# Recurve Build Along!**COMPLETED PICS**



## longbowdave1

i'm finally going to start on another recurve. with all the hunting going on and the holidays, this will take a bit longer but i will keep at it. it's going to be a 62" recurve, padauk and bocote riser with black glass and white and black phenolic front accents.

 here are the pieces of paduak and bocote that i picked up at the local hardwoods dealer. i thought the padauk has some interesting wavey grain lines that will look good in the finished riser. tomorrow i will fire up the power tools and make the pieces the proper thickness for the riser on the planer, as well as creating the two hard maple laminatitions needed for the bow.


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## turtlebug

A Recurve! Now we're talking.   


I'll be glued to this one Dave.


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## longbowdave1

this will be the second one from the form that built back in august. i'm still tinkering with the curves. i have been looking forward to getting started on this project!


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## BkBigkid

As long as you enjoy making them, We will continue to Watch the Build alongs.


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## johnweaver

That sure is purdy wood.


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## longbowdave1

i got a real start to the recurve today. i was able to get the pieces for the riser cut to size and planed to the the proper thickness. i also whipped up two sweet pairs of hard maple laminations for the bow. the riser block is glued up and cooking under the hot lights for the next six hours. if you look at the piece of bocote layed out for the riser in the first picture, its got some sweet looking grain on the left hand side in the middle of the piece. i will try to get that to line up for the sight window area of the bow. never know what you'll get when the sanding is done, but thats my plan????


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## Bowyer29

Lookin good! Would you mind posting pics of your actual bow from when the time comes please? Trying to decide how to make one right now.

thanks.
Nick


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## longbowdave1

will do nick! taint the purdyest, but it works.


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## longbowdave1

made some more progress tonight. i took the riser block out out the clamps and it's looking good, nice tight glue lines. next, i traced out the shape of the riser using my template. then, it was off to the bandsaw to cut within 1/4" of the lines. i carefully took it down to the lines on the oscillating spindle sander, going slow and easy. take off too much and it's back to the drawing board. just a bit of cleaning up the riser and it will be ready for the "glue up".

  i also spliced the two set of laminations together and i'll let them dry over night.


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## longbowdave1

when you wake up at 4:30 am. everyday, you still have time to work to get a little work done on the recurve before turkey dinner!

 i cut the pieces of white and black phenolic for the front accents and the tip overlays and pre glued them together, this eliminates some of the slipping around when i glue them onto the bow. 

 nick, i also took a picture of the bow form for you with the riser fit in place. it is made from three layers of select pine boards, glued and doweled together, then sealed with polyurethane to prevent warping. i replaced the wood dowels in the "high stress" areas  near the riser fades and the limb tips with steel rods. this allows me to clamp the areas extra tight and keep extra pressure. there is a piece of formica fastened to the top edge of the form, and a piece of rubber roofing material glued to that. this gives me perfectly flat surface and creates a little upward "spring back" from the rubber when the bow is clamped down. makes for a nice tight glue joint.


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## longbowdave1

the glass for this bow won't show up at my doorstep until wednesday so i'm on hold til then. i did a bit more prep work today. i cut the two maple laminations to the proper length and roughed them up for a better glue job. i took the phenolic accents out of the clamps and put a 45 degree bevel ond each end of the front accent piece and a 45 on one end of the small tip overlays. this just saves a little sanding during the finish process later. the bow form was waxed and covered with plastic held by tape  for easy bow removal and protecting the form from the glue. the pressure strip is a metal strip just as wide as the form with more of the rubber roofing material glued to it. also waxed that, wrapped it in wax paper held in place by masking tape.

 we will continue next week when the glass shows up!


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## Bowyer29

Very cool! Looking forward to the rest of this build!!!


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## hogdgz

Looking good Dave, cant wait to see the finished product.


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## 2wheelfoster

Can't wait to see the finished product Dave!


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## longbowdave1

well the glass should be here tomorrow, and if it is, i will have the bow glued up tomorrow and we can get this build back on track!


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## Bowyer29

Cool! I am a newbie to fiberglass so I ordered an informational DVD from Bingham.


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## longbowdave1

they sell some good video's. lots of tricks to working with the glass and it may take a few attempts to feel comfrtable working with it and to have good results.


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## gurn

I'm watchin. Thanks for invitin us in on your work.


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## longbowdave1

well i have some good news and bad news. the good news is the bow stuff showed up today, the bad news is the glass for the recurve is the wrong stuff! 

when i filled out my order, i checked the box for the wrong glass. 

 back to "on hold status", the proper glass is on the way. i'll just have to work on the longbow project til i get the right stuff! 

some days i'm just not that smart!


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## Bowyer29

Poop happens!!!!! Gives us time to build up more excitement!!!


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## longbowdave1

when i got home today there was a box waiting for me,it was the fiberglass! so, it's back to work on the curve.

 i got the glass cut to length, taped off the finish side of the glass, and cleaned the loose dust off. i already had the form, riser, and wood laminations ready for gluing.

 then it was the messy job of gluing it up and putting it in the bow oven at 145 degrees for six hours. i'll let it cook tonight and see what we get tomorrow afternoon!

 it's good to be moving forward once again!


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## BkBigkid

kinda like waiting on a turkey to cook nothing to Do while you wait on the temps to rise and Turn things just Right. 

Thanks for the Build along


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## longbowdave1

the turkey was done just right when i got home today bk!



 got quite a bit done on the bow today! i pulled the form out of the oven and seperated the bow from the form. next, i traced out the rough shape of the limb tips. then i did a double check of center line of the limbs using my fancy laser tool!


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## longbowdave1

then it was to the outdoors to do a little cutting and sanding. did i mention that it was 12 degrees out in the shop!!!

 i cut the tips of the bow to rough shape and followed that up by taking the bow to the belt sander and shaping the limbs and cleaning up the epoxy from the riser. it's starting to look like a recurve now!


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## longbowdave1

now we are cooking! taced out the string nocs and cut em' in with the trusty file! now it was time to through a string on it for the first time! looking good for the poundage and tiller. now it was back to the bench to glue on the front accents and the the tip overlays. i'll let them cook under the spot lights for the next six hours.

 tomorrow it's time to start shaping the riser.


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## longbowdave1

tonight i worked on getting the sight window cut in. traced out the rough shape, cut it out on the bandsaw, and finished it up with the small 4-way file. the bow is starting to take shape! tomorrow i will shape the grip on the oscillating spindle sander, that is if we only get the 3 inches of snow they are calling for, and not a foot!


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## Bowyer29

Great work! Have you got a template you use for the string grooves?


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## longbowdave1

nick,
 i don't have a template made for the recurves yet, i just use a small 6" square to mark out the string nocs.


 i spent about 4 hours sanding the grip on the curve tonight. made a lot of progress but a lot more to do. i will continue on with the sanding tomorrow!


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## longbowdave1

i had to fire up the propane heater while sanding tonight, had some snow today and it's only in the low twentys!
i have to get out and shoot the longbow in the snow tomorrow.


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## Bowyer29

Love the bow, miss the snow! NY is not getting too much these days anyway so I might as well stay here in GA!!!


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## longbowdave1

i got a few more hours of sanding in tonight, then about 8:00, both me and my propane heater ran out of gas! 

 i will continue with the sanding tomorrow, i hope to complete the sanding this weekend!


 originally i planned on hunting with the longbow this weekend but there is a storm coming in tomorrow. freezing rain turning to snow saturday, then temps in the teens with 30 mph winds sunday! sounds like a better idea to work on the the recurve.


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## redman17

that's a pretty bow and it's not even done yet 

Looking forward to seeing when it's done


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## longbowdave1

thanks. this is the second recurve like this i have built. i finished the other curve in august. i took the prototype to a local 3d shoot and i was very happy with the bow and the way it performed.


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## longbowdave1

lots of sanding on the recurve today! i've got the riser sanded to where i like it, just have to touch it up with the very fine sand paper. cleaned up the tip overlays and strung the bow. tiller still looks good and the bow will finish up right at 50# @ 28".


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## longbowdave1

while i had it strung up, i made the back of the limbs for the string grooves. a little bit with the file and a little sand paper did the job.


 later tonight i will go over the whole bow with 300 and 400 grit sandpaper and i will be ready for the finish to be sprayed on! i will take care of that tomorrow!


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## johnweaver

Dave, you are an inspiration to us no talent ner-do-wells.  Keep up the good work.  That stick is going to be a winner.


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## Meathook

Great work dave,can't wait to see it finished.Were fixing to get snow tonight.Not enough for sleds yet.You can see the deer and the coyote's better.


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## ky_longbow

Dave liking the looks of the new curve, awsome wood combo, not to be critical, but why isnt the shelf crowned a little more ?  just seems kinda flat to me............. not criticizing, just curious..........


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## longbowdave1

thanks guys, it's been a long build on this one with all the hunting and stuff, but i'm closing in on the end.

ky, there is a bit of a radius to the shelf, hard to see from the angle in the last picture. that's one of the final touches i have been working on today.


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## Flaustin1

That bow resemble my 50lb Damon Howatt mamba.  Kinda has the same lines..   Beautiful bow.


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## Wade95

Absolutely incredible! Loved watching the progress. Thnk u.


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## Bubbaforsure

Dang Dave....I know you build a fine long bow becuase I have one of them...

But I'm beginning to think this is you calling...

Thats a right pretty stick...

Ya did a great job!


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## longbowdave1

thanks guys.

 i am spraying the recurve as we speak. just got the first coat on it, several more to go. i'm going to have a pretty good idea of what the finished bow is going to look like when i get the next coat sprayed on.

 looks like i'll have some finished, but unstrung pictures by tomorrrow night. i like to let the finish dry for two days before stringing up the bows.


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## Bubbaforsure

longbowdave1 said:


> i like to let the finish dry for two days before stringing up the bows.



 This all so know as...
Letting it THAW out before using!


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## longbowdave1

might be a good idea to let it thaw, had to stop working on the bows twice today just to shovel snow!


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## longbowdave1

well, the recurve is complete! i took a few pictures of the bow while it's unstrung. i will take some more pics tomorrow with the bow strung. maybe on the weekend i can take some better pics outside, tonight it's already dark and temps are headed below the zero mark!

 i would like to thank everyone for following along with the build along for the past few weeks. i think this bow is going to fling an arrow real well! i may even sneek in a few shots off of it myself! 

 Fox River Recurve
 Padauk and Bocote Riser
 Hard Maple Lams
 Black Glass
 Black and White Accents
 62" amo
 50# @28" draw


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## longbowdave1

a few more pics.


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## jdicker680

Looks great!!  How about sending it to me as a Christmas present??!!


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## Bubbaforsure

I'm telling ya...You need to build more of these..
Very..Nice....


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## redman17

I'm usually not a big fan of recurves but that thing is sweet looking good job Dave!!!


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## johnweaver

Beautiful work Dave!   Well Done!


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## rifleroom

Good job! You guys have a God given Talent! I wish I just had the time to even try to build one!


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## sawtooth

beautiful recurve!! good job man!!


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## Shug

Sweet looking recurve Dave.


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## 2wheelfoster

Man....Miss a couple of days on here and the bow is done! Great looking bow Dave!


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## longbowdave1

tonight i strung up the bow and put it on the tillering rack. pulled it to 28 " draw about 150 times or so, to exercise the limbs. it took a few more picture of the bow strung for ya. 

 then i had to do it,i found my shooting gloves, armguard, and some trusty cedar arrows. out onto the yard i went to fling a few test arrows, did i mention that it's pitch black out there and a balmy 7 degrees! 

 i was hoping the target was not frozen solid from the recent ice and snow from the weekend. i fired just a hand full of arrows but she shoots quiet, smooth, and fast! the stuff you guys make me do? seven is as cold as it sounds!!!!!!!!!


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## Bubbaforsure

That's not a target....It's a popcicle with horns...


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## Bowyer29

Great job Dave! I will be starting my first r/d longbow within 30 days!


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## longbowdave1

sounds good nick! good luck and take your time with each step.


 rick, those arrows were hitting the target and making a frozen crunchy sound! that's not right!


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## Meathook

Good looking bow Dave.


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## longbowdave1

thanks terry, it was a fun bow to build.


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## Rev.432

very  nice bow, real good job, hope it shoots as well as it looks.
Merry Christmas.
God Bless!


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## longbowdave1

thanks rev.!

 i had made a similar one for myself back in august it shoots great, the long limbs and the mass of the riser make it a quiet, fast, and smooth shooting bow.  i hope the new owner will enjoy it, i haven't got around to selling it yet.

 have a great Christmas!


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## longbowdave1

today i had some extra time for a change. and sunlight too! so i finally took some finished pictures of the recurve out in the natural light. 

 i put together another slide show of the bow build, i thought it might help others that are working on bows. i would like to know what you think of the slide show format for the bow builds???????


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