Glued on the last of the overlays and I'm done for the morning. Total time this morning was one hour. Another couple hours and it will be ready for the spray booth.
Normally I would use C-clamps for the overlays for a tight glue line. However these spring clamps are stiff enough to crush bones. I found them at a surplus store, I imagine you could hold a Humvee together with them.
Well, this is all untill the weekend, now I have to go to work.

cool lookin stuff. great craftmanship!
congrats,

herm

WOW ! That's a fantastic looking stick. Great job.

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Andy

Great work!  I am looking forward to the next installment.

Amazing, I can't believe you can make a bow that quickly and cleanly.  Looks great!

-Jeremy

Greg, where do you get the tiller blocks?

You have to make your own tiller blocks, 1 1/2" diameter x 1/2" wide, cut the slot 1" deep,make it wide enough to fit over your thickest tip. Use 1/8" cable, I'm using 35 strands of fast flight but my next set will use cable.

Greg, you make it look easy! Nice job!

Is there a way to adjust the length when you use cable? I guess if that feature was needed you would have included that in the build along. I  hope my shop looks like that one day!

After you draw your lines for your limbs going from your riser fade outs towards your narrower tips (after determining your center line), I notice you use a drum sander and obviously have excellent results with such. Why did you go that route instead of using a belt sander? I would be afraid I would get "waves" should I do that. I myself would have chosen to use a belt sander and since I am new to this I would like your educated and experienced feedback. Thank you.

Jim,
The tiller blocks are not adjustable you need a set for every length bow you build.

Lee,
The 12" sanding block flattens out any waves left by the sanding drum. I tried using a belt sander and didn't like it, and it was slower than a sanding drum. An edge sander would work best, but I don't have room for one.

Greg, just a thought, but it appears as if the tiller blocks slightly scratched the glass in the photo with the pliers. Have you thought about putting a piece of leather or rubber inside the groove? As for the edge sander, my "poor man's version" of one is my small "desk top" 36" belt sander just tilted over to its side. LOL.

I was thinking maybe duct tape inside the slot would prevent scratching the glass. Thanks for a view into your shop. Very insightful.

Lee,
I looked at the bow and there isn't a scratch on it, however in the photo there is. It must have been dust combined with a fuzzy picture.
The edges of the slot are rounded and smooth to prevent scratches. The blocks must slide back and forth and rubber would prevent this.

I love that shop, and a very nice build-along, thanks for sharing...........James

Greg,

I've learned a lot from you and Apex. Excellent work.
You have inspired me.......

Konrad

Thanks for the kind words everyone, I hope I can help out. Well I slept in late this morning so I had better get busy.
I rough shape the tip overlays with the sanding drum.

Then I mark the string groove angles at 55 degrees.



I use a Dremel to blend the overlay into the limb.


Then I round off the top of the overlay with a file and connect the string grooves.

This is where tiller blocks save time, looks pretty straight to me.



This is a high tech, very precise template. Ok, so it's a conduit connector left over from building the shop. But it's the right radius!



Then it's back to the sanding drum to finish roughing the shape.

After shaping it with a file and sanding this is what it looks like.