Reminders :deadhorse:
Assignments Sent Out: 9 February 2026
Official Build Period: 9 February 2026 - 22 May 2026
Grace Period: 23 May 2026 - 19 June 2026
Minimum one post per week!
**You MUST post a full-draw picture upon receipt of your bow. NO EXCEPTIONS!**
Good luck everyone! :campfire:
Assignments have been sent out. Good luck, gentlemen!
Glued up a blank to knock the rust off, seems like I havent forgotten anything. I have another one to put up and then its on to my victim.
Between Guster and Porter what are your opinions on flashy or classic in terms of material selection?
Im all for artistic expression!
I'm more of a traditional man myself, however, flashy is fun as well and in the spirit of the bow swap my vote goes towards whatever your heart desires/you find the most fun to build!
How are we all doing?
I have materials selected i will post some pics in the morning
I have unfortunately been out of town the last couple weeks but I will be returning back to my shop in the next few days and will send updates next week!
Finally warm enough to get back in shop. Going to get it all cleaned up and ready to go this weekend. I have most my materials. I need to order some more ea40. Does anyone know what happens when ea40 freezes for about a month?
Freezing shouldn't affect it. Mix a small scoop of each part as a test to confirm it's still good.
I believe I have all my supplies rounded up and ready to go. Just need to decide on the riser block.
The stack math is done and the materials have been selected. Its about time I start gluing this riser up and grinding lams.
Pretty much set to go, just gotta purchase some takedown materials and ill be all set
😭I guess I missed the signup this year. I didn't even see it. Bummer.
I've got the laminations roughed out this week but waiting till next week to take them down to their final tapered thickness. I like the grain I got on this batch, excited to see how it looks under glass on the bow.
Still have to find some nice contrasting wood for the riser...
Birdseye veneers I plan on using.
Couple new updates! I took a slight detour to build a bow just to verify my stacks were on point for the final swap product. I was aiming for 45 lb and.........44.5, good enough for government work in my opinion! I should be right on for the actual victim bow (which will be an undisclosed weight to avoid and spoiling). Also got my riser wood in, some beautiful wenge courtesy of Rosewood!
Nice! i also just finished up and clear coated my "knock the dust off" bows
Tomorrow i have the day to myself and i will likely get to glueing up. Ill be having fiberglass wraps and resin coming via mail for the socket and tenon 2pc
By next week ill have more to share
You guys are moving along nicely. Good work so far.
Tapers ground to stack dimensions but my week caught up to me. Ill probably glue up tonight after feathering these fades paper thin
Looking good! I just got all my bits and pieces ready for a glue up next week. I'm loving the dark wenge and excited to see how it turns out under the glass.
Quote from: Guster on March 22, 2026, 08:14:46 PMLooking good! I just got all my bits and pieces ready for a glue up next week. I'm loving the dark wenge and excited to see how it turns out under the glass.
Wenge under clear glass wont show much grain pattern... Just turns kinda black. Don't get too excited.
:biglaugh: well....I guess you live and you learn because I certainly did not know that. Hope my victim doesn't mind too much, and here I thought I was being smart!
Quote from: Guster on March 23, 2026, 05:48:51 PM:biglaugh: well....I guess you live and you learn because I certainly did not know that. Hope my victim doesn't mind too much, and here I thought I was being smart!
Same thing with beautifully figured Macassar ebony... turns black, can't see the grain, and highlights every imperfection in your so called clear glass. I built one for my wife I was pretty disappointed with. It shot great, but would have looked better with black glass.
Got the glue-up knocked out this week! The bow is coming along swimmingly, the hard part has is I just gotta resist to temptation to prematurely remove the masking tape to see how rough the clear glass over the wenge looks :o
Quote from: Guster on March 30, 2026, 08:04:39 AMGot the glue-up knocked out this week! The bow is coming along swimmingly, the hard part has is I just gotta resist to temptation to prematurely remove the masking tape to see how rough the clear glass over the wenge looks :o
You really should get a can of shellac and seal that form or it's going to twist up on you.
Another thing you can do is forget putting masking tape on your glass before lay up.
Just wipe it down with lacquer thinner if you get epoxy on it and wrap it in plastic.
You don't need to be cooking that tape on the glass. It's not easy to peel it off. Save the masking tape for layout after you get your limbs profiled. Food for thought.
Bow is in the oven Ill be profiling and glueing overlays tomorrow.
Got my fiberglass sleeve materials, so ill have to work up the courage to chop it.
Jatoba riser roughed out. Had some quick time in the shop before heading to my cabin for the weekend. When I get back everything should be ready for glue up.
No problem chopping---- just gettin back together :laughing:
Got the bow shaped out to the lines, next step is to put on the riser and tip overlays!
Got the riser overlays and tip overlays on the bow, lots of shaping to come but it's coming along!
Looking good! :shaka:
I also managed some overlay glueup, thought id have time in the shop this past weekend for some overlay tune up and tillering but that will have to wait. Im going to keep it a surprise but i thought of a cool way to finish out my handle section after the fiberglass sleeve and it has me excited.
Got the bow ready most of the way this past week. Still gotta do some fine sanding and making sure the tiller is up to snuff and etc. Overall, I'm very pleased with it but I can't help myself but notice when things aren't perfect and it drives me crazy......
Looking good, Guster!
Let's hold on shipping until everyone is ready. That way we preserve a little surprise :campfire:
Jatoba riser roughed out and working on better dust collection on my sander!
No pictures this week! However, the writing is on the bow and I'm just waiting for a good day to finish it up although I don't think I'll get to it till sometime next week.
Tillered about where I like it. Big shop cleanup and a new jig to be built then we're on to splitting into 2 pieces, and socket tapering for the fiberglass sleeve layout
Ingenious use of the garage door. :)
How are things going guys?
Currently grinding down to my socket dimensions pre cut!
Where I'm leaving it for now, rounding tenon corners over, cutting in half and putting a extremely slight taper on the tenon and ill get to wrapping it back up.
Here's the roughed out tenon still intact
After a mixed day of chores, errands and progress I've got the bow in half and back together again
Looks crazy! You are a brave man :laughing:
Bow is headed for the oven!
Grip and sight window are roughed in and down to final dimensions. Fine sanding and a bit of grip tuning and this bow will be ready for finish.
Have not pulled it apart yet but no movement whatsoever shooting and stringing
Whew :scared: thought I really screwed the pooch, I've read about using an amount of thick petroleum paste to line the socket and take up that last bit of space that may cause clicking internally. Man there is a right amount that's for sure, way too much and it makes it impossible to seat the tenon, a little too much and the two pieces were sliding off during string up. I wiped both surfaces good and went back to stringing up like it should. Hope it stays this way.
What type of material did you use for the socket build up?
1 inch fiberglass weave and theres a layer of carbon early on in the wrap up with black dyed epoxy keeping it all together.
Quote from: dbeaver on May 13, 2026, 09:19:30 PM1 inch fiberglass weave and theres a layer of carbon early on in the wrap up with black dyed epoxy keeping it all together.
Th3 black epoxy looks cool! :thumbsup:
Kirk this shelf cutout I did for the first time on the edge sander drive drum sorta how you demonstrate in one of your videos at the spindle sander. Made quick work of getting through most of the g10 and then I only have to watch sparks fly bandsawing out the g10 shelf for short cuts.
Quote from: dbeaver on May 14, 2026, 07:56:28 AMKirk this shelf cutout I did for the first time on the edge sander drive drum sorta how you demonstrate in one of your videos at the spindle sander. Made quick work of getting through most of the g10 and then I only have to watch sparks fly bandsawing out the g10 shelf for short cuts.
Get a carbide tooth 4TPI blade for your saw and you won't have any sparks. ;)
In due time sir, there was a less than desirable general purpose blade i didnt feel like changing out for one cut! I experimented with a bimetal blade that did alright and was 1/3rd the price of the Lenox trimaster, any other particulars or just 3-4tpi and carbide?
Quote from: dbeaver on May 15, 2026, 06:22:48 AMIn due time sir, there was a less than desirable general purpose blade i didnt feel like changing out for one cut! I experimented with a bimetal blade that did alright and was 1/3rd the price of the Lenox trimaster, any other particulars or just 3-4tpi and carbide?
There is a big difference between a carbide steel blade, and a carbide tip blade. Yes they are expensive, but well worth the price in the long run. I have 2 band saws. A 14" that I keep the carbide tip blade on all the time, and my big 17" saw takes a 133" blade size and I only use wood cutting blades on that one.
When I first got that big saw I planned to set it up for ripping veneers and not waste so much wood ripping them on the table saw with the wider kerf blade width. I ran the gauntlet with all different types of slicing blades designed for resawing, but it still fought me BIG time. The set up had to be perfect. If I left it set up, and didn't use it for other things I was ok. But then I was changing blades back and forth between wood blades and my carbide tip blade all the time on the 14" saw.
I finally said the hell with this and just kept the carbide tip blade on the little saw, and quit trying to cut veneers on the big one. I put a smaller 1/2" blade on the big saw I could do radius cuts without ruining the blades and cut my veneers on the table saw with a thin kerf 8" blade on the table saw.
I sure wish I could run those 7 1/4" thin kerf framing blades on my big table saw and get a full 1.75" cut, but I can get it to raise up high enough. I miss my portable 8" Makita table saw. That one I could rip 2" in very thin strips using a 7.25" blade, with much less waste going to sawdust..... Oh well.... They just don't make 10" saw blades with a really thin kerf any more, and the thinnest one out there is an 8" blade.
But having a big 10" table saw with a 5hp motor is quite nice when ripping 100's of lams at a time for tapers and core lams. Takes all the work out of it with a new blade too. I get 144 lams @ .120 thick out of a case of flooring material. I pretty much stay with bamboo and maple cores anymore. I buy my eastern hard maple at a local hardwood distributor in 10' lengths and am very selective with picking out the straight tight grain materials.
Both of your bows are looking awesome! Been a little bit busy with work so not able to spend as much time in the shop s I would like but the bow has been sprayed and is curing :goldtooth: I've also spent the curing time to twist up a new string for the bow from some D97 and halo serving. Going to let it keep curing a few days since the last coats were yesterday to be safe. I'll post some pictures later this weekend!
Ive made pretty good progress on mine this weekend between chasing turkeys I was able to get it cleaned up out of the form anr start profiling the limbs.
No luck on the turkeys yet.
Finished profiling limbs and got my riser accents on and prepped for tips.
Tonight I was able to get tip overlays on. Waiting for glue to dry. I will definitely be into the grave period. But should get lots done over the holiday weekend.
Alright gents. As we move into the grace period, I will start poking you for updates every couple days. Please be proactive in your posting so I don't have to get on you too much. Once you finish your bow, please PM me and I will give you further instructions. Keep up the good work, and let's bring this thing home.
The "Logbow" as this bow has been so lovingly named after its propensity to look more like a log on ground than a curvy bow, is cured. After these glamour shots were taken the bow is safe and sound inside a length of pipe ready to be dropped off tomorrow to be sent to my victim.
Looks amazing! Im headed to finishing will dip slightly in the grace period
Thanks! ETA of 28 May!
Tonight I was able to get my sight window cut in. I will be cranking away in the shop most of the day tomorrow!
Nice job, guys. Thank you! Go ahead and ship them as you are ready.
Made some more progress today. Getting close.
Im pretty well there. Just some last minute checks, finish sanding and spraying.
Quote from: Susquehannariverarcher on May 23, 2026, 07:34:26 PMMade some more progress today. Getting close.
Those are some pretty unique looking tip notches... :o
Received my bow today! It looks great!! I have been very interested in D shapes lately so Im excited to try it and get my full draw picture. I was only briefly able to look at it before we had to run off to baseball after work.
So where are all the full draw photos of these swap bows?
Only 3 participants this year kirk and 2 of us are not finished. So even when we are all done there wont be 'all of these" full draw photos lol.
Had a set back last night but plan on getting back to working on the bow this weekend.
It was tricky getting all of a bow this long in frame :biglaugh:
Nice!
I have made necessary corrections to account for my setback and its finishing sanding and clear coat
How are things going, gentlemen?
Clear coat is in this weeks shuffle, will absolutely get it out before the end of the very appreciated grace period.
Just got mine sprayed just have to make a string and get it out the door. Wont be able to get to the post office until Thursday or Friday.
Quote from: Susquehannariverarcher on June 06, 2026, 03:53:03 PMJust got mine sprayed just have to make a string and get it out the door. Wont be able to get to the post office until Thursday or Friday.
SHE'S PERRTY👍🏼
Quote from: Watsonjay on June 06, 2026, 04:30:03 PMQuote from: Susquehannariverarcher on June 06, 2026, 03:53:03 PMJust got mine sprayed just have to make a string and get it out the door. Wont be able to get to the post office until Thursday or Friday.
SHE'S PERRTY👍🏼
Thank you! Its got birdseye on the belly side. There's some imperfections but overall Im happy with it.
Porters progress got me in the shop. Ready for spray in the morning, about time to get this done.
Some proof below.
Quote from: dbeaver on June 06, 2026, 11:45:29 PMPorters progress got me in the shop. Ready for spray in the morning, about time to get this done.
Some proof below.
Nice grip!!
Curing now. One more experiment to go ill do tomorrow night to hide the fiberglass handle. Then off to town for shipping. Again grateful for the grace period (my wife NEEDED peacocks at the tail end of this build)
We had peacocks for many years around our place. Actually at two different homes we lived in. I both cases they were the neighbors birds. They definitely wander around a lot, and ended up on our front porch a lot eating the dog food.
They can be noisy as hell at times with their high pitch calls, but are very cool birds. I kind of miss those far off calls at night. But i don't miss them screaming outside our bedroom window. They are LOUD! :biglaugh:
Quote from: Susquehannariverarcher on May 28, 2026, 04:50:08 PMReceived my bow today! It looks great!! I have been very interested in D shapes lately so Im excited to try it and get my full draw picture. I was only briefly able to look at it before we had to run off to baseball after work.
I hope that the bow serves a pleasant introduction to the D-shaped bow world. I find them smooth drawing, natural to point, and pleasant to shoot but I know that it is not the universal consensus!
Both your bows are really beautiful, one of these days I'm going to take the next step and dive into making an R/D longbow form. Unfortunately though a recent move means that it'll be a fair bit of time before I'm back to doing any sort of bow making. There's a long list of house projects but my wife knows it's only a matter of time before I get my shop back working, she knows I can't help myself!
Quote from: Guster on June 07, 2026, 03:35:34 PMQuote from: Susquehannariverarcher on May 28, 2026, 04:50:08 PMReceived my bow today! It looks great!! I have been very interested in D shapes lately so Im excited to try it and get my full draw picture. I was only briefly able to look at it before we had to run off to baseball after work.
I hope that the bow serves a pleasant introduction to the D-shaped bow world. I find them smooth drawing, natural to point, and pleasant to shoot but I know that it is not the universal consensus!
Who cares about "the universal consensus"? Archery is very much a personal experience.
There are a LOT of guys that love their ASL bows out there. So don't even worry about that. Just enjoy your experience.
Once you get your shop set up, don't think for a minute your honey do list will taper off. I've had my shop completely set up for over 30 years, and my chore list has never tapered off... :banghead:
Have fun!
That's all she wrote. Onto string and packaging.
Nice job Dylan!
VERY cool looking grip... How did you pull that off? That came out excellent! :clapper:
Two rattle cans
A fine textured darker brown rustoleum and another weirder paint called Marble textured also I believe from rustoleum. That and some fine taping.
I've seen this style of finish on synthetic gun stocks, a textured under a marbling texture and thought it felt good. Leather is very common and I wanted to try something different. I also had read quite some time ago a member did their first 2 piece socket amd they finished the grip with bed liner which has always stuck in my mind.
This was a proof of concept, and I think I will find quality versions of these sprays or products. for the spirit of the swap I got 3 new things accomplished.
-2 piece bow
-Textured spray grip
-And I had to pike this bow considerably due to a, uhh, "moment" let's say. Re tillered and dropped the weight back to tje top end of my victims draw weight. Shortest bow ive made on this form and the string angles are all still satisfactory and I don't find the string pinches anymore than the expected bow off this form.
Nice job guys!!
I like that grip look Dylan !
Got called into work on my days off the past 2 days. So the bow will be in the mail monday.
Bow is shipped. Should be there Thursday (so they say)
Shipped out yesterday, tracking says it'll be there next Wednesday.
I didn't take a whole lot of finished photos so my victim will have to post em.
I did one last new to me when tying up the string I did my standard flemish twist loop on top but I did a bowyers knot on the bottom which I learned to do by Mike Yancey at pine hollow longbows a sponsor of the page while I took his 3 day class. I figured with the two piece the top loop could slide and then when separated the bowyers knot keeps the string on the tip and then the bow can be separated without losing your string twist.
Went down to Homer this weekend for a little getaway. Please forgive the delay. As far as the swap goes, we are 3/3 shipped before the deadline and 1/3 received. Once the last two bows are received and draw pictures are posted, we will wrap this up for the year. Thank you to dbeaver, Guster, and Susquehannariverarcher for participating this year despite it only being the three of you. You have kept the swap alive for another year.
Spent the day out Saturday and my kind neighbors moved a package to my back porch, I was quite surprised when I found the bow and got to shooting.
Shoots right where im pointing and its quite comfortable to draw.
My victims bow has made it far on its journey and is almost there. If tracking proves itself then should be there wednesday.
DELIVERED.
im all finished up with my bowswap commitment, cant wait to see the full draw pic
Thank you, Dylan.
Close us out Mr. Guster!
Sorry for being the last one here to close it out. I'm out of town for work but I'll be back tomorrow and I'll post the picture ASAP!
I haven't shot it yet but it's a beautiful and smooth drawing bow! I can't wait to get a nock point on this beauty and start shooting it around. Time to close it out!
Looks great! Good job everyone.
And with that, the annual bow swap is officially finished! Thank you to all who participated and assisted our builders this year. Please let me know if you have any feedback for me, and happy shooting :campfire: