Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: sleek on August 16, 2013, 05:01:13 am
-
So my old skill belt sander broke down on me the other day. Boy I missed that thing. So when I finally got a huge upgrade with the refund today I was stoked, this thing is huge! I set myself straight to work on past due projects. Not only does it draw 5 Amps, but I decided to buy a new to me ceramic 36 grit sanding belt.... and promptly destroyed a bow with it. It hogged wood off like a wood chipper. So now the 30# youth bow I was making for the 12 year old son of a friend of my wifes is in the burn pile.
It was already short and narrow so there is no piking it, re-curving tips and heat treating it to save it. Handle is too narrow now to make it a bendy handle bow either. Dang it. Perfect piece of 3 year old black locust. Thick ring stuff too with only 2 rings inside the bow. Its so darned annoying when I make mistakes like that after just over 3 years of making bows. Grrr...... stupid stick.
-
Belt sanders and bows just don't mix ....
-
I figured that would be the opinion of many on here. But it is so easy to use.... just at the same time, so easy to over use.....
-
Belt sanders and bows just don't mix ....
Rubbish!! I profile almost all my bows using my belt sander.
-
No problem with power tools at all, but me and belt sanders do not do well together, at least not for tillering or taking off belly wood,I use one all the time on tips/grips and knife scales,but not for limb work .I have better control with a band saw/drawknife/rasp or scrapper. :) Band saws will ruin one in a big hurry also if you don't watch out,but over the years I have learned to control it pretty good ,heck I have seen them turned into kids bow with a rasp and scrapper. ;) :)
Pappy
-
I quit using my belt sander on bows and started using my rasps and files more. The quality of my bows has improved with the switch. Some guys have no problems with them, but for me slower is better.
-
Belt sanders are good for laminated/backed bows and straighening up adges...
But how many primitives are straight?
Like all tools, there's a righ time and a wrong time for 'em.
I'm currently using a belt sander on a booYew bow let's hope it doesn't turn into a boohoo :'(
Del
-
A belt sander works just fine, you just need to switch to a 60 grit belt. Check floor tiller often when using one. The trick is knowing when to stop using it and switching to the scraper and file.
-
I have seen a number of bows ruined in my shop by a belt sander, ruined a few myself when I first started out.
The key to using a belt sander is knowing when to stop using it. I narrow tips, flatten sides, flatten overlays, handle add ons, true up side bulges in the limbs and a host of other jobs. I never tiller, be it floor or long or short string, aggressively shape handles or fades, work on the back(unless I am flattening for bamboo) or work tip overlays to their final shape.
The biggest mistake I make with my belt sander is daydreaming and getting my knuckle into the belt, done it way too many times. Just finished healing up from my last encounter with a 36 grit belt, it takes over a month to heal because the skin and flesh are GONE..
-
I use one for selfies and point tapers.
I don't recommend power tools of any sort until bow #6 and I'm way over that number of bows. I've actually broken more than 20 times that number. LOL.
Here is my sander.
http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/simplearrow.html
Jawge
-
There is absolutely no room for power tools and primitive archery in MY shop. For the rest of you it's your own decision. And now I readily admit my hypocrisy and tell you how much I love my quarter sheet palm sander.
For me, it's not about turning out great bows. It's about making wood shavings with hand tools. That's what I am doing, I just happen to pick bows as the format for my shavings. How I choose to do this hobby is dictated by why I do this hobby. For others, the final product is what is important and ANY means of getting to the end is fair game. Cool, love to drool over your bows just as much as I drool over one made by somebody wearing a possum loincloth while scraping a stick with a broken beer bottle.
Mind you, ADB, I will probably tease you a little about how when the power goes out you will have nothing to do but stare at your expensive boat anchors with power cords. >:D But it won't stop me from coveting those gorgeous bows you turn out.
-
Belt sanders and bows just don't mix ....
Rubbish!! I profile almost all my bows using my belt sander.
Cool I don't
-
I gotta belt sander. I use it on bows sometimes.
The power tools argument can easily become a slippery slope. Personally, it depends on my mood. If'n I'm feeling like a cave man, its out with some rocks. If'n I'm feeling like shaping some wood as easily as possible, its out with some power tools.
But I usually do my fine tillering with a Nicholson and a cabinet scraper.
gabe
-
I guess I'm just lucky. I use nothing but a belt sander for tillering. I switch grits as I go.
-
some of my bows I do all hand tools, but I have bad arthritis in both wrists so I use power tools a lot, 36 grit on the belt but I mainly use it to sand down to the profile lines, almost all sanding by hand with a sanding block or just sand paper, just how I have to do it, personally don't care if power tools aren't primitive or not, bub
-
I use my sander on tips to rough them in and handles if necessary but not at all on limbs. I do have a oscillating sander that I have not even hooked up. Oh yeah I use my bandsaw like crazy. Rasp, drawknife, surform, and scrapers for limbs......all the way.
-
I use my belt sander for lots of things, but never tillering.
-
Like JDub, I really appreciate the shavings made by hand tools. each piece of wood has its own character and personality. You get to know it very well when you work it by hand. Those bows become special to me. I get to know them and there is a bond, like we worked together to one final goal. I took nothing and with my knife and the tree, we take it from one form of existance to take on an entire new life, as a bow and a very noble thing indeed. From start to finish when I use only the knife, the same one that fells the tree makes the bow. Often with the same edge. No sharpening inbetween. I am working a white oak bow with my K-Bar right now actually.
But it does depend on the mood I am in. I find myself pressed for time and mostly work with my power tools. I use my Knife as a tool mark removal tool and final tillering. It is very convenient, impersonal, and I get good results... when I am not a speachless donkey that is. I have only given away one bow I made by knife only. I wonder how its doing?
-
I have only given away one bow I made by knife only. I wonder how its doing?
Sadly, it languishes in the corner...loved, but untouched by the owner. He claims he is busy with 70+ hours a week between two part time jobs and a non-profit he runs. I think he isn't trying hard enough.
-
I feel for ya man! As I have heard said on here, "it's easy to make a kids bow unless you want to". This fits me pretty well ::) and that's without power tools!
-
Dont worry JW, I think that you will soon have a dark skinned latina gal deliver you a package to help you with your problem. Time will not be a problem with what you are about to recieve.... >:D
-
Bad news, my mail carrier moved to a new route. >:(
-
I enjoy shaping with a hatchet and tillering with a farriers rasp and scraper.... but, when my tennis/bowyer's elbow starts hurting like hell, I am all about power tools. In fact, the belt sander and band saw is the difference in me continuing to build bows or just sitting around wishing I could when that elbow starts complaining. To each his own.
-
I hate it when the elbow starts acting up. How do you treat it?
-
I tried ice, heat, compression wraps, etc. but none of that really did much good. I think resting it from whatever repetitive motion that brings it on, is the only real solution for me. I did do some excercises to restore the range of motion and take ibuprofen. It is no fun, but I think there is an epidemic of tennis elbow on this site! My first year of building bows, I chopped and rasped and bent wood till my elbows sound like rice crispies.
-
I forgot to mention, I have a monster case of carpel tunnel in both wrists from draw knifing the bark and sapwood off hundreds of osage staves. Can't hold a fishing pole or ride a bike without my hands going dead as a wedge in about 5 minutes. When I was making 15 bows a year my dead hands would wake me up 20 times a night. As I backed off on the hand tool work plus wearing a brace on my wrist I can now sleep all night without loosing feeling in my hands.
Love my power tools, they keep me making bows.