Hi guys. I've been working on a design concept for a new bow and wanted to get your opinions. Check out the following images:





This will be a 62" 40# TD recurve built from African Blackwood with laser etched bloodwood widow and spider web inlays. The limb tips wood be hourglass shaped bloodwood and the limb cores would be black dyed bamboo. Do you think this would be an interesting & unique bow or just way over the top? Honest opinions please. Don't worry, you will not hurt my feelings. Computer pixels are easier to manipulate than wood ;-)

Thanks,
Charles
Madison, AL

Looks good! Do you already have your African black wood? You may need a Gaboon ebony for that color....

Or ebonized walnut.  Might be a fair bit cheaper.

It is a bit over the top - and I like it! I enjoy looking at beautiful woodgrain as much as the next guy(and there has been some beauties lately), but something a little different is cool too.
With some of the the different transfer technologies out there it opens up new ideas.
I'm not into spiders, but if it had a dragon with scales in a camo pattern you might just have me.

It's pretty racey.
It looks cool though.
Kinda spiderman..

I agree, over the top but still cool. You're probably going to need some spider web painted arrrows to go with that.

i like it,as everyone else says over the top but different so will stand out in a crowd if i was looking to purchase a new bow the inlays would definitly give it an appeal unfortunatly wife would kill me due to having phobia  

The limbs look a little flat, they need more curve.
The grip should be more forward.
I do like the colors!

My computer doesn't have a blackwood pattern and the rendering turned out much darker than what reality would be. I'm hoping you'll see a little bit of the blackwood grain in the finished product.

Would it look better if I ditched the webs on the limbs and just left the limbs solid black?

I have this gut feeling that bows should come from a man's heart and his hands, and not from PC programs. But hey, it's your bow, go for it.

Charles, is that a current recurve  bow you make? Or a design you would like to attempt? If you currently make that bow I would go for the flair but otherwise it would prove the design with less expensive material before you put that much work into it..

I personally am not sure about it.  I am not a fan of the looks of the bows they use for target shooting in the Olympics because they look plain jane to me.  I would have to see it when it's actually made.  Wood has depth, warmth, and feeling.  No computer generated image can replicate that so I cannot make a proper decision as of now.  I would love to see it if/when you build it.  I also love the use of computer design to lay out a bow.  If I ever get around to making a glass bow I will draw it out on graph paper but would love to be able to design and tweak it on a computer.

I would like to add that if you are skilled enough, the spider web pattern would look AMAZING if you were to be able to cut it out of wood and piece it together.  I have no clue how one could do it or even if it could be done.

You might want to be sure you are not infringing on the already BW name. I do think the limb needs a bit more hook in it.

the spider webs appear to be pink on my computer.  is that an optical illusion?  or does it just look that way? ;>)
I really like it, especially the handle's symmetry.  
but I would not buy it with pink spider webs.  maybe white spider webs??????????????????????
bill

Wow! Love the profile and the black and red really sets it off. Don't think it would look good without the shine though.

You realize there is a Black Widow bow already right?  blackwidowbows.com

I guess I should have prefaced my initial post with a little background. First, this will be my third bow project and the bow physical geometry is a Bingham Projects design. I purchased the Bingham kit and supplies and built the tools per their specifications. The bow depicted in the images is merely an approximation that I created with my CAD software for the sole purpose of exploring aesthtic design concepts. Having said that, my Bingham bows do closely resemble the images in terms of the approximate limb shape and my first 2 Bingham bows have shot very well. As for the color (pink), I meant for it to be blood red but my render settings were a little off. Hopefully it conveys the concept clearly enough. As for the inlays, I plan to cut them with a laser so they should be very accurate (+/-.003"). And finally, I'm just doing this for fun and am not in the bow making biz. I don't plan to use the word "Black Widow" on my bow and the logo isn't the Black Widow logo anyway so I'm not sure how I could get into any trouble. I do plan to finish the bow with a high gloss finish (maybe Thunderbird?) to make it pop. BTW, the red color will probably be expressed with bloodwood...

Sounds good to me and I see red on my iPad , not pink.
How thick of a piece of wood will a laser cut? I am excited to see the final product.

I can cut up to about 1/8" thick hardwoods and etch up to 1/16" with very good accuracy. Here a bad photo of a laser etched graphic I did on my first bow as an example:



I promise to post pics of the build if I decide to make this black widow design.

The Laser etch is pretty cool!  Can it be filled in with an epoxy with say some small crushed stones (for color) or something similar?