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Main Boards => The Bowyer's Bench => Topic started by: blacktailchaser on August 16, 2008, 08:41:00 AM
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i was wondering how many guys make there own risers for glass bows.and what are some sizes for a long bow.i dont know if this is a good idea or not.but, i was thinking about getting some peices of pine to just practice cutting out the size and shape and getting the fade outs thin.before doing it on a good peice of wood.so what do you think.thanks john
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I don't make glass bows, but to pratice on something to get it down so you can work on other woods, that would be a smart thing to do.
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I make my own. I've been using a 16" riser with a 4 1/4" handle section. Tropical hardwoods will cut much differently that pine though! I would buy a piece of hickory or oak to practice on. I use a small hobby band saw to cut out the fades and then sand them paper thin with a hand held belt sander. I tape the riser down at the handle section to a board that is about 30" long. That way you can ride the belt sander from the longer board up onto the fades you are working on. If you are really careful, you can do a good job this way. Keeping the surface of the fades square is a challenge though!
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thanks sal and marty.i will take the advice and try to aply it some day.thanks john
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I make mine pretty much like Marty, but I use an oscillating drum sander to sand the fades. I also back the "riser" with another board while sanding the fades. It keeps them from moving (either toward or away) from the sanding drum. Nothing magical about making a riser, just get some wood and practice. Once you're good at shaping a riser, then you'll want to start laminating them up from various woods, then you'll want to start in-laying pieces, then you'll want to......well, you know where this going. Once you start you just can't stop, and they'll want to be fancier and fancier and fancier!
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apex predator, that was a good tip on the sanding the riser fades!! I 've been having trouble keeping mine together and even. Thanks.
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Apex Predator,
I tried to PM you - is your Inbox full?
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John,
When I first started making risers, I had several "practice" pieces as well. I found a pile of old wood cargo pallets (I seem to find them laying around a lot) and cut my practice risers from them. Around here the pallets are made from oak, ash, sweetgum and other hardwoods. It's a dang shame, to me at least, to cut down these trees for a disposable product, so I guess I am recycling. Most of my practice pieces actually found their way into good bows. The hardwoods in the pallets worked really nice and had good looking grain.
Nab you some hardwood off of some pallets. Good wood, good practice.
OkKeith
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You need to experiment with riser lengths. I have been making my own for years, I make a 64" r/d longbow and I always used an 18" riser, the bow shot well but when I increased the length to 20" it chnged the whole feel of the bow for the better, the bow felt smoother to draw and shoot. I don't know why this is the case but I would never go back to a shorter riser for this bow. The bow draws 2.5#-3# per inch out to 30"...Glenn...
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man,you guys have a lot of good ideas.and some are cheap to.and thats what it like.thanks for the info.john