tip overlays

[medicinewheel]

hi all!  -  here comes a little sequence of pictures of the process of making tip overlays. these are made of a thin layer of prunewood and wenge for the actual tip. the process wouldn't be much  different for horn or antler overlays)
last pic shows the tools used in order from left:
- innertubes for gluing up
- draw knife (use carefully on horn overlays, don't use at all on antler overlays!!!)
- stanley planing rasp for rough shaping
- rasps, rough to fine
- drawblade and sandingpaper (grain 40 or 60)
- ceramic saw for cutting in the nock (haven't found anything that works better, works well for arrownocks, too)
- rattail bastard (for further shaping of the nock)
on most of my bows i bring the overlay to this state, before i even start tillering, seems to work best for me.
frank

[medicinewheel]

more pics:

[medicinewheel]

usually i form the upper tip bit more pointy, the lower tip bit more bulky with the nock a bit closer to the tip.
when the nock is cut in mostly from the top, it usually is no problem to narrow the tip from the sides without the string changing position alongside the bow.
during the tillering process i try to remove more material from the tip to get it lightweight. in this case i will shape the tip triangular towards the belly.

[Agbowyer]

Thanks Frank, that's a great looking tip and great help. What glue do you use? I generally use expoxy for tips.

[medicinewheel]

i have glued tips with waterproof woodglue before, but epoxy is certainly on the save side.
the wenge is oily so i had it laying in aceton for a while before gluing.
frank

[Justin Snyder]

Thanks Frank,  I have been fighting with clamping overlays.  I don't know why I never thought of duct tape.  It works for everthing else. Justin

[Pat B]

Justin I have used rubber bands for holding overlays while glueing.   Pat

[medicinewheel]

yes, i use duct tape to fix things in every gluing process. just make shure it sits tight enough so it doesn't slip into your glueline.
rubber of innertubes is my first choice for putting pressure on everything odd-shaped to be glued. i splitt bicycle innertubes long way in two halfs and wrap it around my nock entirely; that sure does the job.
frank

[medicinewheel]

ps: the wenge looks REALLY good on these tips, but warning: it does not make a nice smooth surface!!!

[Pappy]

Dang Frank ,wished I had seen this before I done mine Sat.They look good.I used cow horn and split it down the middle.It looks ok but not like these.
   Pappy

[medicinewheel]

hey pappy!  -  you could still run the stringgrove over the backside, narrow the whole thing along the sides towards the tip to get it more pointy. polish them with steelwool and they'll be all fine, i guess.
frank

[Justin Snyder]

Justin I have used rubber bands for holding overlays while glueing.   Pat

Pat, that is what I use also. I have a hard time holding them in place while I get the rubber band on. With all the twisting and turning I often work the glue out of the joint to the point that I get nervous about a dry joint.  I have also been trying a tip that angles from back to belly.  the angles force the tip overlays to push up the bow.  Justin

[Pappy]

frank ,I ran the grooves over the top yesterday just didn't get a picture,ya I may thin them a little more now that I have seen yours.
   Pappy

[Marc St Louis]

Nice tutorial Frank.

I prefer doing all the shaping and most all the finishing before gluing on the bow mostly because many of the overlays I put on have a taper that is smaller than the tip.

[medicinewheel]

mark: i'm shure that's a good way, too.

justin: i also used small stripe duct tape going alongside from back to belly to keep the overlays in place in the gluing process; you can't see that in the pictures. this way it doesn't take longer than ten, fifteen minutes to get the two tips in place and wrapped wrapped with rubber band, and i never had any problem with any tip. i glued tips on with whiteglue before, these are done with epoxy.
frank