Been busy in the shop

[Jamie]

while I was getting this ready earlier I noticed this small drying check in the bamboo. don't recall seeing it before, but it was probably there before I tapered the bamboo and glued it to the core. a 2" long check going north and south is probably nothing to worry about.

I'll take the time to apply some insurance in the form of thin cyanoacrylate that will wick all the way in and shore it up.

I'll be scraping the rind off of the bamboo later on, so excess glue isn't a concern. its best to have a puddle there to allow crack to take as much as it wants.

 

[Jamie]

glue all dry. I've created little patterns out of thin pieces of bamboo for the side and face profiles. makes it a little quicker, and results are more consistent.

my tape "clamp" removed, most of the excess glue rasped away. glue joint looks good.

side profile shaped, on to the face. important to keep the sides square to the back and belly when shaping the profiles. makes the rounding/ final shaping a little easier.

that's the upper nock. turned out nice. still a little bit of shaping to do during the sanding, but after I get the lower nock done, bow will be shootable again. took me about an hour and a half to do this. tedious file work. gotta do it right as my mild OCD won't allow me to settle on "good enough" for this part of the bowbuilding process. it's the same drill for adding horn overlays to a selfbow, too.

 

[brock ratcliff]

I enjoy reading your posts here immensely!

 

[twireman]

That’s some amazing skills you have man.

 

[finelyshedded]

That’s some amazing skills you have man.

You beat me to it! I haven’t been over here much lately but thoroughly enjoy reading and learning the intricacies of this skill and craftsmanship Jamie puts into his work. Definitely a labor of love.

 

[Boarhead]

Awesome work Jamie!

 

[Jamie]

I got the other nock shaped and have been shooting this bow quite a bit. it has settled in at a hair over 45lbs at my 28 1/2" draw length. It shoots the same arrows as the ones my best 50ish lb bows like. I don't need a chronograph to tell me what that really means. I've always been a strong proponent of shooting the heaviest gear that you can handle. heavy bows and, more importantly, heavy arrows. I have lost so much strength in the last few years that I can barely believe it. at 66" in length and plenty of zip for 45lbs, I think I'm going to go with it. swallow my pride and accept the reality that I just cannot do what I was able to do easily 10 years ago. I shoot this bow really well, and it does not hurt me. my form is better with this girly weight bow, and I feel better about shooting than I have in a long time. I know this is plenty of power to kill a deer, but now there is even less room for error. no more smashing bones to get the job done. it's either in the center of the ribs, or, well, you know how it goes if it isn't. so, I have dozens and dozens of arrows for bows in the 55-65lb range. about half dozen spined for bows under 55lbs. this 45lb bow likes 60lb spine arrows with 160 gr points. I made these arrows for a short static recurve that I made about 10 years ago for late season hunting. it is 51lbs, and I killed these two deer with it in January; the only month I ever hunted with it. 1/8/09 and 1/28/10

Now I'm on a mission to tune up some arrows better than I ever have before. I don't need paper to tune wood arrows, but I'll bare shaft until I get arrows that go where I want without rudders. which brings me to the actual point of this post.

over the weekend I found some 11/32" Douglas Fir shafts that I've culled out of many dozens of raw shafts because they were light for the 70-75 lb spine class they were sold as. I start with 70-75's when making matched sets of arrows for the heavier bows I've been using for the last 20 years. these are all 65-67lb spine. just about perfect for what I'm doing with them. it is my intention to wind up with perfectly spined arrows that weigh in the neighborhood of 11-12 grains per pound of bow weight it's time to hunt. so, 500-550 grains total. most people consider 10 grains per pound to be "heavy" arrows. the arrows in my quiver in the above photo are parallel Fir shafts with 160grain Magnus two blade heads and weigh between 560 and 585 grains. I made 6 of those for hunting. two got destroyed killing deer, I have the other four still, two of which I put field points on for the beginning of this trial. I did a long 12" nock taper (to 5/16") on them to help reduce the spine and weight, improve recovery from paradox. I'm going to start with their full 32" length and shorten while I bare shaft tune. for many moons I've been cutting my arrows to 29 1/2" b.o.p. don't know where I'll end up with these and it doesn't matter. after tapering and hand sanding to make them all exactly 60lb spine, and three dips in gasket lacquer, I'm onto fletching a couple.

I use my Bitzenburger when I'm only doing a few arrows or when I'm replacing a damaged fletching.

when I'm doing a dozen or more I use my Jo-Jan multifletcher, which works just as well as high end Bitzy if you take the time to adjust it correctly for your arrows and desired helical.

 

[Jamie]

after gluing the fletching on two, I need to finish the job. time to fire up the burner. I bought this feather burner from Ted Young like 15 or 20 years ago. had never been used. I used to chop 5" feathers, but I wanted to make up a 5 1/2" custom shape for myself. a cross between a standard shield cut and a parabolic cut. the wire ribbon on feather burner is like the nichrome wires in your toaster.

glue on some points next and start shooting. once I get bare shafts on the mark, I'll get on with finishing the bow, which is only the finish sanding and seal it up, lace a handle on it. I've debated whether or not I want to dye this bow. I think I may finish it natural and paint it camo. stealth vs. glitz. the former seems more important to me these days than the latter. what's under the olive drab paint only matters to me, anyway.

 

[Jamie]

and I have this other small project. I relieved my mother of this meat mallet that belonged to her grandfather. I don't know how old it is, but it is made of brass or something as there is not a hint of corrosion on it at all. this thing might be 100 years old now. and this hatchet thing that was part of a collection of weird little tools that belonged to Nancy's grandfather, who was a cobbler. I don't know what a cobbler does with this, but it's pretty cool. has a small claw for pulling nails or something. no markings on it that I can find. They both desperately need a new handle. the pragmatist in here says use osage, and nobody will have to worry about a new handle for 5 lifetimes. the romantic in here spotted some very cool curly ash in the firewood pile a few days ago. I knew it was there from when I stacked it, but had totally forgotten about it. I'll square up a couple of billets big enough for the handles. probably design a more contoured handle for the hatchet thing for more comfortable field work. I have no intention of using it to make shoes.

 

[Sgt Fury]

I got the other nock shaped and have been shooting this bow quite a bit. it has settled in at a hair over 45lbs at my 28 1/2" draw length. It shoots the same arrows as the ones my best 50ish lb bows like. I don't need a chronograph to tell me what that really means. I've always been a strong proponent of shooting the heaviest gear that you can handle. heavy bows and, more importantly, heavy arrows. I have lost so much strength in the last few years that I can barely believe it. at 66" in length and plenty of zip for 45lbs, I think I'm going to go with it. swallow my pride and accept the reality that I just cannot do what I was able to do easily 10 years ago. I shoot this bow really well, and it does not hurt me. my form is better with this girly weight bow, and I feel better about shooting than I have in a long time. I know this is plenty of power to kill a deer, but now there is even less room for error. no more smashing bones to get the job done. it's either in the center of the ribs, or, well, you know how it goes if it isn't. so, I have dozens and dozens of arrows for bows in the 55-65lb range. about half dozen spined for bows under 55lbs. this 45lb bow likes 60lb spine arrows with 160 gr points. I made these arrows for a short static recurve that I made about 10 years ago for late season hunting. it is 51lbs, and I killed these two deer with it in January; the only month I ever hunted with it. 1/8/09 and 1/28/10
View attachment 101407View attachment 101408

Now I'm on a mission to tune up some arrows better than I ever have before. I don't need paper to tune wood arrows, but I'll bare shaft until I get arrows that go where I want without rudders. which brings me to the actual point of this post.

over the weekend I found some 11/32" Douglas Fir shafts that I've culled out of many dozens of raw shafts because they were light for the 70-75 lb spine class they were sold as. I start with 70-75's when making matched sets of arrows for the heavier bows I've been using for the last 20 years. these are all 65-67lb spine. just about perfect for what I'm doing with them. it is my intention to wind up with perfectly spined arrows that weigh in the neighborhood of 11-12 grains per pound of bow weight it's time to hunt. so, 500-550 grains total. most people consider 10 grains per pound to be "heavy" arrows. the arrows in my quiver in the above photo are parallel Fir shafts with 160grain Magnus two blade heads and weigh between 560 and 585 grains. I made 6 of those for hunting. two got destroyed killing deer, I have the other four still, two of which I put field points on for the beginning of this trial. I did a long 12" nock taper (to 5/16") on them to help reduce the spine and weight, improve recovery from paradox. I'm going to start with their full 32" length and shorten while I bare shaft tune. for many moons I've been cutting my arrows to 29 1/2" b.o.p. don't know where I'll end up with these and it doesn't matter. after tapering and hand sanding to make them all exactly 60lb spine, and three dips in gasket lacquer, I'm onto fletching a couple.

I use my Bitzenburger when I'm only doing a few arrows or when I'm replacing a damaged fletching.

View attachment 101410

when I'm doing a dozen or more I use my Jo-Jan multifletcher, which works just as well as high end Bitzy if you take the time to adjust it correctly for your arrows and desired helical.
View attachment 101411

Lol...I’ve got the same jigs for fletching my arrows...a jo-Jan and the blitzenburger....I’ve got both straight and helical for both. They’ve paid for themselves many times over with all of the arrows I’ve done since the mid ‘80’s.

 

[Boarhead]

Very nice work Jamie.

 

[OhioWhiteTails]

Amazing! Great update!

 

[Mike]

Excellent

 

[Geezer II]

after gluing the fletching on two, I need to finish the job. time to fire up the burner. I bought this feather burner from Ted Young like 15 or 20 years ago. had never been used. I used to chop 5" feathers, but I wanted to make up a 5 1/2" custom shape for myself. a cross between a standard shield cut and a parabolic cut. the wire ribbon on feather burner is like the nichrome wires in your toaster.
View attachment 101412
View attachment 101413
View attachment 101414

glue on some points next and start shooting. once I get bare shafts on the mark, I'll get on with finishing the bow, which is only the finish sanding and seal it up, lace a handle on it. I've debated whether or not I want to dye this bow. I think I may finish it natural and paint it camo. stealth vs. glitz. the former seems more important to me these days than the latter. what's under the olive drab paint only matters to me, anyway.

Nice i got one of those burners - took me a few trys to figure out you have to allow for the expansion of the element so you don't burn the shaft - lol

 

[brock ratcliff]

Enjoyable read along! I can’t wait to see you killing stuff with that old man bow. No too ways about it, lighter poundage bows are more comfortable to shoot.

 

[Blan37]

Very cool, Jamie!

 

[Jamie]

suffice it to say that bare shafting tried my patience, but I got what I needed, eventually. I should have known that I'd end up where I started. 60lb (.433) spine deflection cut to 30" b.o.p. with 125 grain points flew straight with no feathers. this particular 45# bow requires a stiffer arrow than I would have guessed. a good indication that it is very efficient, properly timed and balanced. makes me happy. now I fletch arrows and watch paint dry.

I'm doing all sorts of experimenting with this bow. after I found a satisfactory arrow spine, I got started on the finishing yesterday. I've never used the rattle can VHT wheel paint (clear coat) as the primary finish material on a bow before, only as a dull topcoat of the ultra-durable catalyzed polyamide epoxy that I've been using for years. I don't have any reservations about it's durability as it held up well on my bow last season, but there isn't much info about moisture resistance available because that isn't a concern when you spray this on metal car wheels. keeping carefully dried bow wood dry forever is another matter. I roll the dice. five "coats" per the label directions. one coat = two light passes then a medium wet coat, dry for ten minutes, repeat. bow done in about an hour. really pleased with the way this material went on bare wood. I'm also doing something I've never done to a wooden bow before. I'm painting the whole thing. except the nocks. I couldn't bring myself to cover up those pretty horn nocks with camo paint, so I devised a plan to cover them for painting.

this piece of horn had some cool color streaks in it.

my masking scheme to save nocks from paint.

I cut pieces of tape using a Stos broadhead for a pattern, stuck them on the bow, back and belly. about 2 1/2" of the tips are covered, rest of the bow is getting painted. pics when it's done

 

[Jamie]

drying check in bamboo fixed. no movement after about 300 shots. before,

after. rind removed, under five coats of finish. the brown discoloration is from scarring of the live bamboo culm. no way to remove it. some pieces are covered with scars, others are perfectly free of scarring.

 

[brock ratcliff]

Awesome!!!! I can’t wait to see it finished!

 

[Jackalope]

Freaking sweet man. I really enjoy these posts. Something I've always wanted to do, to see it done is something else. Thanks.