Savage Buildalong #2 NEW PICS

hova · February 17, 2011, 01:56:00 PM

an old gunstock trick is to use lampblack. that will show your contact patterns...

looks great , but you misspelled camoman somehow into savage...i dunno...

-hov

Savage · February 17, 2011, 02:07:00 PM

Making all the pieces fit together right is definately the hardest and most tedious part of it for me. But I sure like the way it looks when its done. With this many curves I will have to take it really slow or I will run out of wood! Out of the 4 designs I came up with this one is the next to hardest one. The other two have much easier patterns to match up.

I've never tried the lampblack. May have to give that a whirl if I can't get the gaps closed up tonight. I have to try to get it all glued up and rough shaped by sunday, the guy is coming by so I can fit it to his hand.

Savage · February 17, 2011, 02:10:00 PM

Apex, I'm sure you're right about the clamping pressure, that makes alot of sense. I figured tonight I would just fix on piece in place and then work one side at a time until it fits together easily.

SEMO_HUNTER · February 17, 2011, 07:10:00 PM

Well, I can't offer any constructive criticism on your project because I have never done what your doing, but I absolutely love your shop and I am green with envy!
The bow project is looking good so far.

karrow · February 17, 2011, 07:35:00 PM

great so far savage i gotta question are both of your lams paralle or is one tapered? im gonna keep an eye on this build along

Savage · February 17, 2011, 08:10:00 PM

Thanks.

Karrow one of the lams is tapered.

Well I did manage to get the other limb out of the form today and worked on fitting the riser pieces for a couple hours. I ended up getting half of it fitted and glued up before the wife dropped the bomb on me about watching the baby again. Luckily I will have tomorrow night and all weekend to make some serious progress. I will put more pics up tomorrow night. I'm glad to see some of you joining in I was begining to wonder. Hahaha. There must be alot of people building self and longbows on here. I haven't see alot of recurves lately.

Savage · February 18, 2011, 09:51:00 AM

Oh, I should add that since the riser is laminated I will be using black Core Tuff for extra strength and to appearance. On this riser I will also be adding Phenolic overlays to the front of the grip area and on the fadeouts for a little extra protection. The owner of the bow only wanted one course of black Phenolic on the front of the grip instead of two as used on alot of bows. Those things will of course take some addtional time for glue up and curing. I will get some more pics up when I finish for the night.

Savage · February 18, 2011, 10:25:00 PM

Back at it again. I finally got the gaps closed up on the riser and glued it up.

Now I can work on the limbs a little more. I took them over to the miter saw and cut the ends off square.

Next I laid out my limb pattern on the limb and lined it up on the centerline. I used painters tape on this build but Ive found it difficult to see the centerline. I will need to either use a fine black sharpie or regular masking tape next time.

I dont have an edge sander so I've been using the disc sander instead and it seems to work pretty good for me. I sand it down to the line.

On this bow I will be adding Phenolic overlays to the butt end of the limbs for extra protection where the bolt goes thru the limb. After cutting the Phenolic to the same length ast the fadeouts I took a piece of wood cut at steep angle and tapered the end of the piece to make it easier to blend when I get ready to finish the limb.

I removed the tape from the limb where the overlay will go and sanded the glass to ensure good adhesion of the epoxy. This is the first peek I've had at the limb color and it looks pretty good to me.

Finally I glued it up and put it in the oven. It should be cured in 4 hours but I will also leave it at room temp til tomorrow afternoon before working it anymore. That's all for tonight. Tomorrow I will start on my favorite part, shaping the riser! Hopefully I will have time to get the limb tips on too.

hova · February 18, 2011, 11:39:00 PM

you just love leaving us hanging eh...

lookin great , keep us posted...

Savage · February 19, 2011, 12:16:00 AM

Hahaha, No I only get a couple hours a night to work on it during the week. It should start shaping up tomorrow.

Savage · February 19, 2011, 04:33:00 PM

Got the riser out of the clamps and cleaned it up on the drum sander. Heres how it looks after the glue up.

I cut out the basic riser shape on the bandsaw.

Then back to the drum sander and sanded down to the lines. Here's what the basic riser will look like.

Next I clamp it in the vise and start some serious shaping with the hand rasps.

After 3 1/2 hours of filing by hand I have the riser all shaped. Here are a few pics.

A quick bite to eat and I'm headed back to the shop to glue the phenolic overlays on the riser.

1oldbowguy · February 19, 2011, 04:54:00 PM

Now that is sweet looking, way to go.

SEMO_HUNTER · February 19, 2011, 05:17:00 PM

Awesome job Savage, that riser turned out really cool. I can't wait to see the end result.

Goose Gossett · February 19, 2011, 06:10:00 PM

I can tell the time put into that riser shaping. Looks great!

Green · February 19, 2011, 07:05:00 PM

Nice shaping work and great handle design/wood choices.....gonna be a looker for sure.

Savage · February 19, 2011, 08:22:00 PM

After lunch I filed down a flat spot to put my phenolic on the front of the grip.

Then I glued the phenolic to the grip and fadeouts and put it in the oven to cure.

While the

Savage · February 19, 2011, 08:27:00 PM

While the overlays are curing I put the Binghams driling jig on the limb and drilled them out. The jig has left me about 1/2 inch short on the last couple bows so I adjusted it this time to compensate. Here it is attached to the limb.

I cut the string grooves in the limb tips. I saw on here that you can use an allen wrench to line up the opposite groove, but a drill bit works just the same.

Then I cut a couple pieces of Phenolic and some pieces of zebrawood for the tips so that I could use Fast Flight

I tapered the ends of both like I did previously on the disc sander to make it easier to blend later. Then I roughed up the surfaces, cleaned them, glued and clamped them to the limb tips. Then I put both limbs in the oven with the riser. Tomorrow it should really start coming together.

matts2 · February 19, 2011, 09:06:00 PM

Thats all looking great. Awesome job on the riser so far.

Over&Under · February 20, 2011, 12:34:00 AM

Savage

That riser came out sweet, I'm tellin you sweet!. I was hoping you would shape the grip along the same lines as the swoop, it really sets it off.

Following along on this one!!

eflanders · February 20, 2011, 11:33:00 AM

Savage / Camoman: Nice job so far! Here is a suggestion on clamping your risers. Use angled blocks under the face of your clamps to ensure you get even pressure from both ends of the clamp. If you look at the picture you took of your clamped and glued riser, you will see what I mean about the unequal pressure.