First One Is Started

[D.A. Davis]

I've started my first bow.  I glued up my riser late yesterday evening and took it out of the heat box this morning.  After cleaning it up, and tracing my riser pattern on it, I cut it out and ran it over the sanding wheel.  Now, I've got to stain my limb laminates.  After that I should be ready to put it all together in the form with some Smooth On and throw it in the heat box.

D.A.

 

 

 

[scottm]

Looking great so far!

[bjansen]

Off to a great start..Nice job on that riser.

[Swissbow]

That's a cool looking riser. Great job ! If that is your first bow I wonder how the next one, and the one after that, and the one after that.... will be.

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Andy

[D.A. Davis]

Well, I've got the parallels and tapers stained and ready.  The riser is ready, so tomorrow I'm going to glue it up and put in the heat box.  I'll post pictures when it comes out.

D.A.

[longbowhntr]

Looking good. I'll be watching this to see how it turns out. Good luck and have fun.

David

where is Bay located  by the way?

[Roy from Pa]

Riser looks nice.

[D.A. Davis]

Originally posted by longbowhntr:
Looking good. I'll be watching this to see how it turns out. Good luck and have fun.

David

where is Bay located  by the way?

Bay, Arkansas is located about 8 miles SE of Jonesboro.  I'm about 60 miles from Memphis, TN, and 25 miles from the bootheel of Missouri.

David, are you going to be at the traditional shoot at Mayflower on the weekend of June 4th thru 6th?  I plan on being there.

D.A.

[Cherry Tree]

looks like its coming along great! keep up the good work!

[Thadbow]

That is going to be a great looking riser!

[D.A. Davis]

Well, it's all glued up and in the heat box.  You know I've always heard that you can tell a good auto body man by how little body filler shavings there were on the floor.  Is that the way it is for bowyers when you're taiking about adhesive?  I never heard anybody say how much adhesive is normal when gluing up a bow.  Counting the riser, I filled my dixie cups 4 times.  Is that too much?  I'd rather put too much than too little.  Anyway, in 6 hours we'll see what kind of work I've done.

[Robertfishes]

I like to let my bow and form cool down for a few hours before I let pressure off of it and pull it from form. I use about 8 fluid ounces of smooth on between riser and glue up, I have alot of glue squeeze out when I pump pressure hose up. I used 5 lams plus glass on my last build, I used two 3 oz cups full to top on that glue up,almost had to mix up another mini batch.

[D.A. Davis]

I'm using 5 oz. cups, and used 4 between riser and lams.

[T Folts]

Nice, I like the wood combo.
T

[longbowhntr]

D.A.

We have not been to one of the shoots at Mayflower but have heard alot of good things about it. We keep saying we are going to go but something seems to come up each time. If we get to make this one I will send you PM and and maybe we could meet up. It most likly would be on Sunday if we do.

David

[D.A. Davis]

Here's the results of the heat box.  Everything looks gret except for one blemish.  Maybe some of you real bowyers can tell what I did wrong, and if the bow will stay together.  Here's some pictures.

I started with this.

 

I ended up with a bow blank like this.

 

 

 

 

Here you can see where there is a seperation between the glass and lams.  It looks like there was a bubble there, or something.  It's not very deep, and it may very well be sanded away, but it also lifted the glass.  You'll see in the next photo.

 

Glass is lifted.

 

A pic of the riser.

[D.A. Davis]

It'll be Thursday before I can work on it again. I drive a shopping shuttle for the International Programs department on Wednesday nights. I've got a CDL with a passenger endorsement, so they called, and I take a couple hours of vacation and leave the office at 2:30 and drive until 10:30. They pay me $22 an hour to drive from our Student Union to Walmart to Target and back to the Student Union. Not bad work, if you can get it.

[Trux Turning]

I wondered about your riser fades being short and thick- that can create a weak point in a bow. On my risers the fades for the first inch are less than a 1/16" thick down to see through, the second inch is less than 1/8" thick, the third inch is less than 1/4" thick and then the belly ramp goes up from there.

[D.A. Davis]

What's your experience with short, thick fades as it pertains to bow survival.  Do you think it will stay together?

D.A.

[Jason Scott]

Man, sorry, I don't think it looks to good. That's on the compression side at the point where the most stress is at due to the sharp transition. It is hard to tell by the blurry pics how bad it is and if it can be filled with something. The airhose requires gradual fades unless you stuff some shim material in that spot to close the gaps. Trux gave the ideal dimensions we should all shoot for at the fades for success. Is it separated on both sides or just one? Does the gap go all the across the width? I see a gap between the belly lam and the riser, is the glass separated from the belly lam too?