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Main Boards => The Bowyer's Bench => Topic started by: eman614 on April 08, 2009, 09:13:00 PM

Title: first attempt at a build along
Post by: eman614 on April 08, 2009, 09:13:00 PM
alright guys i've been looking at everyone elses buildalongs, which i love. so i decided that i would give it a try. this boy will be for my little brother. he is twelve. the first thing i had to do was build a form. i had a piece of left over mdf that was 24in wide by 48in long. sorry no pics of the first little bit but, they are to come. used a table saw to rip it into two 11in pieces then, glued the two together.since there was nothing to do while the glue dried, i made a form template. i used the method that kennym showed on his last post about forms. this was all yesterday, by the way. i figured out that the longest bow i could make with the profile i made and the length of mdf i had would be 52 and1/2in which should be just right.
   that was yesterday lets fast forward to today. i unclamped the mdf and scraped off the excess glue. then i drew a centerline on the mdf co i could mathch it up with the line on my template. i cut it out to within 1/8in of my line using a jig saw. then screwed the template in place and, used a patern bit on the router to finish it up. now for some pics. (http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss60/eman614/bowpictures092.jpg)
this is a pic of the profile, and thisone shows just how curvy it is (http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss60/eman614/bowpictures093.jpg). it has two in of deflex, and 2 1/2in of reflex, back past the handle. as you can tell i will be using the innertube method for clamping, like apex predator does.
   well this is the start. this will probably be a slow moving buildalong as i am supposed to close on a house friday and my wife has a list of things for me to do about as long as my arm   "[dntthnk]"   . also have to order the wood from kennym
wish me luck, eric
Title: Re: first attempt at a build along
Post by: kennym on April 08, 2009, 11:05:00 PM
Hey Eric,
Looks good!! Keep us posted on how the MDF works,so far no probs here.
Good luck,but the way the first one looked,you won't need much luck!!  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: first attempt at a build along
Post by: Apex Predator on April 09, 2009, 10:08:00 AM
That is going to be sweet!  Keep us posted.
Title: Re: first attempt at a build along
Post by: SteveD on April 10, 2009, 05:17:00 AM
Looks good
Title: Re: first attempt at a build along
Post by: eman614 on April 11, 2009, 06:34:00 PM
thanks guys. i got a little bit of an update. yesterday my wife and i finally closed on the house we'd been trying to buy for about three months now. so last night we grilled out and had the family over
well my little brother(that i'm making the bow for) and cousin were playing soccer and this is how the night ended (http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss60/eman614/bowpictures.jpg). so now i have at least 6 weeks before the bow has to be done. luckily my 8 year old cousin said he would be willing to test the bow out so, ill go ahead and get started on it as soon as the wood gets here from kennym
Title: Re: first attempt at a build along
Post by: kennym on April 11, 2009, 08:47:00 PM
Owww! Did you tell him he can watch the cousin shoot? Just kiddin!

Materials  shipped  yesterday,you should see em about Tues.
Title: Re: first attempt at a build along
Post by: eman614 on April 11, 2009, 11:14:00 PM
i actually did tell him that. he didn't think that was too funny. kenny you got some crazy fast turn around time!
thanks a bunch, eric
Title: Re: first attempt at a build along
Post by: Aram on April 13, 2009, 03:36:00 PM
Ouch!
Here's a bit of inspiration for him. This is my son at Baltimore when he was about the same age.
Ru at Baltimore (http://s33.photobucket.com/albums/d60/Oarceas/?action=view¤t=RuatBaltimore.flv)
Get well soon,
Aram
Title: Re: first attempt at a build along
Post by: eman614 on April 13, 2009, 03:42:00 PM
aram, thats pretty good i'll have to show that to my brother. he'll get a kick out of that.
thanks,eric
Title: Re: first attempt at a build along
Post by: eman614 on April 15, 2009, 11:45:00 PM
wooohoo. finally kenny's wood is here. i say that like i've been waiting more than a day or two. i ordered on wed. of last week and, he had themd shipped on friday, that is what i call customer service. many thanks kennym. i ordered a piece of padauk for the riser but, kenny said that he had been having trouble with it checking. so he sent me a piece of osage also. just in case. i sure hope i don't need the osage, cause the piece of padauk is beautiful. not to mention my brother likes it too! i would have taken pics but, my camera had a dead battery and it is on charge now. i will post some tomorrow. mow that i have done some talking i have a question. do i need to make my riser shorter(14in) since the bow is shorter or, can i leave it long(18in)? thanks for the input.
eric
Title: Re: first attempt at a build along
Post by: razorsharptokill on April 16, 2009, 08:52:00 PM
I fully expect to have a package delivered some day minutes after I click the send button. Much like "Wile E. Coyote" in the road runner cartoons when he orders some thing from "ACME".  :goldtooth:  

Kenny has very good turn around time when he recieves an order.
Title: Re: first attempt at a build along
Post by: kennym on April 16, 2009, 10:31:00 PM
If you shorten the riser,it will lower #age from a bow from the same form.  

On a brand new form ,???

Keep really good records,on paper!! LOL
Title: Re: first attempt at a build along
Post by: eman614 on April 16, 2009, 10:36:00 PM
well, the padauk has not checked yet. according to the mail lady it got here tuesday so, i missed it for a whole day before i finally found it. i decided to do a shorter riser as i did not want to decrease the amount of working limb that i had. the only problem with that is it doesn't leave me much room to make my fades. so, i opted to make one that just had a narrow piece between the limb lams. once it has been glued then i will add some more wood to the belly for the handle. i gave the padauk one last day today to get used to the climate here like kennym suggested but, tomorrow is a different story. i will cut out the riser and work on some other things tomorrow. i will be sure and post pics then also.
eric
Title: Re: first attempt at a build along
Post by: eman614 on April 16, 2009, 10:42:00 PM
kenny we must have been typing at the same time. like i mentioned i intend to use a shorter riser and, since this is a new form i will probably use the shorter risers on it all the time. this is more or less just a test bow. if it comes out the right weight then fantastic if not that'll be fine too. can't wait to get started tomorrow.
eric
Title: Re: first attempt at a build along
Post by: eman614 on May 20, 2009, 07:24:00 PM
well its been a month or so since i've been on here. between buying a house and having to work on this sucker( my wife's orders). i haven't had much time to work on the bow or post the progress that i have made. but here are some pics to get you guys up to speed. (http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss60/eman614/bowpictures096.jpg)here i am using the bandsaw to cut out the riser (http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss60/eman614/bowpictures098.jpg)this is afteri did some sanding it fits the form pretty well (http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss60/eman614/bowpictures099.jpg)this is the riser overlay and tip overlays (http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss60/eman614/bowpictures101.jpg)this is the the bow in the press as i soon found out i should have used more rubber bands. (http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss60/eman614/bowpictures102.jpg)here is the bow glued up and out of the form. (http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss60/eman614/bowpictures103.jpg) this is a pic of the riser (http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss60/eman614/bowpictures104.jpg) this is a crappy pic but it shows the crappy fade outs. this is where i should have used more rubberbands probably would have decided to go along with the bow anywayshelped (http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss60/eman614/bowpictures105.jpg) i glued a piece to the belly and shaped it out
Title: Re: first attempt at a build along
Post by: eman614 on May 20, 2009, 07:34:00 PM
i must say that the padauk looks great here is a good pic of it (http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss60/eman614/bowpictures106.jpg) this is the riser overlay (http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss60/eman614/bowpictures107.jpg) this is the riser shaped some more and sanded the sight window is also cut (http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss60/eman614/bowpictures108.jpg) here is one more pic of the padauk, this stuff looked great. many thanks to kennym. maybe one day i'll finish the bow. for now that is all the pics i got. hopefully there will be more to come soon
Title: Re: first attempt at a build along
Post by: eman614 on May 20, 2009, 07:36:00 PM
here is that last pic of the padauk forgot to put it in the last post (http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss60/eman614/bowpictures109.jpg)
Title: Re: first attempt at a build along
Post by: razorsharptokill on May 20, 2009, 09:53:00 PM
Man I really like that riser!
Title: Re: first attempt at a build along
Post by: Dmaxshawn on May 20, 2009, 10:15:00 PM
you make it look simple that way in the glue up.  My sons bow is glued that way and have been thinking of trying it that way.  You have now inspired me to.  Did your weight/stack formula change?  

Shawn
Title: Re: first attempt at a build along
Post by: bjhaug on May 20, 2009, 10:16:00 PM
eman, wait until you get finish on that padauk- it'll look even better!
Title: Re: first attempt at a build along
Post by: eman614 on May 20, 2009, 10:55:00 PM
shawn unfortunately i don't know. this is only the second bow that i have built. it is on a much smaller scale than the first bow i built. but on the other hand i am working on another bow that is full sized that will be glued up the same as this one.so hopefully i will be able to help more after i get it going.
    by the way worked on the bow a little more tonight. strung it up but didn't have my camera so no pics   "[dntthnk]"   but ill put post some more tomorrow. i drew it back almost full draw on me which is about 28in with no problems. for the younger kids it is intended for it should be perfect. the draw weight is not bad it will be interesting to see what it finishes out at.
until tomorrow.
eric
Title: Re: first attempt at a build along
Post by: Aeronut on May 22, 2009, 04:38:00 PM
Lookin' good  :thumbsup:    Your brother is going to be happy with that one.
Title: Re: first attempt at a build along
Post by: bjansen on May 22, 2009, 10:28:00 PM
Outstanding..Great job!!!!!
Title: Re: first attempt at a build along
Post by: eman614 on May 27, 2009, 11:37:00 PM
thanks guys. one of these days i'll get around to taking more pictures. until then.
eric
Title: Re: first attempt at a build along
Post by: eman614 on June 05, 2009, 07:13:00 PM
finally got some more pics together. first we have a strung profile  (http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss60/eman614/bowpictures112.jpg)next is the unstrung  (http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss60/eman614/bowpictures118.jpg) and finally we have it at full draw (http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss60/eman614/bowpictures116.jpg) this bow was not intended for an adult to shoot but its nice to know that i could. and if its heavy enough it might have to make a trip to black beard island. it would come in real handy in those palmettos. forgot to mention that it is only 50in ntn. maybe one day soon i'll finish it. more pics to come.
eric
Title: Re: first attempt at a build along
Post by: Don Batten on June 05, 2009, 07:53:00 PM
nice job. now you got to start another. It's like lays potato chips. I'm getting ready to glue up my 2nd tomarrow. DB
Title: Re: first attempt at a build along
Post by: kennym on June 05, 2009, 09:43:00 PM
Sweet bow Eric!! Love that full draw profile!!  :thumbsup:    :thumbsup: