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Main Boards => The Bowyer's Bench => Topic started by: bjansen on November 08, 2008, 09:17:00 PM
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Hello all, I took some pictures along the way this week so I thought I would post a short build a long for my first recurve.
This turned out better than I ever thought and shoots better than any other I have made to date.
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I am using the Bingham 60" 1.75" limb design. First thing to do was build the form. I used 3 laminations of 5/8 plywood, which came out to exactly 1.75 inchs when glued up. Cut on the bandsaw, sanded, reverse tapers installed then formica on top. Paste wax on the entire thing, then a coat of car wax.
This worked really well. Here is a pic of thec completed form.
(http://i492.photobucket.com/albums/rr287/bjjanse/Bowerpics055.jpg)
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For the riser, I used 3 pieces of maple, 4 pieces of walnut which I decreased in thickness 20% of so each time. I used .040 white glass, and one tapered maple lam (.110 - .002) and one walnut lam (.065 parallel). I glued up the riser using smooth, sanded to desired shape and glued e/t up. It was my first time using smooth on (used to use bow-grip 100)...smooth on worked great.
(http://i492.photobucket.com/albums/rr287/bjjanse/Bowerpics061.jpg)
Here is a pic of the bow when it came out of the form.
(http://i492.photobucket.com/albums/rr287/bjjanse/CopyofBowerpics063.jpg)
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Next, I cut the limbs to length and installed the overlays
(http://i492.photobucket.com/albums/rr287/bjjanse/Bowerpics067.jpg)
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Now check for tiller
(http://i492.photobucket.com/albums/rr287/bjjanse/Bowerpics068.jpg)
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Cut the shelf
(http://i492.photobucket.com/albums/rr287/bjjanse/Bowerpics069.jpg)
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Start to cut the riser to shape
(http://i492.photobucket.com/albums/rr287/bjjanse/Bowerpics070.jpg)
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Tip overlays. I used .030 laminated maple, .60 zebra and .40 white glass
(http://i492.photobucket.com/albums/rr287/bjjanse/Bowerpics078-1.jpg)
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Kept sanding
(http://i492.photobucket.com/albums/rr287/bjjanse/Bowerpics075.jpg)
(http://i492.photobucket.com/albums/rr287/bjjanse/Bowerpics074-1.jpg)
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Strung it up. I increased the brace height to 6.25 (shown below it is at 5.5 or so) Shoots great.
(http://i492.photobucket.com/albums/rr287/bjjanse/Bowerpics072-1-1.jpg)
(http://i492.photobucket.com/albums/rr287/bjjanse/Bowerpics076-1.jpg)
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Here is a pic after sanding with 100 grit (and some mineral spirits to check for misses). Also i traced my top 3 fingers and sanded the contours (idea I saw on the fine bows of Holmeadetraditionalbows).
(http://i492.photobucket.com/albums/rr287/bjjanse/Bowerpics083-1.jpg)
I sanded finish sanded the bow and put on a coat of True Oil. I was hesitant to use True Oil due to its yellow tint which I thought would look bad on the white glass, but I cannot tell currently.
True Oil is working much better than my Magna Lac. Here it shines:
(http://i492.photobucket.com/albums/rr287/bjjanse/Bowerpics084-1.jpg)
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After another 5-6 coats and a string and shelf, I will post some more pics of the bow fully complete and strung, and full draw. I am estimatign the weight will come out to around 52 lbs or so.
Also a couple more pics of bows from the last couple months:
This 66" mild R/D was the bow I built over the last couple weeks. I have 4 coats of true oil on it now. I should be able to finish it tomorrow. The form is in the background (which is similar to a critter getter...if you ever saw one of those). This bow also shoots really well.
(http://i492.photobucket.com/albums/rr287/bjjanse/Bowerpics062.jpg)
(http://i492.photobucket.com/albums/rr287/bjjanse/Bowerpics077.jpg)
Here is a 66" straight longbow. It has a bamboo, osage and maple core, black .50 glass and a lacewood riser. It came out to be about 60 lbs.
(http://i492.photobucket.com/albums/rr287/bjjanse/Bowerpics060.jpg)
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Your a busy beaver! Nice looking bows, and thanks a bunch for sharing.
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Very nice!
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:clapper:
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Fine job!! Better check your temp,think you are gettin the sickness called bow building!! :thumbsup:
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Thank you!..and oh yes, I have the sickness!
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Nice lay-ups in that handle...