2chucks - 
Spike
 | | 05/02/2008 11:17 PM |
| After stringing the bow and having Josh draw it a few times, I asked him how the grip felt. He didn't like the bump in the center of his palm so I sanded it down a bit more and did all the finish sanding of the rest of the grip. While I was hand sanding, I looked up to see 3 young gals heading up the driveway to visit. I stopped sanding and grabbed the camera.
They didn't hang around long after I told them what I was making. With the sanding done (320 grit) I masked off the riser leaving the bloodwood exposed. I cleaned it with denatured alcohol in preparation for sealing the oily bloodwood with super glue.
I squeezed a line of glue on the wood and worked it in with my index finger using a circular motion and made sure not to stop long enough to become fused to the bow.
The Super glue gives a nice shiny acrylic finish and seals and files the pores.
After a 20 min. dry time, I peeled the tape and used 320 and the 400 grit sandpaper (including the glass) to take of the shine and smooth out the glue. The bloodwood is now sealed and now will accept the finish and dry at the same rate as the rest of the woods in the riser.
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2chucks -
Spike
| | 05/03/2008 9:20 PM |
| In between running my oldest Son all over the place in preparation for tonight's Senior prom, I had a chance to work on the bow. I wanted to add a medal to the bow's riser and I used a hat/lapel pin that I got at the last Wisconsin Bowhunter's Annual convention. Being that I am a Director for the WBH, I though it would be a nice touch.
I drilled a shallow hole for the medal so that it would sit below the surface of the riser.
It was a good fit.
I then masked off the riser and cut away the tape covering the hole. I used two layers of tape so that when I used a putty knife to level the epoxy, It would sit just higher than the riser and allow me material to sand away to make flush.
When the epoxy cured, I sanded it so the epoxy was level with the wood.
I kept on sanding until I had the whole bow smooth with 320 grit sandpaper.
I then cleaned the bow with a tack rag and then wiped it down with denatured alcohol. I masked off the glass because I want to finish the riser with tung oil.
I applied the Tung oil using the same "Brush" I used to apply the super glue to the bloodwood.
I rubbed in a healthy dose of the tung oil and after it cures, I will give it two more coats. I will then use 400 grit and steel wool to smooth out any lines and give it two more coats.
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2chucks -
Spike
| | 05/04/2008 6:25 PM |
| I have a lot of time in between coats of Tung oil so I am getting a head start on making some of the accessories Josh will need for the bow. The first thing he needs is a bow stringer.
I took an old bungee cord that I had removed the hooks from because I needed them for some other project and I cut off one end.
Then I trimmed off one side to create a flat surface. The flat is the surface that will contact the bow limb when being used. It took two cuts to get it where I wanted it.
The other end of the stringer will slip over the limb. This part, I made out of a piece of scrap leather.
I folded it in two and punched the stitching holes
Then sewed it using white, braided, waxed line.
Then I added a grommet for the rope to attach to.
Both ends were then connected using a strong nylon rope.
To use the string, On end is slipped over the lower limb tip.
And the rubber end is placed on the upper side of the other limb. The knot is tied far away from the rubber end to allow for clearance for the bow string to pass through.
I had Josh try it out on my old longbow since the Tung oil was still wet on his. One hand lifts the bow and the other hand slides the loop of the bow string into the string groove on the limb tip.
With the string finished, I moved on to a limb tip protector so that nice white antler limb tip won't become damaged when he sets the tip in the dirt.
I started with two thin pieces of suede leather and stitched them together to make a nice tight fit over the limb tip. I then cut a long slot in the back side for the bow string to pass through.
It is a tight fit and that will keep it from falling off.
I then trimmed away the extra leather around the outside and tried it with the bow string in place.
I still need to make a string keeper, an arm guard, a finger tab and a case for the bow as well as a set of arrows. | | | |
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2chucks -
Spike
| | 05/12/2008 9:52 PM |
| Well with two Uncles dieing in two weeks and both funerals being out of town and over the weekends, I have not had much of a chance to get back to the bow. At least these long breaks have given each coat of finish a long dry time. I received the shafts in the mail so I can now start the arrows for the bow. In the mean time, I had a little time to make Josh an arm guard to go with the new bow.
I used 5 Oz. tooling leather for the face and 4 Oz. Buffalo for the backer.
I added a little tooling with his initials.
And made some antler buttons.
I used a dark red/brown stain and attached elastic/bungee material to hold in in place,
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2chucks -
Spike
| | 05/18/2008 9:19 AM |
| In the spirit of this homemade bow project, I wanted to make josh a finger tab to go with the arm guard. At some point I will need to make a quiver as well. I traced the shape of my homemade finger tab for Josh's and cut out 3 of them from some medium thickness scrap leather.
I then stacked the 3 and used brass rivets to hold them together.
then began to focus on the arrows for Josh's new bow. I got the shafts from WBH forum sponsor Badger Arrow
http://www.badgerarrow.com/store/
I bought Gold Tip Traditionals because of the wood grain look. Paul at Badger arrow turned around my order in record time.
After capping the back 9 inches of the shafts with white lacquer, I started cresting the shafts using a color scheme that resembles the riser. I will write Josh's name on all the shafts.
The fletching will be 4 1/2 inch long LW barred turkey feathers. Since nobody sells 4 1/2 feathers, I bought 5 inch parabolic cut and converted them to 4 1/2 shield cut.
Now the fletching begins.
One down, 11 more to go.
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2chucks -
Spike
| | 05/19/2008 7:29 PM |
| I'm in the home stretch now. The finish on the bow is now hardened. I have the first half dozen shafts fletched, I gave the bow a good rub down with OOOO steel wool to take off the shine and I made the rug rest and strike plate.
For the strike plate, I used 2-3 Oz. leather and for the rug, I used the fuzzy side of some adhesive backed Velcro strip I had laying around.
The leather was from some scrap I had so I needed to add some double sided tape to make it stay on the riser.
I then spent a little time adding a leather grip to the longbow. The finished wood was very slick and needed some texture. I started with a piece of 4 Oz. tooling leather and got it good and wet so I could form it to the shape of the grip. The wet leather is on the right. I gets much darker when you wet it.
While it's wet, it can be formed and shaped and stretched to fit the contour of the riser. Once I had it shaped, I used a blow dryer to dry it off.
So far during this build along, I have been pretty good about taking pictures of each step. Until now. I must be getting tired because I did a bunch of stamping and tooling on the leather but forgot to get pictures of the process. After stamping and cutting the leather to it's final size, I punched some lacing holes. I then applied a coat of rubber cement to both the inside of the leather and the bow's riser.
After lacing, I gave the leather a coat of Neats foot oil to restore the oils lost during the working of the leather and from blow drying. The oil makes the leather even darker. Now, you can see the tooling and stamping I forgot to take pictures of earlier.
Then I took it outside for a picture in natural light.
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countrygirl -
Forum Moderator
4-Pointer
Illinois
| | 05/19/2008 11:03 PM |
| | You have done well heck of a job!!! Wow it all looks awesome!! Better than what you can buy I bet also!!! Thanks alot for sharing the whole prosses with us. Your son should be proud, and you proud that you done such a wonderful job.. | | | |
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countrygirl -
Forum Moderator
4-Pointer
Illinois
| | 05/19/2008 11:04 PM |
| | You have done well heck of a job!!! Wow it all looks awesome!! Better than what you can buy I bet also!!! Thanks alot for sharing the whole prosses with us. Your son should be proud, and you proud that you done such a wonderful job.. | | | |
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2chucks -
Spike
| | 05/20/2008 8:28 PM |
| Well the bow project is finished with the exception of the quiver and and the fact that Josh wants to design and make his own broadheads. It was a fun project and I learned a lot of useful stuff for the next bow.
 
And finally he got to shot if for the first time.
I then shot the bow through a chorongraph using a 125 grain field point. This brought the total arrow mass to 425 grains. The speed at 28 inches of draw was 174 FPS. This will produce 28.5 Foot pounds of K.E. giving him even more reason to keep any shots on game at less than 20 yards and broadside. This will also be a design consideration when he starts to design the broadhead. All good lessons.
Now, as for naming the bow, We thought on it for some time and kept coming back to the first post where I explained the the bow was being made with a sort of legacy piece of wood. That name stuck. I explained to Josh that this bow is only to be handed down to one of his children. I hope I am around to see that.
It's been fun. THE END......... Or? | | | |
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AndyC -
4-Pointer
| | 05/22/2008 10:39 PM |
| | Once again...you are amazing!! I love reading about the knives, bows and other gadgets you make. Hopefully I can craft a bow for my son one day that is a great as the bow that you crafted for Josh. | | | |
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mississippihunter21 -
Button Buck
mississippi
| | 07/04/2008 12:51 PM |
| | KOol i built a bow out of a stick and some fishing line ... i also used a stick for the arrow ... i killed a possom with it and i am seruis !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! | |
practice dont make perfect . . perfect practice makes perfect | |
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