Recurve Build #11,12,13 The Ford Bows

Christmas turned into a busy season for me this year.  I got a request to build 3 bows for relatives in Tennessee, and I only had a  month to get them done and get them there!  It was a big challenge for me and I was more stressed than I like to be when I build bows. normally just for fun. I am always worried when I am building something for someone besides myself. I did get them done, just in time and I think they turned out nice.

(click any image for a larger view)

Bow #11

  This bow is actually a design that I have been thinking about for myself. Most of the woods I work with are light and show up easily in dim light.  I wanted to try a design that would be all dark, for hunting, but would still be beautiful.  I don’t have access to any really dark wood right now, but I do have access to a hi-tech engineered laminate called Actionwood, known in the bow making world for its extreme strength and durability. It’s made of lots of layers of colorized wood, like Baltic Birch, and is used for gun stocks, skateboards, and other things that need strength, even in thin sections.  When this wood is shaped, it creates nice patterns and interesting shapes.  I decided that I also wanted some color in the sight window, so I added a middle section of Redheart. I also put in a couple a-symmetrical curves to add some detail to the riser.  Keeping with the dark wood theme, I used a beautiful wood from Brazil called Moradillo for the limbs.  It had a very nice color and grain pattern and is often used in hi-end furniture.  Under the bow glass the Moradillo came out a bit dark, so the grain shows up better in bright light. 

11th 65" Recurve (Tracy Ford)

12/2013

- target stats: 65", 45# @28", 2" wide limbs - achieved stats: 65", 45# @28" - .040"  ULS black glass for the back   - .043"  ULS clear glass for the belly - .070"  hard maple parallel lams for back - .099"  Moradillo tapered lams for belly (taper: .002/1") (visible) - .252" total stack height - riser: 2 x 3 x 26"  [Actionwood|redheart|Actionwood]  (charcoal Actionwood block)

Tracy Ford, shooting his bow.

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Bow #12 

  The riser on this bow is made from a lamination of some beautifully figured maple from right here in the USA and an exotic Brazilian wood called Redheart.  The walnut has lots of character in the grain patterns.  Also, this particular piece of Redheart is very interesting.  The color is not a solid red, but instead is a wild pattern of many shades of red, fading to brown near the edge, creating a really nice look to the wood. I used black and red linen phenolic to add some accents to the riser and the tips of this bow.  The limb wood is another exotic wood, Zebrawood, from Central America and Africa. This beautiful wood blends some mid to light tones into the bow and shows off some nice large-grain patterns which contrast the tighter grain of the walnut.

12th 65" Recurve (Ed /Tracy's Dad)

12/2013

- target stats: 65", 40# @28", 2" wide limbs - achieved stats: 65", 40# @28" - .040"  ULS black glass for the back  - .043"  ULS clear glass for the belly - .060"  hard maple parallel lams for back - .103"  Zebrawood tapered lams for belly (taper: .002/1") (visible) - .246" total stack height - riser: 2 x 3 x 26" [walnut|redheart|walnut]

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Bow #13

   I had an idea to see how multiple wood types would look together and this is the result.  The main riser wood is walnut, cut from the same board as bow #12. In the middle is a nice piece of birdseye maple sandwiched between layers of mahogany.  These are all native hardwoods from North America.  They also have very different grain patterns.  As it turned out, there is a round knot in the walnut on the left side of the grip area, perfectly preserved.  Also, there is a section in the upper sight window where the maple starts to fade to dark, which is unusual.  Then I added a slice of red cedar between 2 layers of black linen phenolic to add more detail to the riser.  Finally, the limbs show a very exotic wood, Bocote, from Central and South America. This wood has a grain like no other, wild and crazy.  So that’s a 5 wood bow design.  

13th 65" Recurve (Scott /Tracy's Brother)

12/2013

- target stats: 65", 45# @28", 2" wide limbs - achieved stats: 65", 43# @28" - .040"  ULS black glass for the back  - .043"  ULS clear glass for the belly - .070"  hard maple parallel lams for back - .099"  Bocote tapered lams for belly (taper: .002/1") (visible) - .252" total stack height - riser: 2 x 3 x 26" [walnut|mahogany|maple|mahogany|walnut]

Reflex / Deflex Longbow Build #2 & #3

This is a post that has been long in coming. I built my first R/D longbow and it turned out so nice that I was encouraged and thought up some ideas for a couple more.  I even went so far as to glue up some risers for these bows.  But then I got so busy with my recurve designs that the longbow designs got left on the shelf.  When winter finally hit and my outdoor time demands were gone, I started working on these longbows. So, here are the results of my two designs

The King:

  I had some pieces of kingwood (Brazil) left over from a recurve and I really liked the way it looks.  This super hard wood is not easy to work, but it looks amazing when it's sanded and finished, almost like a brown marble. These pieces were too small to use in another recurve, but I could use them in a longbow. So I decided to do an i-beam riser with birdseye maple in the middle and kingwood on the outside. Also, to try something new, I sliced up the maple and put thin strips of Ipe (Brazilian Walnut) between them, then planed that into a board that was glued into the center of the riser.  That way the Ipe stripe would only exist in the sight window and not run through the entire riser.  I also added a curve of black linen phenolic, but I ran it from belly to belly instead of back to back like I usually do.  So, when I cut the curves from the riser block corners, there was a black strip in them.  I used one of these pieces to form the heel of the grip, so that black curve added some nice detail, running from the glass to the heel.  I added layers of maple and black phenolic to create the tip of the heel and also for detail on the sight window. The heel came out looking a bit like a target. I used a piece of zebrawood on the tips, which kind of makes them look like a beetle or something. When it was all finished, this bow came out looking very nice and it shoots really well.

(click on any image for a larger view)

Here are the stats for this bow:

• target stats: 66", 52# @ 28", 1.5" wide
• achieved stats: 66", 49# @ 28" (55# @ 30") 193 fps with 378gr arrow
• 
  
• .040"  UL clear glass - both sides
• .055" bocote parallel lam (2 sets) (visible thru glass)
• .060" maple super lam (belly power lam + tip wedge combo)
          (.060" for 2" past fades, then taper .001/1", then thicker at tips, .042" in center)
• .125" maple taper lam:  (taper: .002/1" on back) 
• .375" total stack height
• 
  
• riser: 1.5 x 2 x 18", maple, bloodwood, with Ipe & black accents
• limb profile: 1.5" @ 2" past fade, then straight to 1/2" at string groove

Walnut and Brown Glass:

Another idea I had was to try to make a bow with all "dark" materials.  Usually I like maple or bamboo in the core, but it really shows up against darker wood. That's great for a contrasting look, but what if you wanted a more "stealth" look for hunting? Also, I had never used brown glass and thought it might look cool. So, after some investigation of core lam options I decided to try a walnut core with brown bow-glass and red in the sight window. I had some bloodwood (South America) pieces that would work great for the center of the i-beam riser and I also had some nice walnut (USA) that had a lot of figure and coloration that could go on the outside. I created a center layer by joining bloodwood sections with a strip of Ipe before gluing it into the middle of the riser. For detail, I also put in a black phenolic curve from back to back.

Here are the stats for this bow:

• target stats: 66", 47# @ 28", 1.5" wide 
• achieved stats: 66", 43# @ 28" (48# @ 30") 180 fps with 378gr arrow
• 
  
• .040" brown uls glass - both sides
• .055" walnut parallel lam (2 sets)
• .060" walnut super lam (belly power lam + tip wedge combo)
          (.060" for 2" past fades, then taper .001/1", then thicker at tips, .042" in center)
• *.120" walnut tapered lam (taper: .002/1" on back) 
• *.370" total stack height 
• 
  
• riser: 1.5 x 2 x 18", walnut, Ipe, bloodwood
• limb profile: 1.5" @ 2" past fade, then straight to 1/2" at string groove
• * added .005" to stack because using walnut usually comes out with a bit lighter pull weight than maple. It still came out light.

Recurve Build #9 "The Moose"

This is another bow that I built for a friend of mine in Alaska.  She wanted me to just surprise her with any design I felt like creating.  So, with the wide-open possibilities, I thought about some woods that I had not used in the limbs before, but that I wanted to see beneath the bow glass.  One of those is woods is the beautiful and highly figured Central America Zebrawood.  I have used this hardwood in the riser of a R/D longbow, in my first build of that pattern, and it turned out really nice. I still want to try to use it in the riser of one of these 65" recurves, but I'm afraid it might be really expensive. However, using it the limbs is a different story. These wide-limb bows show a lot of grain, plus it costs no more than other exotic woods. So I decided on a color/wood scheme that would be a combination of beautiful native american hardwoods and exotic woods. It's a mix of tough and wild, perfect for Alaska.

(click any picture for a larger view)

The Zebrawood, like all woods I have put under clear glass, came out a bit darker than I expected, though it still looks wonderful. I wanted it to blend with the Curly Maple in the riser window if possible, to enhance it's super beautiful  grain and excellent figure.  It's great to look at.

The riser in an I-beam of figured walnut and curly maple.  It is extremely strong yet easy to work with. Both of these woods had great figure and produced really nice grain patterns.

I decided that I wanted to see a bit more detail in the riser, so I put a curve through the middle using 2 layers of black phenolic, sandwiching a nice strip of bamboo (another wood on the "wild" side).

The bamboo brings out a nice light tone with a hint of yellow. It blends quite well with the other woods.

The tips also incorporate a layer of bamboo between the black glass and the black phenolic. The tip is a bit dirty in this picture.

I like to have a thin layer of real wood between the string and the clear glass. I don't know why, but I think it looks better. I used a slice of Moradillo wood on this one.

Here are the stats for this bow:

• target stats: 65" AMO, 45# @28", 2" wide limbs
• achieved stats:  45#
• .040"  ULS black glass for the back
• .043"  UL clear black glass for the belly
• .070"  hard maple parallel lam for back 
• .100"  Zebrawood tapered lam for belly (taper: .002/1") (visible)
• .252"  total stack height:
• riser: 2 x 3 x 26" [walnut|maple|walnut]

Recurve Build #8 - Alaskan Midnight

OK, this blog is about a bow that I am building for a friend in Alaska, for her son's 18th birthday. He wanted a black bow, but I don't have any super-dark or black riser woods right now. So, I found some black & grey Actionwood that would do the trick.The limb core wood is maple and the bow glass is black. For more details on how I build these bows, I refer you to my other bow building blogs.

(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