Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
MDM: Master Bowyer Part 3
Well, other than a leather wrap on the handle, I have finished my selfbow. It ended up being a 60# draw weight at 28" of draw. I am very happy it didn't turn out to be a 30# bow! It doesn't take much extra scraping off the belly to end up will a 30#'er. That's why I worked so slowly.
I started sanding it with 80 grit sandpaper and progressed all the way to 400 grit. Then I used #5/0 steel wool and finally "boned" it with a small glass vial. It's as hard as polished bone dried in the Sahara for 40 years! I put six coats of boiled linseed oil on it and finished with two coats of paste wax.
Finally, I hand-made a Flemish bowstring with 14 strands of Brownell B50 bow string material. I served the ends and center with diamond-braided serving thread that was 0.022" diameter.
I shot the bow yesterday for the first time. It shoots well. Minimal hand shock (means I did a pretty good job on the tillering), fast and straight. Got to get used to shooting a bow with no sights on it. It's not that easy!
By the way. I'm taking donations of leather!
The unfinished bow during tiller using a long string.
I signed the bow on the belly of the lower limb. 60# at 28"!
The finished bow shown at full draw with its new Flemish string.
Finished bow at full brace.
I started sanding it with 80 grit sandpaper and progressed all the way to 400 grit. Then I used #5/0 steel wool and finally "boned" it with a small glass vial. It's as hard as polished bone dried in the Sahara for 40 years! I put six coats of boiled linseed oil on it and finished with two coats of paste wax.
Finally, I hand-made a Flemish bowstring with 14 strands of Brownell B50 bow string material. I served the ends and center with diamond-braided serving thread that was 0.022" diameter.
I shot the bow yesterday for the first time. It shoots well. Minimal hand shock (means I did a pretty good job on the tillering), fast and straight. Got to get used to shooting a bow with no sights on it. It's not that easy!
By the way. I'm taking donations of leather!
The unfinished bow during tiller using a long string.
I signed the bow on the belly of the lower limb. 60# at 28"!
The finished bow shown at full draw with its new Flemish string. Finished bow at full brace.Wednesday, November 4, 2009
MDM: Master Bowyer Part Deux
MDM's bow is coming along. Here it is at 18" draw and 50# pull. Only ten inches to go to get to a 28" draw @ 50#. Now all the belly fat is coming off with a sharp knife...very slowly. So far I got a pretty good symmetric curve going. Hope to keep it that way!
Monday, November 2, 2009
Luci the Wonder Dog
Luci is on top of the Cedar Springs Dam on the north side of Silverwood Lake in Hesperia, CA. We went there for a walk early Saturday morning. On the far side of the dam there are small cliffs that drop straight into the lake. Luci, who does not normally even like the water, jumped into ten feet deep water well below me and where I could not easily get to her. To my amazement she swam, like a dog, to the sandstone rocks and got out! She said she liked it and started to try it again until I convinced her otherwise.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)