Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Del the cat on March 31, 2013, 12:58:33 pm
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The Transatlantic Bow AKA 'Special Relationship'
The Oregon Yew billets kindly sent to me by a guy named Joe unfortunately had bug damaged sapwood. One pair became a bamboo backed ELB.
This bigger pair were destined for greater things :), when, in November I'd got a big log of English Yew which had thick sapwood on one side, and an idea was born.
I ran the English Yew sapwood through the bandsaw taking off a continuous strip of sapwood, which being so thin was seasoned pretty quickly.
The plan was to glue this up as a continuous backing onto the spliced Oregon Yew billet belly.
I left the bark on the sapwood backing and shaved and rasped the sawn face of it to a flat even profile for gluing, it actually had a nasty twist at one end which needed steaming out. Some heat bending was needed on the glued up billets too as there wasn't any spare wood to play with.
I glued it up with about an inch or so of reflex.
My masterstroke was to take off the bark with a spokeshave, leaving a pinkish layer of cambium on which I could mark out the bow.
The cambium would pop off with a 'tick' as the bow was flexed on the tiller right?
Oh, no it was thicker than I thought and came off with a crack like a rifle shot which frightened the crap out of me and for a moment I thought a whole layer of sapwood had come off.
As tillering progressed the rest of it loosened or popped off leaving a pristine perfect single ring back.
In the video on my blog here...
http://bowyersdiary.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/big-bow-braced.html (http://bowyersdiary.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/big-bow-braced.html)
You can see and hear a little bit come off with a 'tick'
Being a continuous back also had the advantage of making the bow substantially stronger at the join.
The bow was destined for a guy at the club who was relatively new to archery but was outgrowing bows at an alarming pace. The aim was about 70# at 28” but tillered out to a full 32”. Obviously that’s not the best way to try and build a bow, but the limiting factor was the wood which would dictate the maximum poundage I could get.
Originally he’d wanted a leather grip and arrow plate, but the plan evolved to leave a simple bare wood bow with a Bowyer’s Mark, which is a play my initials DH.
The final shot shows a the happy recipient with a 32" shafted arrow at full draw.
Stats ~75" ntn about 65-70# @28"... anyone's guess at 32"... Im not winching that baby back slow enough to measure it :laugh:
The tiller of the bow is arguably a tad on the whip tillered/over elliptical compared to my usual arc of a circle, but I left some extra thickness at the splice for security.
Del
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Del, that is pretty cool. Very creative and ambitious plan you madman ;) Looks like you pulled it off quite nicely. The pristine back looks amazing.
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Del, that is pretty cool. Very creative and ambitious plan you madman ;) Looks like you pulled it off quite nicely. The pristine back looks amazing.
Cheers.
You mean the cat or the bow? ::) ;D
Del
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I was thinking about this the other day! Taking the sapwood off a heartwood rotten piece and laming it on some_____ (secret wood) and now I know it works! Thanks del!
KUDOS on another Very nice bow, love it.
-Pinecone
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Definitely a cool project del.although the cat doesn't seem as interested as the rest of us.
Nice work.
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Nice bow can't even tell that you glued the two together.
Rob
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Very nicely done Del but don't beat the cat with it :laugh:
Looks great!!!
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These pics show how the cambium layer came away. It broke on the line of pin knots which you can see in the cat picture.
You can see it's pretty thick... I expect you can imagine the bang when it went!
Del
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Yup - that must have been a mite disconcerting when it popped :D
Very nice, as always, Del!
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Great thinking with that idea Del and well executed too. I love the way the back turned out and the bow as a whole is very nice.
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I'm starting to think del could make a long bow from toothpicks so long as they had plenty of bug damage.
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wonderful in all respects you're a true craftsman Del
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Nice job, Catman!! ;)
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Beautiful bow!!
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Beautiful bow, Del. The popping of the cambium would have been a bit much for me. :) Jawge