No matter how many bows I build and BAs I read- It`s always fantastic to follow the rise of a beauty out of raw lumber and a little glue in the hands of an artist...

Looking Great Dan!  I'm thinking that I'll have to print this pictures so that I'll have a "baby book" for my new bow.

Just had a few minutes to work on the bows after work. Rounded off belly side of limb pads and smoothed the riser to 120 grit.Beginning to look like a bow handle.


The figure in this wood is unbelievable!


Thats all for today. Wont be long till ill be gluing up limbs.

Great build along!

That wood is insanely cool..

Just WOW  Dan !!

That leopard ebony is absolutely beautiful.  Thanks for sharing the build along.

Wow that is some wild looking wood.

That's really turning into a beauty! How has the wood been to work with? I've tinkered with a few different African species, and had very different experiences...

Thanks for the build-along! Masters like you remind me of how far I have to come in the art...

Thanks all. Looks like the limb veneers for these bows won't be here till middle of next week. I'll use tomorrow to catch the other riser up to where this one is. Today I'm at a swim meet with my kids and the little one twisted my arm into taking her fishing in the Gulf after the meet. Any thing for the kids right?

Michael, thanks for the compliment but I am far from a master. To answer your question, the wood is extremely easy to work with. Very tight grained,hard and heavy but doesn't burn when you power sand with fine grits. Takes a polish easily too. I have found that most African hardwood is pretty easy to work with the exception of Limba and Sapele. Zebra can also be a pain as it has such coarse grain and I don't like its strength.

Bonner

so what are you gonna use for veneer? even plain ole black glass would rock with that riser!! fishing in the gulf would be nice, red snapper season is in now..but sea trout and red fish would be a fun day too..good luck and thanks again for posting the build-a-long.

Looking good Dan

Just sent photos/measurements of a handle configuration (that I like) to Dan.  She ought to shoot sweet right out of the box!!

Great looking riser from wood to overall design.

Robert, got some cool B&W royal ebony veneer in the mail today. Excellent figure and a great match for the colors in the risers. I can't wait to get the limbs built. I'll post veneer pics tomorrow.
Bonner

Can't wait to see limbs with that riser... the combinations sounds amazing.  Looking great!

Made a little more progress on Father's Day. Second verse same as the first...remember there are two of these bows?

 


Second riser is glued up and cured. waithing o me to cut it out and shape it. Also got a little package in the mail...

pretty cool huh? I will get these limbs built sometime this week.
Bonner

Heart rate up....breathing quickening....

That is some absolutely incredible wood.  The owners of these bows are very fortunate.

What is that wood?  I could use something like that for some projects I have...

its Leopard spotted Gaboon ebony halfseminole.

Ok I learned a ton about building bows from reading build-alongs and asking questions. So I decided to add a little more detail in the hopes that it may benefit someone who is a newer bowyer. I skipped a few steps in the cutting and shaping of the first riser. I am going to show you all those steps on the second riser. Todays post spanned about 2 hours of shop time.

So I took the cured riser block out of the vice and removed the clamps. Then I used the belt sander to carefully flatten the glue lines on one
side. It is important for the riser to be square so the angle jig will cut acurate limb pad angles. I use my TS to square the riser(bc I dont have a drum sander) by putting the flattened side against the fence and trimming the oposite edge and then flipping it and repeating. I start out with 1&3/4"riser stock. After this step it will be 1&5/8"



All squared up and ready forlimb pads to be cut.