# New bow in progress for Scott!  "Finished!!!"



## Apex Predator (Apr 9, 2009)

My buddy Scott has my first R/D longbow, and now I am building him my first hybrid.  I am shooting for 55-60@28 and 62" NTN.  Hopefully I will come close!  She has osage and wenge in the riser, action boo core, and bamboo limb faces.  He wanted to stain the bamboo, and this is what we came up with.  It's Tandy leather dye in dark brown, but it looks more green to me.  What do you guys think?


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## Apex Predator (Apr 9, 2009)

Here is the new form I will be using for the layup.


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## Stickbow (Apr 9, 2009)

The faces do look a bit green, but i am sure it will look good when everything comes together. They always do. Cant wait to see this one finished.


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## dpoole (Apr 9, 2009)

what would a fresh cut trimmed down hickory stave do if attatched to a form like that? Would you end up with a reflex self bow?


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## Apex Predator (Apr 9, 2009)

I don't really know how much shape it would retain.


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## robert carter (Apr 9, 2009)

Marty I once built a bamboo longbow I stained almost gray. When I glued her up and cooked it . It turned Green I gave it to John and he killed a ton of critters with it.Had I used a woodland laminate riser it would have been purty but I used Bubinga.poor match.RC


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## SELFBOW (Apr 9, 2009)

Keep buildin em Marty!! Thats the color of money!


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## BkBigkid (Apr 9, 2009)

looking good, can't wait to see the product of the new form


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## Apex Predator (Apr 10, 2009)

I've got everything ready for the lay-up tonight.  I had to build some new pressure strips to fit this form.  I used 1/16" X 1 1/2" aluminum for the base, a strip of rubber on the bottom where it contacts the bow, and a piece of PVC trim for the crown piece.  The crown serves to ensure that the edges don't get all the pressure from my rubber clamping strips.  Without the crown the center would not get enough pressure.  I then wrap them well with plastic wrap.  That roll in the last photo gets used a whole lot in my shop, and I recommend it to anyone building bows.  You can get them at Home Depot or similiar.

After assembly, I tweak the ends of the strips to mate well with the fades on my riser.  All of this will greatly assist in a pain free lay-up and great glue lines.


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## robert carter (Apr 10, 2009)

I look forward to seeing the finish on this one.RC


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## Apex Predator (Apr 11, 2009)

I decided to spend the evening with my wife and kids.  Gotta do that as much as I can.  I spent too many years overseas in the Navy, and have to make up time.  I got back to work this morning.

Here is the riser sitting in the form.  I thought it would be harder to build than what I am used to, since all my previous risers were straight on the back.






When sanding the fades on my spindle sander, I use this quick 2X4 for backing.  It makes it much easier to get the ends very thin.






I measure smooth-on in these 9 oz plastic cups.  I just make sure they are equal.  I figure I have 3.5-4oz of each part.






I dab the epoxy on the lams and then spread with this wall paper seam roller.  Works really well for me.






I am building my lam stack on the work bench until it's time to lay on the riser.  I then lay that stack on my form.  I made some alignment marks on the form and my lams so that it will line up properly.  Got to make sure that it will fit between the end stop washers on my form when I start clamping it down.






Then I butter up the bottom of the riser.  I go really heavy on the epoxy in the vicinity of the fades.






I then clamp it to the stack on the form, making sure it is aligned to center.


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## Apex Predator (Apr 11, 2009)

Here is a shot of the whole bow.  






I used electrical tape to hold the lams down while setting my pressure strips.






Then I place my pressure strips and start wrapping rubber!  I start mid limb and wrap towards the tip on each limb.  Then I will go back and forth between limbs until I am out of rubber.  Normally this means 12-14 strips total.  I can get a lot of pressure on the fades like this.


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## Apex Predator (Apr 11, 2009)

Here is my fancy, high tech oven.  First I have to shift into warm weather mode!  During the winter I use four 100w bulbs, but now I change them out to 75w bulbs.  I place them around the form and then place my cheap pvc and water heater insulation box over the top.  I use a $5 light timer from Walmart set to 5 hours.  My meat thermometer will top out around 160-170.  When I get home from work tonight she will be ready to remove.


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## Apex Predator (Apr 11, 2009)

The blank came out of the form in really great shape!  Not the first air bubble or flaw.
















Here is how much spring back I got out of the form.  It's only about 5/32".






Now to find a center line and profile the limbs.  I normally mark the center at the riser and stretch a string.  When I get it all lined up properly I will mark the tips.  Then just connect the marks.


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## robert carter (Apr 11, 2009)

The bamboo turned out a nice color.RC


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## Apex Predator (Apr 13, 2009)

Well, my lam stack guess on this one was off pretty far.  Since it's my first on this form, I can live with it.  Scott settled on a 64" bow, since that is what offers the highest performance potential.  He really wanted a 60-62".  It was only gonna make a 41-42# bow though! The blank drew 45@28.  I cut it down to 62" NTN and it drew 51@28.  Finally after chopping another inch off each end to get it to 60" NTN, the blank draws 56@28.  I think he will be very happy.  I figure it will finish in the 53# range.

Here are the overlay materials that I will laminate onto the bow tonight.  Another photo shows the net reflex.  It's just under an inch, which should be plenty.


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## dpoole (Apr 13, 2009)

thanks for the tour!!!!!


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## robert carter (Apr 13, 2009)

Nice bow Marty. I think a 66" model with a 2" longer riser would be very forgiving and surprisingly quick.Add a Dymondwood riser for mass weight and it would be even more forgiving and stable.

    I mentioned this to my Wife and said I would really like to have one of the "first" ones. You can guess how well that went over.RC


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## F1Rocket (Apr 13, 2009)

Nice thing about having Bowyer Marty on watch, is that he see's things, admits to things, and fixes things to his specifications that we can't even see. 

Thanks for sharing another journey. With all of those curves, it is easy to see a lot of opportunities to be surprised at the layup. Very nice work so far. I can't wait to see a picture of this bow drawn.


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## pine nut (Apr 13, 2009)

Thou art a craftsman! Well done Marty.  You make it look so easy.  I think RC's idea is a good one Too!


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## Apex Predator (Apr 14, 2009)

This morning I hit it again before work.

I decided to go with wenge/osage instead of phenolic/osage for the overlays.  So I had to build them.  I used rubber strips for clamping and thought all was good until lay-up.  I could press the end of the riser overlay and get quite a bit of squeeze out after clamping.  I had to clamp it tighter with c-clamps.  I think it's all good now.  My heat lamps will give me about 130 deg at this distance from the bow.






















In order to get good transitions between my overlays and the back glass, I wipe any beaded up epoxy off the joint, and start with pre-beveled pieces.


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## C.J. Pearson (Apr 14, 2009)

once again nice job as usual!! I believe you have found your niche.


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## Al33 (Apr 14, 2009)

C.J. Pearson said:


> once again nice job as usual!! I believe you have found your niche.



Amen to that! I'm impressed.


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## Apex Predator (Apr 15, 2009)

This morning I worked on tips.  These are the tools I use to cut my string grooves.  I draw a diagnal line on both sides 1" down from the very end.  I cut a small line with the triangle file right along the line.  Then I widen it with the tile saw.  Finally to full size with the chainsaw file.  I do a lot of eye balling while cutting grooves.  Between tools I can correct any alignment discrepancies when going to the next larger cutting tool.  






Here is my tip after taking off the clamps.











First I go to the belt sander and take the overlays down to match the profile of the limb.  I'll start contouring the sides here as well.


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## Apex Predator (Apr 15, 2009)

Now I file the groove over the sides of the overlay, staying online with the original groove.  It's critical to pay attention to what you are doing here.  Eye ball it from all angles constantly as you go.  I carefully take the grooves over the top a small amount at the time.  Small alignment errors can be corrected as you go.  This is an incremental process for me.





















I like to keep my tips square until the groove is cut initially.  It helps me keep everything aligned.  I then round the top of the tip and profile it all the way around.

Here you can see after rounding the top.  The groove needs to be deepened and dressed.






Getting smoother here!  Notice how I feathered the joint as well.  If you have a clean glue-up, and aren't afraid of 80 grit, you can make a jam up job of it.


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## Apex Predator (Apr 15, 2009)

Now I take my chainsaw file and carry the groove towards the belly.  






I've got some new files to try out.  These are Cutzall files in 26, 80, and I think 120 grit.  They are carbide files and suposed to work really well on wood and glass.






I now have to relieve the limb tip on the belly just past the string groove so that the string doesn't hang on the front of the groove when drawing the bow.  That 80 grit file worked really well!






Here is her strung profile.






Total time for both tips this morning was around 1.5 hours.


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## F1Rocket (Apr 15, 2009)

Wow, Marty!

BTW, I really like the gauge you use to check your bows. It has nice vertical and horizontal reference lines.......sorta like mini-blinds. 

I avoided the Post Office with your package due to something going on around April 15th. I will try again after today.


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## Apex Predator (Apr 16, 2009)

I got some more work done last night and this morning.  First I took the riser to my spindle sander.






Now the scary part!  I use a hack saw and chisel to cut out the sight window.  I start by drawing a center line on back and belly for reference.  I want to take this one to center.  I will cut almost to the line with the hack saw and then chisel out the chunks.  After most of the removal is done I will take it to the line with a rasp.


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## BkBigkid (Apr 16, 2009)

Looking Great, 
I can see where the Chisel part makes you nervous, 
great work,


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## Apex Predator (Apr 16, 2009)

Starting to look like a bow now!











She has 3/4" of meat left for strength.











Now I take an hour or so to remove everything that doesn't look right or feel right in my hand.  A rasp and 80 grit sand paper is what I use here.











Now for the best part!  I took her out back and shot a few.  Man is she sweet!


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## dpoole (Apr 16, 2009)

great pictoral !!!!!!!!! thanks !!!!!!!!!


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## robert carter (Apr 16, 2009)

Looks good!!! Is that an osage hack saw...lolRC


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## F1Rocket (Apr 16, 2009)

robert carter said:


> Looks good!!! Is that an osage hack saw...lolRC


 Since we can laugh and smile at the sight of a hack saw and chisel....... I had the thought when I saw those pictures --- "I love the smell of osage in the morning"    or maybe that was napalm.


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## Apex Predator (Apr 16, 2009)

Robert, that's some ipe slabs I had laying around.  Works good, but only for bows now!


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## ChrisSpikes (Apr 16, 2009)

Fine work Marty!


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## C.J. Pearson (Apr 16, 2009)

_Looks good!!! Is that an osage hack saw...lolRC _

That's funny Robert. Looking good Marty


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## Katera73 (Apr 16, 2009)

Awesome work !!!!!  where do you get your materials from " the strips of wood or bambo " ?


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## bristol_bound (Apr 16, 2009)

That is an awesome looking Bow, Just beautiful work there Sir.


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## Apex Predator (Apr 16, 2009)

I bought the wenge from here:

http://www.woodworkerssource.com/turning_stock.html

The osage and actionboo core came from here:

http://www.kennyscustomarchery.com/index.html

I normally buy all my lams, glass, and epoxy from Kenny.

The bamboo came from here:

http://www.binghamprojects.com/kits.htm

I appreciate all the compliments folks!


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## BowSniper (Apr 16, 2009)

Truly a cool pictorial.  I loved that.  We need more of this kind of stuff here.  Who's next?  

BowSniper


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## WildWillie (Apr 16, 2009)

Really good looking bow Marty.


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## Apex Predator (Apr 17, 2009)

I'm going hunting Sat, Sun, and Mon.  I will finish this one next week.


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## Lowjack (Apr 18, 2009)

Did you put it on the scale yet ? Did I miss that ?


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## OconeeDan (Apr 18, 2009)

WOW, that thing is looking great!


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## C.J. Pearson (Apr 23, 2009)

I saw this bow this past weekend. Marty has certainly developed a sweet smooth fast design with this bow. 
It's a real screamer.


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## Apex Predator (Apr 24, 2009)

She's gonna finish out at 54@28.  I'm working on the grain filling in the riser now.  I should be final spraying in a day or two.


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## Jake Allen (Apr 24, 2009)

I sure enjoy these build alongs Marty.
Excellent job!
The bow looks sweet and easy to tune.


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## Apex Predator (Apr 25, 2009)

I haven't worked on this one much lately, but thought I would give you folks an update.

This wenge is gonna take a while to fill the grain on.  I final sanded it and then brushed on Fullerplast with one of those sponge applicators.  Usually one or two coats will do it, but this wenge will take more.  I sand down to bare wood between coats.  This is the riser after applying one coat, and then after sanding it off.


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## Apex Predator (May 12, 2009)

I finally finished this one.  It took me three weeks to seal the pores in the wenge!  I probably finished and sanded this riser 18-20 times.  It's beautiful, but a real pain!


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## F1Rocket (May 12, 2009)

Very nice Marty!

Can you let us in on the next chapter of your builds?


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## Stickbow (May 12, 2009)

Looks awesome Marty! Great job!


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## pine nut (May 12, 2009)

I always think the last one I see is the prettiest one, but this one really is pretty.  I like it all.  Very nice color combinations!  Excellent job Marty.


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## Apex Predator (Jun 13, 2009)

Just thought you folks would like a full draw shot of this one.  Here is my buddy Martin, who wound up with the bow.  It came in too light for Scott.


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