# !! COMPLETED PICS!! Kids Longbow Build-Along



## longbowdave1

let' s go through a build-along on a 46" hickory longbow. i'm going to give you all the details so some of you might give it a try yourself, it would be a great attempt at a first laminated bow to build, and sure would make some kid happy!

 first thing to do is to cut or buy some laminations. i'm sure if you were to call a place like bingham projects they could make the laminations for you if you dont have the tools. you will need two hickory laminations 1 1/2" wide by 49 long and .120 inches thick. for the riser i will cut two pieces of sapele' 1 1/2 inches wide by 14 inches long and 1/2 inces thick , and a piece of hickory 1 1/2 inches wide by 14 inches long by 1/4 inch thick.

here are the lams  and riser pieces i made. then a picture of them clamped for a rough idea of what they will look like together.


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## longbowdave1

next step is to glue the riser block pieces together using smooth-on epoxy. i glue each mating surface then stack them on some wax paper on my "gluing board", set a 1/4  by 1 1/4" steel plate( which is wrapped in wax paper so excess epoxy doesn't stick to it) on top and clamp them down, being sure they are still squared up and don't slide when clamping. i put clamp lights on the piece and let it "bake" for 6 hours.


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## longbowdave1

next, i got the front accent pieces ready for later in the process. i cut a piece of sapele' 1 1/2 inches wide by .125" thick by 12" long. i cut his into three seperate pieces, an 8" piece for the front accent, and two 2" pieces for the tip overlays. i put a 45 degree bevel on  boths ends of the 8 inch piece and a 45 degree bevel on on end of the tip overlays. these are not necssary for your bow but i think it adds a lot to the look of the bow.


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## longbowdave1

here are a few of the templates i use for the little bow's riser and the limbs. also, i will glue this bow using a form i built for the mighty little bows, this puts a little shape into the bow and makes it look just like the big guys. you could glue up your bow on a flat surface as well, without the form. i'll show more on that later.


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## longbowdave1

here are some dimensions so you could make a riser template. just left click on the picture, then click on "print picture". the picture shrinks a bit during the scanning process so you will have to draw one up.


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## CallMaker

Kool Dave.

Ed


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## longbowdave1

thanks ed, i thought i would do a "how to" informative  build-along for the kids bows. there has been a lot of interest in the bows for the youngest shooters lately.


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## CallMaker

It's always interesting to watch the build alongs dave. Thnaks for taking the time to post it.

Ed


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## longbowdave1

i've been experimenting with the little bows for a while now and i'd like to share the tricks i've learned from my experimentation. it should work out to be a great shooting bow with little or no tillereing or adjusting. just glue it shape it, and shoot it.
 just because the kids are young doesn't mean they shouldn't have a bow that even the grownups would be proud to have!


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## Al33

Thanks Dave! I am sure many will enjoy and benefit from this tutorial, I am paying close attention.

Good job!!!!!!


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## longbowdave1

al,
 i'm hoping for two things from this build-along. number one is that some folks will give building a bow a try, and number two is that there will be some lucky kids will get these bows once made. even if the bows don't turn out pefect on the first try, i bet there are plenty of kids that wouldn't know the difference and would love to have them.

 the kids are the future of archery!


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## NavyDave

Great buildalong!  I'm going to send this to my buddy who is interested in building lam bows!!


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## longbowdave1

got a few hours work in on the little bow tonight, lets walk through the steps that got the bow glued up and into the bow oven tonight.

 i took the clamps off the mighty riser block today and it glued up real nice! i took it over to the belt sander and cleaned up the sides of the block removing the excess glue and getting it squared up and flush. next the riser pattern was used to trace out the basic side profile on the block. i cut within  1/8 inch of the lines on the bandsaw. then i took the shape of the riser down to the lines on the oscillating sander. now it's starting to take shape. i also took a quick pass across the belt sander to rough up the bottom surface of the riser that will be glued to the belly of the bow.


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## longbowdave1

i have the bow form available to help me glue up the bow, chances are you won't. let's look at a method you can use when you glue a bow of your own, then will show how i did it using the bow form.

 first of all since this is an all wood bow build, there is no reason you couldn't use  some titebondII wood glue, there has been an awful lot of self bows made with this stuff!rough up the two surfaces of the laminations for the limbs that will be glued together with some 60 grit paper and a sanding block, keep it level and even, just rough it up a bit. then brush off all the sanding dust using a stiff bristle brush. mark a center line on the edges of both limb laminations and the side of the riser. spead an even film of glue on both of the laminations and place them on top of each other. now place glue on the bottom suface of the riser and place it on top of the lamination and line up all three centerlines. place it on the glueing board as shown and clamp the riser down being careful not to have the pieces slide off of center. next, place two 1 1/2" wood blocks flush with the tips of the bow and place the spring clamps as shown in the fuzzy picture( sorry about that). let it dry for 24 hours.


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## longbowdave1

now lets see how i did it with the epoxy and the bow form. it's a bit more complicted, but the end result is the same.

 first i prepped the bow form by wiping down the top edge of the formica covered form with paste wax. this prevents any accidental epoxy that gets on the form from sticking to it. then the form was covered with plastic wrap and it was taped down with some masking tape. i will use a set of pressure strips to keep even pressure on the limbs and the fades of the riser. for the kids bows the pressure strips are actually aluminum yard sticks. i prepped the pressue strips by wiping them down with paste wax, wrapping them in wax paper, and securing the wax paper with blue painters tape. this way the pressure strips won't stick to the bow and remove easily.

here are all the lams sanded, marked with which side i want to glue ,and the center lines marked on the edges.


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## longbowdave1

here are my fancy tools used for gluing up the epoxy mess. a paper plate, 3oz. plastic drinking cups, for measuring the glue, plastic knives for getting the epoxy out of the cans and into the cups, and a srcap piece of the hickory for troweling the glue onto the lams and the bottom of the riser. the hickory is the same width as the lams so it covers the width of the lams completely. the black lines on the cups are about how much epoxy you'll need for this little bow, it isn't much.


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## longbowdave1

here we go with the epoxy, no turning back now!

 i measured out the epoxy and mixed it thoroughly with the hickory cutoff. next i troweled on a thin, but even layer on the two surfaces of the lams that will be placed together, and stacked them on top of each other. then, an even layer of epoxy on the bottom surface of the riser that mates with the belly of the bow, and placed it on the center mark of the lams, keeping all three lined up with each other and the center line on the bow form. i set the three piece stack on the bow form and clamped it down using two c-clamps with a scrap piece of wood between the riser and the clamps to prevent the clamps from digging into the riser. this scrap wood was also wrapped with wax paper and secured with masking tape so nothing sticks to the riser.

sorry for the second fuzzy picture, now i was fighting the epoxy and the camera!


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## longbowdave1

now i set the two pressure strips on top of the bow, from the fades to the tips and secured them down with mylar strapping tape( the white stuff with the strands running through it) and pulled everything down tight to the form.

 then i covered the bow again with more plastic so that the stretch clamps don't stick in the next step.


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## longbowdave1

to keep even pressure on the bow, i wrapped stretch clamps all the way around the bow and the form, from the the fades to the tips. double wrapping the area near the fades. may be a little overkill on this little bow, but thats what i do!

 the stretch clamps i used, where made from cutting 1 inch wide by 40 inch long strips of rubber roofing material, but they may also be made from bicycle inner tubes.

 next, i put the mighty little bow in the bow oven, and i set the timer for 6 hours. it will get up to 160 degrees.


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## longbowdave1

well, regardless of which method of glueing the bow you took, we will all be at the same point when we continue. next will be when it becomes a bow instead of a stick!


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## jdrawdy

Looking good dave.  Quick question, how do you make your laminates?


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## longbowdave1

i use a 12" ryobi planner and a digital calipers that measures in hundred thousandths. got to be very precise on the thicknesses.


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## CallMaker

Keep it coming Dave, all very interesting.

Ed


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## BkBigkid

What is your forms built of? 

I am on the edge of attempting to build my self a Bow. 
Thinking of a 3 piece recurve for my first. 
Still learning and taking Notes!!


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## longbowdave1

the kids form is made from  two select pine boards that are 3/4 inch thich and 6 inches tall.  i glued, clamped, and screwed the two boards side by side. this becomes the       1 1/2 inch thickness i need. i thin layer of formica is on the top edge to keep it smooth and straight.


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## Apex Predator

Is this gonna be a reversed riser bow, or just lot's of string follow?


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## longbowdave1

hey marty,
 neither , it's just going to be a great little longbow. they turnout very nice. some of the folks at warIII saw one of little bows, and i thought i would share a little build-along with them.


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## longbowdave1

took the bow off of the form today, and it glued up nicely. here's two pictures when i unwrapped all the stretch clamps and the plastic wrap.


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## longbowdave1

if you remember when we started the two laminations for the limbs were 49 inches long and this bow will be 48 inches tip to tip. i measured out 24 inches from the center of the riser and marked the belly of the bow with a pencil line, this 1/2 inch will be removed from each tip of the bow.

 i stretched a string from tip to tip and also marked the center line on the riser. next i clamped the limb pattern on each limb and traced out the straight line profile from the bow tip to the fade on the riser.


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## longbowdave1

next it was off to the band saw and i cut the shape of the limbs. leaving about 1/8 inch of material that will be removed with the belt sander.


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## longbowdave1

here's how it looked after sanding the limbs down to the lines on the belt sander.


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## longbowdave1

also cleaned up the sides of the riser on the belt sander.


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## longbowdave1

now it was time to use the 1/4 sheet palm sander and some 150 grit paper to smooth out he edges of the limbs, riser, and the fades on the riser.

 one thing that makes a big difference is using high quality paper and a good grade of palm sander. i use this norton sand paper and it works great.

 we have to be careful to just smooth out the surfaces and not remove material. also i always count the number of passes up and down on the limbs to keep everything even and not affect the tiller of the limbs. i do 10 passes on each edge of the top limb, then 10 on each of the bottom limb, you get the picture. the i just slightly rounded the edges of the limbs to prevent any splintering for now.

here it is cleaned up with the sander.


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## longbowdave1

now it's time to prep the bow for cutting in the string nocs. we are going to keep this simple for the kids bow. i drew a pencil line across the limb 1 inch from the tips, and the drew a line down the sides of the limbs at a 45 degree angle. now we carefully follow the lines on the edges of the limbs with a 5/32 chainsaw file. go slow and careful. this step takes a while  so take your time! cut them in the depth of the file for now, about 1/8 of an inch.

 here is what my chainsaw file looks like after i set something heavy on it and snapped it in two, got to go out ang get a new one now.


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## longbowdave1

now it's time to put a string on the bow for the first time. i'm using a 43 inch b50 10 strand flemish string. here it is strung up, and the tiller is dead even , without any adjusting or extra sanding, just like we wanted!


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## longbowdave1

now we have to glue on the front accent and the tip overlays that we made back on day one. first we need to rough up the suface a bit with some 60 grit paper where the accents and overlays will be glued on. i used a little more of the smooth on epoxy to glue on the accents.  just center the front overlay on the riser and put the overlays flush with the tips of the bow. then clamp them down and it's back under the spots for a few hours.


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## longbowdave1

next steps will be to cut in the sight window and shape the riser. we'll save that for another day, that glue's got to dry overnight before we can proceed!


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## LanceColeman

longbowdave1 said:


> hey marty,
> neither , it's just going to be a great little longbow. they turnout very nice. some of the folks at warIII saw one of little bows, and i thought i would share a little build-along with them.


\

uumm.... actually... that "set" forcing the limbs towards brace IS string follow.

I'm sorta curious like Marty. What is the purpose in this?? Is it because there's no glass in the bow?? Or to remove anyt preload for a childs arms strength or what?


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## Jake Allen

Great job Dave!  
Thank you.


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## jdrawdy

Looking good dave


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## DeltaHalo

Looks awesome!!


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## Barry Duggan

This could very well be an excellent little kid's bow, and I might be slow, real slow; but, I am still having a problem getting my arms around why the limb geometry is a design that self bowyers go to great lengths to avoid?


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## longbowdave1

hey barry,
 even know this is a kids bow, it still is a laminated bow. the limb strength comes from the lamination process, not the natural characteristics of the wood itself. same principle as in a laminated beam for a house, they are much thinner and narrower that a solid wood beam. the grain lines of each layer run differently thus making them stronger.

 i never thought a kids bow buld would provoke such serious thought.


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## Barry Duggan

Don't get me wrong, limb strength was never in question. My concern was from a cast perspective.

We take our kids seriously.


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## longbowdave1

jeff, josh, and sean, thanks for your comments and kind words.


barry, 
that's why we love ya, your always watching out for us! it casts an arrow perty well. maybe i will fling a few arrows from it to show ya before it heads out the door!


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## LanceColeman

Dave,

Nobodies dissin watcha doin. In fact I appluad you for building bows for kids and getting them involved in archery.

We're not grillin ya. Butcha show a build along in public with a design like that peoples gonna ask ya some questions. I have a straight end longbow here that shows a solid 2" of set after it's been strung and hunted with or shot all day. She's a sweet shooter for a straight end, not as fast as she would be without the set but easier on the hand. Considering she's 68#s she casts OK... I got 55#er that will smoke her with the same arrow though.. So I realize the benefits and advantage of string followed bows being softer in hand than some straighter designs. I also realzie the disadvantages of them in performance.

With a bow for a child I would think you have to walk a thin line. Incorporate a performing design to get a little cast from it while at the same time keeping it forgiving in nature and easy to shoot.

Po kids got it rough. They cannot draw heavy wieght and get a good cast from their bows. And there's not a whole lot out there in the way of tough durable lightwieght kids arrows. Get them light enough so they'll have cast and they break them too easy. Get them durable enough to hang with a 9yr old and they're so heavy they lob an arrow at a 10yd target.

I ask the question because your design incorporates more string follow than even most of todays adult purposely induced string follow bows. It makes for a whole bunch of forgiveness but also too whippy a tip and not enough force draw to store any energy.

So I'm gathering this is done because you are using thin laminates of wood and no glass?? Because without the strength of the glass the actual limb size is so small an over draw, dry  fire or any thing like that would jeapordize the integrity of the bow.

Even a straight limbed bow will have a better cast at lighter wieghts than a bow with that much string follow. It Looks as if you designed the bow to actually have this follow. What is your thinking behind this design??  Why did you go this way instead of down scaling your adult longbow design instead? Is it to minimize the cost and create a functional bow without glass or what?

I've been involved in the design, prototyping and testing of 14 recurves and 7 longbows in the past 15yrs. Most of these bowyers were looking for two things. performance and ease of shooting. and not always in that order. Thats why I asked the question. not to grill ya or diss ya man. Because I been involved for a long time with bowyers and what they do... and I'm curious to your thoughts and reasons behind this design. It goes against the grain of what I usually see.


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## longbowdave1

lance,
you are killing me brother, i didn't put as much thought into building this bow as you are reading this post! here is my design, a simple all wood bow, old school thinking, simple to make, simple to shoot. made from a couple chunks of hickory and and bushel of good old fashion fun!!!!!

  sorry to disappoint you lance but i laughed my backside off reading the deep thought process you went through.


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## longbowdave1

here are the tip overlays and the front accent after being glued on. we need to take the bow back to the belt sander and sand off the excess being careful not to dig into the edges of the limbs, we will finish the job off with the palm sander and 150 grit to get i flush.


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## longbowdave1

i marked the limb that will be the top limb so that i can trace out the sight window. i'm going to cut in the shelf  about 1 inch above center of the riser, this will give the kids plenty of room for the grip. let's trace it out about 5/8 of an inch from the outside edge of the riser, this will make the little bow very near to center shot by the time we are done sanding it.


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## longbowdave1

let's cut the sight window out on the bandsaw, then we will need to cut along the shelf(where the pencil is pointing) with a hacksaw to remove the sight window we created. be careful not to cut to deep. a next we can clean it up a bit with a file, the rest we will take care of during the sanding process.


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## longbowdave1

now it's time for the sanding process on the riser. you can make the shape many ways,here's how i did it.


one of the methods i like to use to round the back of the grip is to clamp the bow in a work vise, leaving both hands free to work, then sand the back of the grip with a"shoe shine motion" using emery cloth. then i sanded the rest of the riser using 150 grit paper, mostly by hand.

 here's where i stopped for tonight, still more sanding to do but it's coming along nicely!


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## LanceColeman

longbowdave1 said:


> lance,
> you are killing me brother, i didn't put as much thought into building this bow as you are reading this post! here is my design, a simple all wood bow, old school thinking, simple to make, simple to shoot. made from a couple chunks of hickory and and bushel of good old fashion fun!!!!!
> 
> sorry to disappoint you lance but i laughed my backside off reading the deep thought process you went through.



There now that wasn't so difficult now was it Dave? Thanks for the response.

And don't worry about my thinkin process. I gotta burn them brain cells on somethin and TV is borin.. . And Bow design jumps out at me almost instantly. Like YOU said I didn't think ya put much thought in to building it


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## crazy guy at Treetop

Great job with going through step by step with pics. Looks like alot of fun.


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## longbowdave1

treetop, 
bow building is fun, and thats what it's all about! spending time with the kids and getting them into archery. the kids also like to help out with the build and feel a part of the process.

lance, 
thanks for input brother and setting me straight.


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## LanceColeman

No problem Dave anytime. Now if ya REALLY want some technical advice?? put the handle on the other side of the bow. Thankyou very much and I'll mail you my bill.


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## longbowdave1

tonight the goal was to finish sanding the bow. i used the 150 grit to get the riser nice and smooth. next the limbs were sanded, just enough to smooth them out and round the edges of the limbs. now we have to recut the string grooves because or tip overlays are glued on.

 i started on the edges using the grooves we cut earlier as a guide. after cutting them in both sides, i carefully file across the top to the other edge.


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## longbowdave1

now we have to sand the string grooves so there are no sharp corners to damage the string. i roll a small piece of 150 grit into a mini sanding drum, and carefully sand the entire string groove. then i make another mini sanding drum out of 320 grit and get it real smooth.


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## longbowdave1

after finishing both string grooves it's time to carefully saand the entire bow with 220 grit then 320grit to get it where i like it. 

the bow is now ready for spraying on the finish. i got the bow ready by wiping the entire bow down with a clean rag and some alcohol. it cleans the dust but doesn't raise the grain like water does.

since this is a build along to show some folks how to make the bow with minimal equiptment i'm going to use  a gloss "Helmans  Spar Urethane". it's a durable outdoor finish and it gives a "slight carmel" color to the light color woods like hickory. i hang the bow by the top string groove with a small piece of gavanized wire. then i spray all four sides of the bow starting at the top, sweeping to the bottom and up again in a continuos motion. after completing all four sides of the bow i will set a timer for about 30 minutes. after 30 minutes i will recoat the bow without and sanding between coats. we will go for 3 coats for tonight.


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## longbowdave1

tomorrow we will continue with a few little extra's on the bow.


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## CallMaker

Lookin' good Dave. There is going to be a happy youngster with that bow.

Ed


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## longbowdave1

i'm closing in on the end of the build now, just the finishing touches now.


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## longbowdave1

the three coats of finish that were sprayed on the bow last night, have dryed nicely. here's how she looks with the first coats of finish on. the sapele' on the riser has darkend up real well with the finish on it.


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## longbowdave1

now we're going to add a deer track to each limb, the kids like that kind of stuff. i picked up a stencil from Tandy Leather Company. just going to trace on of the small tracks to the top and bottom limb with a black sharpie and let it dry for about 20 minutes.( this is a good time to put the yougsters name on the bow as well, they also like seeing their name on it.) now we put another two or three coats of finish on the bow with the same steps as from yesterday.


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## longbowdave1

while we're between coats of the finish, lets make a small leather wrap for the grip on the riser. got a small piece of "doe skin" color leather and cut it to fit, with just about enough that the front will overlap ,but not quite. traced out a row of holes spaced about 1/4' apart and punched them out. when the bow drys tomorrow, we'll put it on with a little genuine simulated senew.  but, thats a project for tomorrow!


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## CallMaker

Almost there Dave.

Ed


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## longbowdave1

she'll be done by tomorrow!


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## SOS

I wonder how this bow would turn out with one lam of fiberglass and one of the hickory?  What would the weight be like and would it be more kid proof yet still easy to make?

Good job Dave


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## longbowdave1

hey steve,
 i know we talked about doing a bow just like you described. i'll have to try one i the future. it would be one tuff little bow! maybe two layers of glass and a single maple or hickory. that's what makes it fun, just the experimenting.


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## longbowdave1

this morning we're down to the last steps of the build. the finish is dry, so lets get started.the leather piece was laced on to the grip  and a calf hair rest was put on as well. dat's all folks, we are done!


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## longbowdave1

now let's have a few finished pictures!


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## Bubbaforsure

Nice Job Dave.....This will make one youngest a very happy camper.....
Ya....Done....Good....Buddy!


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## longbowdave1

i hope you enjoyed the build-along. this is as simple as you can get for a kids bow. there are many ways to build a bow and this is one of them. this bow will last for many years, but the memories will last a lifetime!

i hope that some of you will try a similar bow build, and share it with that special young man or young lady. i would love to see post's on this thread of bows that you made. but be sure i will be closely looking at the end results, not of the bows, but the smile on that young persons face when they hold their new bow that you built for them. 

 endless amounts of fun with no baterries required!


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## longbowdave1

thank's rick!


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## longbowdave1

the bow turned out to be 15# @ 22" draw. guess i for got that detail.


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## CallMaker

You're up early today Dave.

Nice job on the little bow. Lots of fun built into thet little bow.

Ed


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## longbowdave1

thanks ed. finished it off early. got some chores to do today, never enough daylight for me.


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## gurn

Good job and very informative. Gonna be a real happy kid!! 
Can you build a  ladies bow in a reflex deflex design with a slim riser, something like a Savannah?
Still deciding on what to buy, or get built for the peach if she stays with it.

I was watching this old boy make one .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80527FAa-L0


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## longbowdave1

that was good video gurn. send me a pm when you have time. we'll see what i can do for you.


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## gurn

Ok buddy, thanks.


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## Redbow

I enjoyed the build along and if I were a kid I would love to have that bow ! Its a great work of craftsmanship IMO but of course there are many here who will not agree with you or I !

Keep up the good work !


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## longbowdave1

thank you redbow! the new owner will be shooting it very soon.

dave


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## Miguel Cervantes

Vert nice job.


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## longbowdave1

thanks miguel!

is that the most interesting man in the world in your avatar picture?


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## DeltaHalo

Very nice Dave! It turned out great!


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## longbowdave1

thanks sean, i hope your boy enjoys it!


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## Katera73

Looks great dave i might have to try and make one for my kids get ready for a lot of ????


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## longbowdave1

i would be glad to help you through it, your kids would love it!


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## rifleroom

Great Job Dave! My son would enjoy one of those I'm sure!


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## longbowdave1

rifleroom,
 if you get started on building one today, you could be shooting it with your son by next week! 

dave


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