously agreed. Here's Marty's project...

Dick Wightman

Hill Owl Blank Build-a-long!
By Marty Thompson

When I pulled her out of the box, I was very excited! The bow was in the rough, but beautiful. The edges were rounded but would require a bit of sanding. The shelf was not cut in, but the location was marked with a red line. The Howard Hill website says that you can finish these with nothing but hand tools, and Craig is right. I don't have the patience though. I was itching to fling a few arrows through her! This is what I received in the mail today.

This blank was $350 due to the extra bamboo lam in the core adding $25. Any bow can be ordered as a blank from Howard Hill Archery. Delivery was approximately four weeks after I placed my order.

Now for the build-a-long!

I first mark the depth and length of my shelf cut out. The directions say to cut it 3/8" deep. I mark it 1/4" deep and plan to file it to the line. I carry the line of my shelf cut-out 2 1/4" up the riser. I use my band saw, and four way rasp and have it ready to sand in about 30 minutes. I decide to add some radius to the shelf. Craig normally cuts them pretty flat. I also file the handle area down some to make a locater style grip.

It takes me about 30 minutes with a four way rasp to shape the shelf and locater grip.

I put a piece of electrical tape on the shelf, string her up, and go out back to shoot a few. Wow! She shoots really well, right where I’m looking. She's drawing about 54@27 according to my scale, so I guess Craig plans on me sanding quite a bit to hit 50. If it loses just a pound or two I will be happy. Last thing for the night is gluing on tip overlays of cocobolo to match the riser. Here they are glued on with CA (super glue) Gel. I will dress them up in the morning and start sanding. I hope to be spraying finish by tomorrow evening after work.

This morning I clean up the tip overlays and cut the side grooves in with a chain saw file. I carry the groove all the way over the overlay. Total tip shaping takes about 20-30 minutes.

I then start sanding. It takes me about 1 1/2 hours to sand through 220 grit. I don’t sand the glass faces until I reach the 220 grit stage. Cocobolo is an oily wood that most finishes will never dry over, so something must be used to seal it before finishing. After sanding with 220, I apply two coats of superglue to the cocobolo on the riser and tips. I spread it on with my finger, careful not to stop in any one spot and get glued to the bow! I sand the super glue between coats with 400 grit. I will sand the entire bow with 400 tonight and start spraying. The superglue gives me a hint of the color that will pop out when finally finished. Beautiful!

I have built a few wood bows, and am getting the bugs worked out of how I do things. The finish is driving me bonkers though. I have been using a spray lacquer which is really easy to apply, looks great, but is not very durable. I am not set up with a sprayer yet, but that is what I need. I bought some spar urethane in a can for this one and started spraying last night. The can says to re-coat within 90 minutes, or you must wait 72 hours. This stuff was still very tacky after 3 hours on the first coat! I stripped it all off and am spraying it with the Minwax spray lacquer that I am used to using. It will scuff some, but is really easy to touch up. It is susceptible to about any solvent though. I have to do the ink work this morning, and I will post some more photos.

This morning I start my leather grip. I start with an over-size piece of leather cut square on the edges. Most of mine will be around 4 1/4" tall when finished.

I have to cut this one shorter, because it covers the inked specs. Be sure to stretch it plenty as you are trimming. You want a very good stretched fit. Some leather stretches bunches, this piece does not.

Make sure you use a very sharp blade for your trimming, or it will look ragged. Make sure your top and bottom lines up along the seam.

I always cut a little whoop-te-do for the shelf radius. I had to jump ahead with the photos to show you the whoop-te-doo.

Now you need to mark and cut the width so it lines up, and is the right size. Stretch a lot for this measurement and cut. You want to pull it together slightly when stitching it up. You can't pull too hard or you will rip out the holes. A good fit is paramount to a nice grip. It will bunch up under your hand if too big, and have a gap at the seam if too small.

You want enough gap that it takes considerable stretching to get it to meet at the seam.
Time to cut a strike plate piece. You can get fancy here if your want, by making it look like an arrow head (Pearson I think), or indian head (Indian). I prefer simple and classic.

Fit it as you cut to make sure it looks right to you. I like it to run under the grip wrap at the bottom, because it gives it a neater appearance to me.

I use a leather chisel to punch my holes. They can be bought at Tandy leather for $7-8. I used to punch round holes, but found that this tool makes for a more finished looking grip with the small slits.

I put the first chisel blade in the last hole to keep my spacing right for the next set of holes. At the end, I have to use the last two holes for alignment, because I ran out of grip. I keep my outermost holes about 1/8" in for strength. If you cut your holes too close to the edge they will pull out when lacing it up.

Everything should line up nice, and they should have the same number of holes side-to-side. This is all for now. I have to let my finish cure for 24 hours before I lace the grip tonight.

I decided to go with black instead of the above brown piece. I prepared it the same way. I start out by wrapping the finished piece in position, stretching it until the seams meet, and then marking the belly side so that I can get in the exact position when I apply a little glue.

I then trace out my leather strike plate on the bow with a pencil, so I know where to put the glue. When applying contact cement, or barge cement, be very careful that none gets on the bow except where the leather will be, or it will harm the lacquer finish that I use, and many others.

When both bow and leather has dried for several minutes, so that they are no longer wet, it's time to apply. I start by sticking the top point and rolling down the strike plate with a screw driver which has a small shank. The screw driver makes it seat well in the corner of the shelf.

Now it's time to apply glue to the belly side of the bow where the grip will be. I only apply about a 1" wide strip to the bow and then to the leather. I just want some glue to keep the grip from shifting under my hand when shooting. Align the index marks top and bottom, and glue her on. I forgot to photograph that part.

Now we are ready for the stitching. I use two curved needles and about 36" of heavy nylon leather sewing thread.

I start at the top like this, and then stitch my way down, always making sure I stitch right over left. I am constantly pulling and stretching the leather to make sure I don't have to tug too hard on my stitching holes. It will be a stretch fit, so you have to tug as you stitch. It would really help to have an extra hand here, but not necessary.

When I get to the bottom I tie one half of a square knot and check my stitches. If they are not tight, or the leather is not seaming well, I will use one of the needles to pick at the threads from top to bottom, pulling out the slack.

I then finish the square knot and trim to about 1/8" from the knot. I then take a lighter and burn the ends. If you leave the tag ends too long they will burn down, but will turn black. If you burn a very short piece they just turn into little molten nylon balls that are not unattractive.