(click on any image to enlarge)
After I used my templates to cut the riser to shape. I glued in two curves, a 2-step process that takes 3 hours of cure time each. The riser block has to be cleaned up and re-squared after each glue-up. I think they will look great in the finished riser.
After shaping the riser further to get the perfect curves and edges, I glue the parts together and put them in the bow press. Then into the bow oven for 4 hours to cure.
When the parts come out of the oven, there is a lot of cleanup of glue, plastic, and tape.
Using more templates, plus some of my own prefs, I rough out the limbs and riser with the band-saw.
The fun and creative part is shaping the riser to get nice curves, patterns, and grip shape.
shaping the tips and filing the string grooves
shaping and smoothing the limbs.
here's the tillering step, where I make sure there is no limb twist and that the limbs pull correctly (top vs bottom).
After the first couple coats of finish, it's already starting to darken up and look nice.
and after a dozen more layers...
After completion, the bow tested at 48# and performed very nicely. So, the bow was shipped to Alaska and arrived in a timely manner.
Brandon seemed to like his bow and it looks like he can handle the pull weight. Hopefully this 18 year-old will become another archery lover and spread the joy of this hobby.
Here are the stats for this bow:
- target stats: 65" AMO, 50# @28", 2" wide limbs
- achieved stats: 48#
- .040" ULS black glass for the back
- .040" ULS black glass for the belly
- .070" hard maple parallel lam for back
- .105" hard maple tapered lam for belly (taper: .002/1")
- .255" total stack height:
- riser: 2 x 3 x 26" charcoal Actionwood
