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BL molle buildalong: FINISHED!
huisme:
There really wasn't much to do for the tiller. A few scrapes in exactly where I mentioned was all it took to get to where we are now.
The upper tip is still pretty heavy for a mollegabet, but it's come to be perfectly centered despite its wriggly character. The nock is cut a little larger than the bottom to accommodate any stringers that might be used.
The bottom is a model lever; truly something for all little levers to aspire to be when they grow up. It's easy and fast to shape, which is probably why in this pic it's still thicker than I want.
Because I used the convex edge of my machete for all the scraping the outer limb, especially the bottom seen here, is concave. This is nothing to worry or get excited over really, the limb functions just the same as any other, but it's still a little heavy here.
So I make a bunch of squiggly lines about where I think needs to be reduced.
It's important to note the character of this bow when critiquing the tiller. There's some deflex from both ends of the handle, and a little bit more reflex in the other bottom limb than the top.
I take the convex edge of my machete and only scrape enough to eliminate the lines I've drawn. I check the grain pattern as I go as well for an on-the-go tiller guesstimate.
Now that the tiller looks a little more even I'll continue to pull, and I ended up only taking five or so scrapes to get to full draw.
Now this ugly mass has to come off the top lever. The right edge is the back of the bow, and I'm going to scrape and sand this thing until the belly matches. I'm also going to get rid of that hump and thin the base of the lever to roughly thumb dimensions.
Once it's thinned I'll have about the best mass efficiency I'll get with this snaky lever-- but if I really wanted mass efficiency I would have straightened the lever. You all know I just think it looks cool.
All that sanding obviously means I have to mask up, even though I hate these things. Black locust is slightly carcinogenic, so better annoyed and safe than comfy now and cancer later.
About fifteen minutes later and I've got this side profile. It is not perfect, I'll probably take a couple more passes with the sandpaper, but it's light as a feather.
The back profile is much nicer too, looking very minimalistic.
I thinned the tips to nearly their final dimensions. I'll round the corners a little better with sandpaper, but for now they'll hold the string I made for this thing. eight strands of fast flight plus with two decorative strands of daecron.
I used my finger for a guesstimation of how long to make the string.
It worked well enough. A couple more twists after it's shot a few times.
The belly in that area I've been asked about a few times. Black locust is a very chrysal happy wood, meaning compression fractures form anywhere and everywhere that's overstressed. There are none, so I know I haven't overworked that deflexed area.
And so this is where we call the build along done. Its a very straightforward sanding and sealing from here. I'll see you when she's pretty!
Peacebow_Coos:
Cool build along Huisme, thanks. The Khukri is a versatile tool/weapon as will be that Molle!
DarkSoul:
Excellent build-along! Good job. You sure didn't forget to take pictures of any step. I know it's not easy to do a full, detailed build-along. But you succeeded.
NeolithicMan:
burn him hes a witch! magic must be involved, I work on BL and get cut up more than the wood! you have a wicked touch with that stuff man, gorgeous molly. someone is going to be very happy to find that on their doorstep. do you work with other woods?
huisme:
It's been my primary wood, all but a few of my bows are black locust. I'm trying to get a few vine maple character bows turned out, going to try for some ash from a neighbor, maybe some walnut, pacific yew for my first attempt at laminates. I think I'm always going to come back to my BL mollegabets, though. I love these things ;D
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