was in the shop tonight and whipped up a recurve caul and then got to working and bending a stave so I decided to take some pics along the way and decided to do a build along.
I picked a stave that has about 3" of natural reflex. It's 63" tip to tip.
Going for 62 NTN, stiff handle, 50 to 55# at 28"
We'll see what happens :pray:
(http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh24/krischris123004/226.jpg)
I had chased a ring on this stave this summer and sealed with shellac and set it off in the corner until I decided what to do with it. Well I guess we know what we're doing now.
Since it had a couple pin knots in the back I decided to go ahead down a couple rings so I could make sure I didn't get into the pins when I chased the first ring
(http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh24/krischris123004/231.jpg)
for the newbies that light colored spongy lookin stuff is the early growth. Just follow it all the way down the back with your draw knife. I flip my draw knife upside down and I think most folks do. It works better that way seems like. Here's a pic of the early and late wood.
(http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh24/krischris123004/225.jpg)
Here's a pic of the pin knots. I left some around the knot so I don't violate the ring coming over the knot and I'll clean it up and take it down to the ring I want with scrapers. I usually use my gooseneck on account of the undulations on the back of a selfbow.
(http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh24/krischris123004/227.jpg)
(http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh24/krischris123004/228.jpg).
I'll clean up the whole baack with my scraper and have a look see at the ring and make sure I didn't go through any where.
After all that was done I decided it was time to flip the tips. In retrospect next time I will remove any prop twist first. This stave has a little that will have to be dealt with to line up the tips but from what I gather it takes a few heat sessions to get things all lined up anyways when doing a recurve.
To flip the tips I heat the wood with my 10$ heat gun after putting plenty of oil on the wood, back and belly. I heat them until they are hot through to the back when I touch them. You'll also know they are hot enough to bend when the wood starts to turn a nice dark color. Don't get your gun to close or hold in the same spot to long.
I usually hold it about 5 or 6 inches away and count to 15 and move and then count to 20 when I go back over the same spot. Just get her hot and move on.
(http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh24/krischris123004/233.jpg)
(http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh24/krischris123004/232.jpg)
As you heat the tip you clamp as you go till you got her flipped. When it cools you'll end up with this.
(http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh24/krischris123004/236.jpg)
Any questions or advice just jump on post away.
I'll do some more heating in the next day or two and get her a little closer to floor tiller.
I should have added that when flipping tips they should be left thick (1/2" to 3/4") so that if it lifts splinters you still got plenty to work with and they will come out. Also a good Idea to have a strip of metal to clamp over the tip as you are bending it. This help the splinters from getting real bad.
Living in Alaska is nice, except when you get to see all the nice yellow wood that everyone gets to play with...ha
I hear ya Kevin, I would love to live in Alaska but I would have to bring plenty of yeller wood with me.
Nice build along Kris.
Thanks for the build-a-long. It't looking great.
All eyes Stiks :)
I've got to get one of those cabinet scrappers...
Looking great Kris. Nice buildalong. Glad to see that your shop is used and not one of those eat off the floor type disfunctions :bigsmyl:
Well now that is going to be a great bow.
Kevin if I was still up there I think I would climb up those mountains and get some of that alder. It seems like a big spring already.
Stiks I can't wait to see more.
I did bring some with me, but after 11 years the supply is getting mighty thin...
Keenan I would be lost with out by bench for sure. I'll get up pics of it tomorrow.
Today is my anniversary and I worked some more on her but it will be later before I get up more pics.
:campfire:
Happy Anniversary Kris and Mrs. Kris...
Happy Anniversary Kris,
Mine was yesterday.
Nice looking bow so far.Can't wait to see that bench( :pray: )
CTT
:coffee:
:campfire: lots of learning for me! Thanks!
Looks like you made a pile of shavings. nice curves. cant wait to see it finished.
well as promised here's the progress report.
I started taking it down to my lay out lines. When I split this stave it had a few areas that tore out on the edge that had me a little concerned and I ended up having to take it down to 1" wide instead of 1.25" I think it will be fine though. It is 1" for about 14" from the fades and tapers to .5" from there.
another tip for the new guys is to be sure to rasp from belly to back when cleaning up the sides and taking her to her lines or you run a chance of raising splinters on the edge of the back.
(http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh24/krischris123004/237.jpg)
(http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh24/krischris123004/238.jpg)
Heres what she looks like after bending both tips. She need a little twisting on one limb and the other limb needs moved about a half inch. I'll do that tommarow. Also a pic of the Stave Master designed and patented by Keenan Howard.
(http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh24/krischris123004/243.jpg)
(http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh24/krischris123004/239.jpg)
(http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh24/krischris123004/242.jpg)
And a pic of the tips cleaned up a little to remove the splinters that lifted. Make sure not to take off too much, just enough to clean'em up at this point.
(http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh24/krischris123004/240.jpg)
(http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh24/krischris123004/236-1.jpg)
more to come!
one other thing I should of added for the newer folks working staves. If you look at the pics you can see the grain running on the limb. You want to lay your bow out and follow that faithfully so you don't end up with run out on the limb.
You'll get some very slight run off on the edge as you taper you limb but you don't want any drastic run off or you'll end up with a heart breaker.
This is one that broke from run out where the grain crossed the limb to much.
(http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh24/krischris123004/246.jpg)
T
Sticks, you did mean to run the rasp from the back to the belly to avoid splinter didn't you?
Looking good Kris.
Shawn
Making a good teut here, friend Kris. :thumbsup:
Ooops - double post - sorry. (that's twice this AM, I'm starting to stutter again - LOL)
Great build a long. You wood bowyers always amaze me, your talent and patience is truly inspiring. A static osage recurve what a great bow that would be for the bow swap. Would make just about anyone happy.
QuoteOriginally posted by stringstretcher:
Sticks, you did mean to run the rasp from the back to the belly to avoid splinter didn't you?
Good catch Stringstretcher, I guess need to proof read my post LOL
Jess I got a few bows going now and I'm sure one is gonna be the swap bow. I had a heck of time last swap and I got to redeem myself this go round.
Nice build along Kris. Keep um coming.
Gotta love that Stave Master!
Thanks Pat, If you got any advice I'm all ears :D
That Stave Master is the best thing since sliced bread. No more back aches from standing over a vice for hours at a time. Ol' Keenan came up with a gem for sure. I can throw it the back of the truck and take it any where too.
Kris,
you got my attention, looking forward to the next installment.
Happy New Year!!
Bert. :archer2:
Kris, your getting me interested in this bow building stuff. I'm sure my wife would love to see me pick up another hobby. :D
Good work! Rob
Thanks for the pic of the Stave Master, Kris. I've wanted a look at that since I glimpsed it in one of Keenan's posts months ago. That boat seat has gotten the attention of my sittin' down side for sure! My shaving horse isn't as comfortable as it could be...
Stan that Stave master added to my shop time for sure. No more back aches :D
Kris,
Love the build along. I see you left quite a bit of wood in the bend of the curve. I made the mistake of not leaving plenty on a couple. The cracks in the wood after heat bending were too deep to do anything with. Lesson learned.
Is that a knapping bucket I see in one of the pics? You gonna make some stone tipped arrows to go with your recurve?
I been piddling around with learning to knap David. So far I just manage to make alot of gravel LOL
I learned that same lesson on the first one I tried. I got quite a bit done on her yesterday and got some more pics I'll get up later.
alright got some more done to the point that she is floor tillered and close to ready for a long string. I'm gonna get her bending on the floor a little more before getting a long string on her.
Heres a few pics.
To get a good idea of where I need to move things I lay a string down the center of the handle area and stretch her out to have a look.
(http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh24/krischris123004/002.jpg)
once I get an idea where I need to go I lay the bow on the work bench or use a caul. Whatever is needed. This time I just use a couple 2x4 block to lay it on and I'll add clamp pressure where it needs to bend and heat her up good and clamp.
Most of the time you need to go past where you want it to stay.
(http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh24/krischris123004/004-1.jpg)
(http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh24/krischris123004/003-1.jpg)
I also measure how far off the bench the tip is so I can measure how much I moved it
(http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh24/krischris123004/005-1.jpg)
hers what she looks like after some heat
(http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh24/krischris123004/008-1.jpg)
Heres what I did while she was cooling
(http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh24/krischris123004/007-1.jpg)
Great thread Kris I almost missed this one. :) :thumbsup:
Looking good!
Tracy
im paying close attention, kris.im anticipating the next installment. rv
The other limb needed some twist took out to line things up. To do this I'll clamp it the vise and use a pipe wrench on the limb to remove the twist. I run a string tied to weighted bucket to pull the wrench and hold it while it cools.
(http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh24/krischris123004/009.jpg)
(http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh24/krischris123004/010-2.jpg)
after I got her all lined up I started removing wood from the belly.
since she's so narrow I decided to do more of a rounded belly and use the facet method.
First I mark my lines on the side of the limb being sure to go a bit heavy and I taper them from the fade to the tip. Then I rasp from the center of the belly to the side leaving a peak on the belly
(http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh24/krischris123004/013-1.jpg)
(http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh24/krischris123004/014.jpg)
Then I knock the peak down leaving four peaks and I'll round everything over to get my belly profile.
(http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh24/krischris123004/019.jpg)
That's where we are at now. I'll get some pics of the floor tillering later
Lookin good Kris! On both the bow and the "rocks" :thumbsup:
Kris,
Lookin good on the bow and looks like you are on your way on the points.
Either of those points look like killers to me. Might narrow the bases up a little under the notches to help the arrow get a little more penetration.
Good job Kris.
Good job Kris. I built a static recurve about 13 years agp. To bend the ends, I used crisco ( wiped on the limb, and an open flame ( gas grill burner) didn't scortch the wood. I heated the area to be bent with a circular motion and when the wood started to feel "loose" I placed the end in a form that was the same angle that I was trying to achieve. I like the idea of using the heat gun. Keep up the good work.
Great thread, looking forward to seeing this one finished.
Looking good Kris. I love that design, it is going to be a good shooter
I hope you had some type of padding on the pipe wrench that is applying pressure on the back side of the limb.
My thoughts exacyly, Walt. Pad those jaws(bet you've heard that before Kris).
Coming along nicely Kris.
Very nice work, Stiks. Jawge
I guess I left that minor detail out didn't I. lol
I pad the jaws of the wrench with thick leather as well as the vise.
Thanks for the compliments.
I been thinking about trying Shaun's tillering method on this. Here's the link to Shauns ELB build
http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=125;t=007353
This is gonna help me Kris with the billets DVS sent me, they are a little snakey, but not bad. They are 16% now, so it's going to be quite a few months till I start on them. I mostly build BBO bows from osage slats. Need to get my feet wet with selfbows of character:) I have played the heat gun with weight game several times.
Good toot Kris.. ^5
Glad to see someones getting something out of it Roy, I guess an old dog can learn new tricks. :laughing: (Couldn't help it buddy) I'll be picking your brain when I get ready to do another BBO of the R/D type.
I think I'm gonna build a BBO hill on next boo bow. I'm thinking boo backed with bloodwood core and osage belly.
TTT. Did you finish it? Love those statics and wanting to see the completed bow!!
:thumbsup: :campfire:
She broke at about twenty inches. Lifted a real bad splinter on the edge that ran about 4" long and into the limb. I'm gonna start another one soon.
Happy anniversary Kris,mine is tommorow.
Ah bummer.
Sorry Kris, had a BBO blow apart in the shop yesterday here.
Went from this.
(http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f165/ROY-CHRIS/IMG_6932.jpg)
To this real quick.
(http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f165/ROY-CHRIS/IMG_6937.jpg)
Ohhh that's going to be sweet!
Kris Happy aniversary and sorry about your Stave that was looking sweet. Keep the good limb as you may find a match some day for a take down
i see you are liking the stave master...your bow is coming out great...i do love the yeller wood...john
Sorry to hear about your break Kris, I was really looking forward to seeing that one finished up. Sorry bout yours too Roy, I thought you were going to try some hickory instead of that dang bamboo!
If you ain't breakin' you ain't makin'
fortunately I don't break as many as I used to. It don't even bother me any more. I just grad another one and go after it.
These static tips have been my nemesis though and I bound and determined to get one done.
What happened to that one Roy?
Kris, if you brake any more there will be a world wide shortage of bow wood! d;^)
Dang Pat! :laughing: I kinda expect that kinda stuff from Roy. I thought me and you was tighter than that.
It was a good one though.
LMAO..
^5 Pat :biglaugh:
QuoteOriginally posted by Pat B:
Kris, if you brake any more there will be a world wide shortage of bow wood! d;^)
I though my stash was getting suspiciously low... Better set up some security cameras.
I just had to take a jab, Kris! d;^)
I can take it Pat, It was good jab I'll say that LOL
A good jab?
It was a 10 jab...
Wish I had thought about it:)
:deadhorse:
Yeah Roy I think Pat out did you on that one LOL