Marty 300 Build Along

[Pennsyltuckey pete]

Welcome to the build along my friends.  Lets all sit back and see if Marty and Biggie make their way over here to say hello.  As you may be aware FerrettWYO won a hog hunt and a bow.  Well building the bow is my job so here goes. When I took on the bow build I contacted Ferrett and asked about what his preference was for woods and weights.  Well about mid 50's at 28" and as for the wood lets just say it was unobtanium.  HM  where to get that.  Never built one out of that before...  A few phone calls and such and I had a supplier lined up.  After I placed the order I found out that delivery was a little bit longer than expected.  

Well, Today that delivery occurred.  Just in time I might add.  



Let me tell you the block of wood weighs in at 10 pounds.  Can you guess?

here is a little more



pete

[metsastaja]

              That is one nice piece of _ _ _ _ _.

Hey is that my new longbow in the background

[Zradix]

Is it African Blackwood or Burmese Blackwood?
Doesn't quite look like ebony to me. The pic looks like it as more grain than typical ebony. It's going to be pretty whatever is made from it.

[amar911]

Hard to tell, but it looks like it might be maccasar ebony to me. Whatever it is, it is pretty.

Allan

[NorthernCaliforniaHunter]

Coccobolo

[vanillabear?]

[metsastaja]

pete we need some pictures fast. Scott is honing in.

[FerretWYO]

These guys are good.

[Pennsyltuckey pete]

Vanillabear? got it!

Gabon Ebony it is!!!

Now I know why it takes me so long to build a bow.  Pics. Download, Photo bucket, Trad gang, Type a post!!!!!

pete.

More pics later tonight after glue UP@

pete

[vanillabear?]

[metsastaja]

and the Lams are?? under what glass

[Pennsyltuckey pete]

What are lams?



oh the bendy things!  With lams like that I promise to put them under black glass!
Nuf of the silliness. on with the build!

The first thing I had to do was lay out the riser. I use the bow form to lay out the platform.
To see the layout I put masking tape on the block.



and then it was time to square the band saw.  I am glad I checked cause it was out just a skoch.



and then it was time to start cutting.  Here is where I follow the advice of my friend and  mentor Graywolf who preaches.  "Cut out side the line.  Sand to the line!"  So that is what I do.



Using a new 3/8 6 tpi blade made cutting the ebony easy.  I just took my time and voila...

a rough cut riser.



After the initial sanding to the line it was time for a test fit.  YOu can see that I put a piece of white poster board behind my form.  this makes it easy to see the gaps between the riser and the bow form.  



pete

[Pennsyltuckey pete]

The process is to now go back and forth from the form to the table sander.  Note the tape with the center line in the third picture.  This is important because it makes it easier to position the block the same every time.  Sometimes when you remove just a little bit of wood it changes the whole fit and will slide the block a little left or right.  I also switched the sanding drum to a new one for the final fittings.



as the fit starts getting tighter and tighter I switch to hand tools.  A rubber backed sanding block, the rubber block is actually a piece of conveyor belting from a quarry, and a card scraper that I made from an old saw. These tools allow me to remove only bits of wood so I can get the fit close to light tight.



in this next pic we are almost light tight.  I tried to take a photo showing the little spot of light right at the top of the riser and just couldn't get it.  When I get this close I will use a piece of masking tape on the form to fill the space.  If one piece of tape doesn't make it light tight the tape is removed and the sanding continues.  



When the riser is light tight I use a hack saw blade mounted in a bench vice to tooth the wood.  I like the 18 TPI blades for this purpose.



I then clean the wood with my trusty brass brush.  It gets rid of the loose wood fibers very quickly.



That is all for now.

pete

[Joshua Lee]

Lookin sharp, thanks for the buildalong tips.  I like the blade in the vice idea as well as the tape on the form for light tight.  I will be using these for my next one.
Thanks
Josh

[metsastaja]

Looking good Bro. So I guess glue up is next.
Can't wait to see the bow on the 9th.

Are you bringing the 36# training bow and the new longbow?

Did all the feeders last week, boy was it wet out there and hog sign all over. Make sure you bring a Thermacell you are gonna want it.

[tommy6]

Nice tips Pete! What kind of band saw are you using? Seems to make a nice smoothe cut through that dense ebony. New blade helps but I always have problems with wood that thick...than again,  my band saw is small and weak...Like that template you use, great idea making it out of plastic.

[Marty]

Biggie and I have zero talent when it comes to building things! We buy em! Looks like a lighter knot stump to me! Now those I can identify. So you're tellin me thast thing will be finished in 2 weeks? What takes these custom bowyers so long then? Are they THAT busy? Good for them.

[FerretWYO]

Pete that is amazing. I have several bows but have never seen the process. This is gaining meaning even before completion. The craftsmanship and talent it takes to make things so perfect is amazing to me.

[Apex Predator]

Enjoying this one Pete!

[Bob L.]

Really enjoying it.