Main Discussion Area > HowTo's and Build-a-longs

Persimmon Build-Along

<< < (2/4) > >>

Dazv:
that is one nice looking stave i cant wait to see this turn into a bow.

gstoneberg:
Cool side profile.  That does look like Druid's bow.  I love build-a-longs too.

George

Postman:
Looks good!How did you get that gull wing profile - did you use heat/ stream or is it natural?

Matt S.:
Haven't had a chance to work on this bow since this weekend, but I can write a bit more about it and the steps I've taken to get where it is right now.
First off, a couple of thoughts about Persimmon. This is my first time working this wood. It scrapes very easily considering its high density, though it will sometimes want to gouge out a large chunk if not careful. When scraping or rasping the wood it gives off a very distinct, sweet smell that I find very enjoyable. Another odd thing I've learned about Persimmon is that it is related to Ebony. One "tell-tale" trait is a coal-black streak that runs through the center of the tree. On this particular stave there where a few spots showing. I honestly thought the stave or tree had been charred in a fire until I learned of this "feature" of the wood.

Secondly, the slight gull wing shape is natural. In fact, I did not really notice it until the limbs were narrowed and thinned down.

Here are the basic steps I took to get the stave roughed out and ready to start floor tillering. Sorry, no photos :(
Layout
1. Find center of stave (see photo in 1st post with a line with a circle on it, this is how I mark my centers).
2. Follow the grain to each end. I used a marker as I went to establish the center line. The grain is pretty straight, but has a couple of squiggles, like the one near the handle section.
3. Measure 1.25 inches to either side of center line. This gives me 2.5 inches wide the entire length.
4. Measure 2 inches to either side of stave's center to mark the handle, then 2 inches from the handle to mark the fades.

Initial Roughing Out
I used a hatchet to reduce the width of the stave to just outside the lines, making the stave roughly 2.5 inches wide. I left the limbs an extra .5 inches wide as a safety margin. One errant strike from a hatchet can ruin a bow (don't ask me how I know ::) )
Once the width was roughed in, I started removing wood from the belly side to reduce the thickness of the limbs to about 1 inch. I left the center 8 inch section (handle and fades) full depth.

(continued)...

Matt S.:
Continuing Roughing Out
Once I took as much wood off with the hatchet as I was comfortable, I clamped the stave in my vise and switched to the drawknife.
I carefully reduces the width of the stave to just under the lines, so about 2.25" wide. I also reduced the thickness of the limbs to about 3/4" and started the general shape of the fades.
I didn't want to remove too much wood with the drawknife because it would have a tendency to want to gouge out large chunks if I wasn't careful. So, I quickly moved on to...

Roughing Out With Surform
...using the Surform! I LOVE using the surform to remove lots of wood safely. A quick note: I broke the original blade and had to buy a replacement. I bought the only one I could find locally (at Ace) and shortly after realized it was a "fine cut" blade. Dumb mistake on my part, but I now realize the benefit of having multiple blades for a surform, sort of like having multiple grits of sandpaper.
With the surform I got the limbs to 2" wide their full length. I also started shaping the handle. This was a mistake. Why?

String Bisecting the Handle
One important step of bow layout is getting the string to bisect the handle. What I do is take a long tillering string and clamp it to the center of one tip of the bow, then pull it to the center of the other tip. Note where the string rests in relation to the handle. Ideally, the string should be laying smack dab in the middle of the handle. With a narrowed handle flatbow, it is easy to move the handle to aid this string alignment, but I had already started to shape the handle. Luckily the handle was still over 1.5 inches wide, so I still had room to play with, but this could have required an extra step of heat bending the wood later.

Finishing Front Profile
So I have the string alignment issue cleared up, so it is time to finish the front profile. I measure half way between the limb tip and handle fade-out and make a mark. From this mark I start the limb taper to 1/2" tips. Remember that the taper must follow the grain. For this piece of wood that means there are a few curves, but nothing too drastic. I used the surform to taper the limbs and the rounded side of a wood rasp to work on the handle and fades. I left the handle 1.25" wide so I still have a little room to tweak it. With these stiff handled bows, you don't have to narrow the handle at all until the bow is tillered, I just did it this way because that's what I'm used to doing.

Marking Side Thickness
To get things started on the thickness of the limbs, I used a speed square and pencil and marked 5/8" from the back along the sides of the limb. Once all the lines were made, I clamped the bow in the vice (belly up), and started to thin the limbs using the surform.
With these parallel width limbs, you will need to taper thickness to get the correct tiller shape, so I marked the tips 1/2" thick and tapered that thickness to the fade-outs (which were 5/8" thick).

At this point, the limbs are barely bending, so more wood will need to be removed. The important thing is, I have close to the correct taper and an even thickness taper in both limbs.

*****

I really wish I had some photos since I could write a lot less and make a lot more sense with their help.
I'll keep updating as I get work done.
Thanks for looking!

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page