Another longbow build-along...

[smj]

I have been out of town the last couple days, hence, nothing to post on the bow build! I should be back at it tomorrow and should have something to post very soon. Sorry about the delay!

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No hurry on this end...I am sure it will be worth the wait. Take care.

[smj]

The belly...


So - I decided to make up 4 bows worth of belly wood. (Next I will do up some bamboo for them, and glue them up as I get to them.) I had an ipe board and an osage board to play with, and made a lot of dust in the garage! A dust mask is required.

The osage had a lot of wiggle in it, but was straight sided and 1.1 inches thick. I started at the table saw and cut out width wise two boards at about 1.8 inches wide, then smoothed a side and trued the board up, all sides. I did the same for the ipe board.
The result looked a lot like this:


At this point, I have 4 bow boards that are 72 inches long, 1.8 inches wide, and roughly 0.480 inches thick. They are square, and ready for inspection and a little test.

On inspection I found the following issues in the ipe... The osage was fine -


As you look close at these - it is obvious that there are some flaws in the wood. This happens. When it does, you really need to test the wood before spending the time to make a bow out of it.


The test I do is to flex the board a bit. I hold the bow at one end in the palm of my hand. The other end is on the floor, and I flex the board as if I were going to string a bow. If I hear and pops or cracks or tics then the board goes away. No bow. The result of the flex test - one popped the other didn't. I gave a little extra flex to the one that popped:


It really didn't take as much as you might think. The wood carried a flaw and was left really weak. The other ipe board seemed to loose the defect during thinning, done on the jointer. (I like to keep sides square.) For ipe, I take it down to just above 0.4 inches thick.




It will drop a bit more when sanded down a bit and smoothed. But not below 0.4 inches.

Next I put the board on the jig and make sure that no other snaps or pops happen when I bend the board to the contour of the jig. Any noise means no bow. Ipe seems to be pretty brittle. I used to try to keep a thicker board to make a bow out of - but with ipe at 0.5 inches of thickness the board snaps when I try to bend it to the jig... If I can bend it at all! Osage is, for these matters, easier to work with. It runs through the jointer better and takes a spokeshave better. Of the two woods, I find ipe the tougher wood to make a bow out of.

[smj]

Before anyone asked - I didn't grow the tree and I didn't cut the board out of it. I don't know what might have happened here.

Before I put this on the jig, I will smooth the surface on a belt sander, and round the edges as well. Smooth surfaces and round edges tend to hold together better. Sharp edges tend to pop up snags that can become splits! I will also mark the grip area on the board, and then on the belly side put a taper from the end of the grip area to the tip of the limb. This will help it flex smoothly on the jig. If the board passes all of the above, Red gets a bow made. If not - maybe we'll just make him an osage bow??? Stay tuned!

[red]

Interesting...very rigorous testing. BTW: I would be just as happy, if not happier with Osage. Those boards look beautiful.

[smj]

If the ipe makes it through flexing it on the jig, I'll plan on making that one for you. If it seems like a question mark - I'll switch to the osage. I intend to make one of each anyway, so, even if something shows up late in the build I will still have a second bow ready to go. (If both turn out, someone else is waiting on the second bow anyway!) Thanks for letting me know it would be OK!

[smj]

OK red - I've looked at the ipe board and have decided to switch you over to osage. I made one bow out of that ipe plank and it should have made two more - but I don't trust the wood that I am left with from it. One bow board broke, the other "ticks" when stressed - this is not a good trend! Osage it is - I don't think that you will mind performance wise! The color is a sort of yellow. However, with time, it darkens. It will continue to dark with age, too.

Here is the newly cut board compared to a glass-lam bow that is several years old now. Both are osage -



I seem to recall that you liked the darker limbs of the example bow - I can get more of the ipe if you'd really like the darker limbs. Your call. If you elect to stay with the osage, do you wish to keep the grip wood of redheart? Just checking with you on this!

One thought here - the osage will darken with time and I can do a redish-brown dye on the bamboo and osage as well. Once the dye is on, I can thin the color so that as the bow ages it will have a red/golden sunburst effect with time. Leave the heavy coloration along the limb edges and across the nodes on the bamboo. Probably dye the tips of the limbs slightly black. Again, your call - let me know if you think that will work for you.

[red]

Hey stevej...sorry the boards were giving you a hard time. I am very happy to have the Osage (those boards look wonderful). With the Osage, can I swith to the Cocobola for the grip section? I think it would be a great combination. I like your dye idea. I am a big fan of Autumn/Fall, so I'd like the bow to be in the yellow/orange range. Some darker color for contrast on the limb edges and tips sounds great! It just gets more exciting as we go along.

[smj]

Not a problem at all - this why I asked! Cocobola it is then, which would be my choice as well!

[red]

Beautiful...thanks, stevej. I ordered an armguard, finger tab and stringer. As we get closer, advise me on arrows so that I can order those as well. I know most of the companies make a "traditional look" aluminum. Do you have a favorite?