St. Judes BBY build along? IT'S DONE!! Pics included

[JasonV]

Mike, I hope your hands weren't in those gloves when the fingers "went missing".

Just a thought, but if someone put together a CD or a printout of the build-along for this bow and include it in the final package, it might be a nice bonus for the winning bidder.
If ya'll want, I could give it a try - but my computer savvy ends at smacking the monitor when it doesn't do what I want, so I might need to solicit help from someone with a bigger brain than mine....
Let me know.

[wingnut]

Jason,

John Scifres is going to capture the build along on his website.  I don't know if I screwed it up by posting it here.  Hopefully he can capture it or I can send it to him.

Mike

[wingnut]

Well I took the slat billets up to Marks with me the other day to taper (my drum sander is in the shop)with a weeks worth of lams and forgot my camera.  Got the "Z" splice done yesterday and glued it last night.  Pics soon.  Will clean it up and glue up the blank today.  Shape the handle and get it on this evening.

After a little clean up tomorrow it will be in the mail to JD.

I'll have pics of yesterdays and todays events.

Mike

[clintopher]

Great pics Mike.  I'm not sure of the reason for marking the billets 1/2" on one side and 3/8" on the other.  Can you explain that?

[Tom Leemans]

Rough taper Clint.

[clintopher]

I thought of that, but I figured if Mike was using the drum sander to taper maybe it was something else.  Easier for a blade to take off wood than  sandpaper I guess.

Clint

[wingnut]

Yep Tom hit it.  With the 1" slat if we ripped it down the middle we would have ended up with 7/16 after the kerf.  This way we have a rough taper of approx .002 / inch and a full 1/2".

When we run it though on the taper board, two swipes and it's clean and ready.

Mike

[wingnut]

Now that the board is ripped and the bamboo done, we need to get the taper on the board exact.  I took it to Mark Hornes shop because my drum sander is being repaired.  Forgot my camera. .Sorry.

Anyway now we need to do the "Z" splice.

We taped the slats together so that the tapered sides were mated in the center and measured and marked the 4" line for the splice.



Using the calipers we marked the center of the board at the end and the 4" line and drew a line.





We then mark the angles from center to edge and from point to center.



It should look like this:

[wingnut]

Now we have to cut the waste pieces out. notice the "x" showing the waste.

On the center line you want to cut the center out of it.



The angle cuts stay on the waste side for a good fit.



WHen your done it looks like this:



Mix a little Urac 185 and get a good coat on all mated edges.



I use a board to clamp too that is 1/8" narrower then the board and use plastic wrap to keep glue from getting all over.

The first clamp fastens one end to our board. tap the second piece gently into place and use a second clamp to hold it down.  Wrap the plastic wrap over and the board and use your fingers to make sure the splice is down and in place.



Add 3 or more clamps to hold from the sides.



In the hot box and it's done in a couple of hours.

[wingnut]

After the hotbox, we remove the clamps and plastic wrap and we have this:



A little cleanup on the big sander



And it looks like this



Here is the slat, bamboo and powerlam (I know I forget to show building the powerlam) ready for glue up.

[wingnut]

Gotta mix glue.  We'll take some pics as we get that part done too.

Mike

[TexMex]

Looking good. What be the dimensions of the powerlam?

[Orso]

Mike,

Somewhere down the road or maybe on a seperate thread would you please post a pic of your taperboard and how you use it???

What a great thread this is.

Thanks,

[wingnut]

Power lam is approx 3/16 in the center tapered to a feather edge.

Mike,

I could show ya but then I'd have to kill ya.

LOL

Mike

[wingnut]

Ok, glues mixed and time to make a bow.

First get slat laid out center and straight on the jig.  Then apply an even layer of Urac 185 with the handy dandy paint brush.



Do the same for the power lam



And bamboo, then set the pwer lam and bamboo center on the slat.



Tape it in place at the contact points.  Put a clamp every two inches or so with a pressure plate.  It looks like this:



Then in the box it goes



Notice it's bunk mate.  First edition 58" contest bow.  LOL

Mike

[wingnut]

Dang I can't believe this is dropping like a rock.  I put to much time in doing the build along for this.

LOL

Mike

[Tim Clark]

The next best thing to being there! Literally, build-"along."

Originally posted by wingnut:
Dang I can't believe this is dropping like a rock.  I put to much time in doing the build along for this.

LOL

Mike

????  What's dropping like a rock?

Fascinating... I don't use power tools much at all, so to watch you (well, to see the pics I should say), it really is fascinating how precise they make it all come out. Lotta skill there, too!

Fingers -- yeah, I like to keep them -- a LOT farther away from spinning blades than that! lol!

Terrific, Mike, and thank you for it all. This is the sort of thing that gives a fella goosebumps.

God Bless!
- Tim

[AZStickman]

Dang bud thats gonna be one nice bow....But I don't think that Torges Contest bow will be very quiet in the hand... ya might just want to send it out to me and I'll save ya the trouble of tillering it.....  :D  Terry

[Hunter John]

Dang this is awesome.aAs someone who aspires to build bows this info is priceless.TTT

John

[horseapple]

ttt  Mike, enjoyed visiting with you and Connie this weekend, was really impressed with your shop and the quality of bows that your building.  You got me fired up about building bows and I don't even make them in the winter:)