I had a slat of bodark ready to go but wingnut didn't like the looks of some knots in it so he traded me a piece of bullet wood (i have no idea what bullet wood is; looks dense and tuff though).  Wingnut touched up the gluing surface on the bullet slat.

http://stavestobows.homestead.com/files/glassabo1.jpg

wingnut was the glue man.  he doped up the glass (.030 black) and the bullet slat

http://stavestobows.homestead.com/files/glassabo4.jpg

i got jaap koppedrayer's video "all tied up in bow making".  ya need a rope (i used 1/4" manila) and lots of bamboo wedges.

http://stavestobows.homestead.com/files/glassabo4b.jpg

ya tape the lams together then warp them with rope in a screw pattern with the crossings about 1" apart

http://stavestobows.homestead.com/files/glassabo5.jpg

now ya reverse the screw pattern to a "X" crossing pattern

http://stavestobows.homestead.com/files/glassabo6.jpg

now ya whack a wedge under each of the crossings.  in this case the wedges go on the belly since we want to reflex in the bow

http://stavestobows.homestead.com/files/glassabo8.jpg  

wingnut and i put a modest amount of reflex in the bow about 1&1/4" and put it in the hot box

http://stavestobows.homestead.com/files/glassabo9.jpg

the finished slat and glass back was 15/32" thick.  60" long and had 1&1/4" reflex stressed by the wedges into the system

rusty

thanks for your help wingnutty.  i don't know much about glass backing.  the results was very good.  I got 1&1/4" reflex like we planned.  the glue line was very very good.  who would have thunk it.


i post some pics of the bow blank after supper (dinner to all ya yankees)


rusty

omg ain't that a handsome fellower  

Yes i am!!!  It was fun to have ya out and working on a bow again.  We haven't done that in a long time.  I remember when every other Sunday was a bowbee and now we have our own things.  I think that is goign to be one heck of a bow when your done.  If the weight is a little light we can add a lam to the back or the belly.

Mike

Nice sox, Rsuty! You et yet? Dang, you've had at least fifteen minutes!  :rolleyes:  

Killdeer

Even if it don't make a bow, you guys are havein fun looks like.

BTW, no doubt it'll be a shooter.

neat bow blank.

http://stavestobows.homestead.com/files/glassabo10.jpg

now i'm gonna leave the width alone, find the center line of the blank and taper the limbs pyramid style from the full width of the center line down to 3/4" side nocks.  I'll put a sting on it and see what I got.  soon or later i'll trim the length to pony bow length.  right now I'm curious about what i got  

rusty

top pic is the glue line.  

Looks great Rusty. How do you like that video?

Dang Rusty, something just don't look right seeing you working on a bow with all that clean empty space around ya.  Mike needs to clutter up that shop a bit don't ya think?

By the way, I might be giving you a call this weekend.

Rusty,I did a couple of short, 42 inchers like that, that were about 40#. One broke due to drawing it to about 32+"... just to see what it would take    . I think the other is somewhere out in the shop. Nice little bows.

Here is the bow with a string.  I trimmed the width to the above dimensions and cleaned up the belly a bit.  I took a couple of flat spots out of the mid-bow.  the bow is draw 40#@18" here.  guess that means the bow will come in at hunting wait.

http://stavestobows.homestead.com/files/glassabo11.jpg

the tips are stiff for the profile I'm after.  I will tiller the outer limb tips by tiller the width till I get down to 5/8" tips (i want them to look kinda Indian bow style [even if if contributes to a bit of hadn shock]).  

I want the bow to draw in a nice smooth circle shape.  maybe the last four inches of the tips could be left stiff.  I wouldn't mind that.

rusty

I have no idea what bullet wood is but it is dense and seems stuff (bullet proof) so for.  it works will with the vixen files.

rusty

btw when the tips get to 5/8" if i still need to get more bend I'll tiller the belly.  

rusty

I have really enjoyed using Jaap's (actually Japanese, it is way old) process.  it is simple quick anb ya can kinda design on the go.

rusty

right now the bow is 58&1/2" ntn.  after a bit I may trim it down and re-tiller it to 56" ntn

right now I want see what the gold standard is.  

rusty

very cool.  It's good to see ya doing what you love Rusty.  I can't wait to see how it turns out.  Some of my students want to make one like it now... LOL.
thanks,
Bob

Bob, it would be a good project.  I find sumpin totally awsome about mixing the very old and the very new.  it kinda speaks to me  

rusty

ps if ya have a hot box ya can carry everthing else ya need in a 5 gallon bucket...i like that a lot

here we mixed a wood working technique, very old and time proven, with modern material and a bow design that is almost as old as a bent limb  

hey does it get any better??  

rusty

of course I use shoot arrows with titanium trade points  

rusty