Nice idea with the aluminum strip. I am going to encorporate that on mine.  That ridgid is a sweet little tool for sure.

I have a grin that looks a lot like this:

 

That is the contrast that I was hoping for...very well done Marty!

Wait to you see the limbs!

Josh

looks great  

That is looking great.

That is a great idea how you do your fades, I like the rigid sander combo can you get that at lowes/homedepot?

nice looking riser, can't wait to see more of this build.

Yes Bob, Home Depot has them for $200.

That is beautiful! The detail and methods used are impressive.

Very cool! I love your color choices!
Keep the pictures coming...

This morning it's time to start on prepping the lams.  Here they are all layed out.  The cherry is awesome!  It will darken and the grain will pop when under the glass.  I start by carefully measuring each lam at the fat end.  These are always very close to what I ordered, if not exactly.  I record all the data in my book for future reference.







I then sand the ends of both lams together so that I can join them into one lam.  This is for all except the belly lam, which will stay in two pieces.





When I flip the top one over it should mate to the first one.

I've drawn lines on my bench to use as guides to make sure I glue them together parallel.



I use a quality CA gel and an accelerator to join them.





I want the joints as tight as possible for asthetics.  You could have a gap here, and it would work fine because they are normally right behind the thick part of your riser.  I like tight lines myself!



Next is sanding the edges of the lams to knock off the splinters.  These can get trapped between lams, or under the glass and will look horrible if not taken care of.

Unbelievable, well, not really I guess.  I just looked at it.  I'm just having a hard time comprehending the workmanship.  There's a lot of talent right there.  Nice job and thanks for sharing with us.

-Jeremy

Fantastic work Marty. Waiting for the next lesson.

Nice work as always. Be looking forward to more.

Tim

Simply amazing!  Can't wait for the bow to come out of the oven!

Keep it coming!!!

Josh

I found myself without the glass I need!!!!  Kenny shipped it Sat, so I should have it Tue.  Stay tuned!

I appreciate all the kind words!

My glass came yesterday, so this morning I am prepping everything for glue-up.  The belly lams have to be trimmed down some in length.  I tape the back side of the glass to keep off the smooth-on.  



Then it's time for a dry run.  I clean all the lams with acetone, and stack them on the form in proper order.  For this bow it will be glass, cherry, boo, boo, riser, cherry, and glass.  This cherry is awesome, and quickly becoming my favorite!





I put the pressure strips on top, and with hand pressure determine if the riser fades are going to fade like they are supposed to.  I don't want any gaps here at all.





You can see a shadow where the lams over-hang the riser in the last photo.

I have to pick up an extra bicycle inner tube and another seam roller today, and should then be all set for the lay-up.

Marty,
Are the back cherry and boo tapers?

Mike

Teagus, all four lams are .001 tapers.