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So, enough waiting already. Time to glue this bow up. I promised a local grade school I would give them a few hours on Friday so I took the whole day off and worked on the bow in the afternoon.

I laid out everything I needed since the dry run a few days ago. Then I put both quart containers of the epoxy in a basin of hot water to warm them up a bit.




Next, I cleaned all the wood and glass surfaces and laid them in the order in which I would glue them.



1. is .050 clear glass

2. is .020 kingwood vernier

3. is .090 thick hard maple taper (two pieces glued together to make one long piece)

4 and 5.  is .065 thick hard maple taper (two pieces glued together to make one long piece)

6. is a piece of hard maple .060 parallel from the piece of wood my Dad cut. (two pieces glued together to make one long piece)

7. is .020 kingwood vernier

8. is .050 clear glass

Missing from the picture is the riser.


Fast forward to a completed glue up with the warmed epoxy. Due to the mess and the fact that I was working alone, I did not slip out of my sticky rubber gloves to take pictures along the way. What a slippery mess to work with. I used a combination of spring clamps and rubber inner tube strips to compress all the layers. I had more C-clamps at the center (on the riser) but I took them off once I realized that they stuck up higher than the sides of the box and the cover would not lay flat. So much for a complete dry run. I should have tried the lid of the box also. Oh well. live and learn.



Here is a close up of all the layers and all the extra glue that oozed out. I also learned that I used too much glue. I think I could have built two bows with what came out from between the seams. Once again. Live and learn. The gold colored layer on the top is a strip of aluminum that will help spread out the load from the clamps. I was the old track from a shower door that I cut into two strips for this project.



Here is the oven box doing it's job of keeping the bow at around 160F. I will unplug it before I go to bed and let it slowly cool down over night.

While events in my life right now limit my time required to do the glue up and monitor the heat box, I do get a moment here and there to mess around with the bow project. I did a dry run and found something I never thought through (Which is the point of a dry run)



While the riser fits great on the empty form, adding the strip of fiberglass backing, four tapered laminations and the fiberglass face caused the fade-outs to lit poorly. I did not factor in the tapering of the laminations as they work away from the center of the riser. I discovered a gap at the fade-out area. I felt this gap was larger than it should be and do not want a large amount of epoxy at this hinge point. I might just be over cautious but I want a better fit and a consistent glue line. The dark black area near the thinest part of the riser is what I am worried about.



I sanded down the riser until it fit better.




I also made some tillering attachments that will slide on the end of the un-shaped limbs before I taper the sides and make the string groves. they are made from 4large washers that I epoxied together and cut notches in



I should be able to glue the bow together in a few days.

I didn't have much time to work on the bow today but I did get the strips of fiberglass cleaned with alcohol and then I put a layer of tape over the shiny surface to protect it from scratches and epoxy during the build up. The one on the left is yet to be taped.




On the back side of the bow (towards the archer) I need two pieces of fiberglass so I cut one of the long strips in half after I taped it




Then I beveled the wood laminations so that the glue seam would not be so obvious.






Then I glued the bevels together to make one long piece.



At this point, I am ready to glue up the bow. I hope to be able to do it next week.

In order to evaluate the bow form, I built a mock up. I bought a pine, 2 x 6 and cut it into strips that were .065 thick.




Before gluing the strips together, I protected the form with two layers of tape. It will be easier to remove and replace the tape then it will be to try and chip away any excess glue from the form.




Next, I covered the surfaces of the form with plastic wrap to keep it clean.




I used yellow wood glue for the mock up. It did not require the oven box. Once all the layers were covered in glue, I used clamps and strips of rubber inner tube to compress the layers.




In the center section (where the riser will be) I added a few extra strips.




After 24 hours, I removed the clamps and the plastic wrap. There was no "Spring back" or relaxing of the wood strips. I then took the mock up and reversed it on the form to see if it was symmetrical and it fit the form equally in either orientation.




I checked for twists in the limbs and found none.






I then placed the riser against my chest and grabbed both limb tips and began to flex the bow. Since I did not have any fade outs and the ridged glue does not like to flex (and the pine had many knots) both limbs broke




This allowed me to nest the limbs and look for any twists or differences between the two. Everything looked good.




I think all is ready to assemble Josh's bow. Now I just need to find the time to actually do it. Since I will want to baby sit the oven box for the 8 hours that it will cook, It's going to have to wait until I have a free weekend and those are hard to come by.

I spent some time today, making the clamp holes in the form. When I assemble the bow, I plan to use spring clamps to compress all the layers of wood, fiberglass and epoxy together.

I drilled big round holes and then used a jig saw to square up the side of the hole closest to the top surface. This will give the clamps a little more room.





I will use one clamp on each side of the limb. Like this.



I also got a package in the mail today from Old Master Crafter of Waukegan,  IL. I ordered the wood laminations a few days ago and these things showed up a lot faster than I was told they would. (Great Service) It does not look like much for about $60 but what it is, is 6 taper ground action wood strips that are .065" thin on one end that taper at .001" per inch of length. The strips are 36 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide. they came protected by two nice looking strips of Zebra wood. I will use them for knife handles at a later date.





I placed the thick end of one piece next to the thin end of another so you can see the taper.



Each limb will get three of these tapers and one strip of parallel thickness Hard rock Maple that is from the piece of wood my Father cut so many years ago. This is the same piece of wood that I used in the riser.

On the front and back of each limb will be a thin layer of Kingwood and then clear fiberglass. All of this will be assembled with the same epoxy I used to make the riser but first I need to assemble an oven box.

I am going to show the steps in making this bow for my son. I am not an expert by any stretch. This will be a build along sort of thread but I must warn you that this will be slow going. I have many projects in the works with much stricter time lines than finishing this bow for my son so there will be periods of inactivity. Thats just real life.

This bow will be a reflex/deflex Long bow. It is a hybrid combination of a longbow and a recurve. Longbows are typically straight when unstrung and recurves are still curved even when unstrung. This bow will look sort of like a recurve while unstrung and like a longbows when strung.

Here is a pic I stole off the web to give you an idea of what I am going for.



The woods I am using for Josh's bow are the same ones I use to make knife handles. For the most part, they are South American hardwoods. The riser will be made from Bubinga, Bloodwood and good old American hard rock maple from a tree my Dad cut many years ago. Sort of a legacy piece of wood, cut by my Dad, Made into a bow by me and finally used by my son. I will also use some of the Maple in the limbs.



this is the order in which I will stack the layers.



Most S.A. hardwoods have oils in them that make gluing difficult, so I use acetone to clean and degrease. Blood wood and purple hear are some of the oiliest. You can see the orange oil in the basin of the sink. It took a long time to clean that sink. I should have sprayed it with pam first.  :oops:



Once cleaned, I used a hacksaw blade as a scrapper to rough up all the gluing surfaces. Epoxy does not like smooth surfaces.



The glue I am using can be purchased at a number of bow building web sites. This is a two part epoxy that gets stronger if cured under a heated condition. This is important because if you leave the bow in a hot car on a sunny day, The glue had better have been cured at a high temp to keep the bow from de-laminating.



It mixes like any other epoxy.



Make sure to cover your work surfaces with wax paper or plastic wrap. It is hard to clean up any spills. Then simply butter both sides of the surfaces to make sure you have no dry spots that will later separate.



I use spring clamps because C-clams will get loose during the heating process when the glue oozes out. (trust me, there is a lot of oozing)  Spring clamps keep a constant pressure at all times.



I then take the riser and put it in a preheated oven. Bake for 8 hours at 180F until a nice golden brown and serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream .    

When it comes time to glue up the bow itself, I will build an oven box that is 6 feet long as the bow will not fit in the oven. I will heat this box with 100 watt light bulbs.

Fast forward 8 hours and a few more hours for a slow cool down period and the riser is all glued up. The rubber tips of the clamps need to be pried from the glue.



Next, I ran the block through my table saw to square it up and remove the excess glue.





Then I drew the riser pattern on the wood and cut it out with a band saw and sanded the fade outs on a drum sander.





This glue is a flexible epoxy. Normal hardware store epoxy would crack and break if bent like this.



Make sure to use only enough glue for the job at hand. A little goes a long way.



I now need to make the form that I will use to glue the bow on and I need to make the heat box. Like I said, this is going to be a slow moving project. I will post more progress as I get a chance to work on it.

Held in Oconomowoc, WI. Lots to see. Speakers/seminars like
March 7, 8, 9th 2008
Olympia Resort
Oconomowoc, Wisconsin
Joe Bucher - Hunting Trophy Bucks the Bucher Way
Tammy Koenig - Blood trailing tactics
Doug Hoskins - Turkey calling tactics

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