More bowmakers sprouting from Canberra (lotsa pics)

How to make a Bow, a String or a Set of Arrows. Making equipment & tools for use in Traditional Archery and Bowhunting.

Moderator: Moderators

Post Reply
Message
Author
User avatar
yeoman
Posts: 1563
Joined: Mon Mar 08, 2004 1:32 pm
Location: Canberra

More bowmakers sprouting from Canberra (lotsa pics)

#1 Post by yeoman » Sun Mar 09, 2014 7:40 am

Last weekend I had another bowmaking course.

I've had quite a few now. I think I've done five or six. This course had four students. This course had the highest number of high-draw weight bows I've had. 48, 57, 59 and 60 lb bows (if I remember correctly, but they were all close to those figures).

I had them use spotted gum. The photos don't really show it off, but the grain on all of them was really nice. And with 500 grit sandpaper and beeswax finish, they were beautiful to look at and hold.

We had one disaster. On bow, sitting strung on the bench delaminated and announced its demise with a huge bang. I and the student were devastated. Doing a quick autopsy, it appeared the glue line was clamped a little too tight which had squeezed too much glue out. It's repairable, and that is what the brave bowyer will do. Before making some others.

This is the first course I've run in which we've done overlays. We used Tasmanian Blackwood, and I think they came up a treat.

Set on all bows (including the fallen one was pretty good. no more than 1 3/4 inch.

And now for some pictures:

Preparing the nock in the overlays:

Image

A stripe of wax on sanded wood

Image

We often tilt the room 90 degrees to see what the tiller is like the right way up. Here the tiller is getting close

Image

Nice overlay:

Image

Four nice overlays:

Image

Image

We do endless-loop strings:

Image

and serve the center of the string when the bow is strung:

Image

Like I said, photographing the grain was difficult:

Image

Image
https://www.instagram.com/armworks_australia/

Bow making courses, knife making courses, armour making courses and more:
http://www.tharwavalleyforge.com/

Articles to start making bows:
http://www.tharwavalleyforge.com/index. ... /tutorials

User avatar
greybeard
Supporter
Supporter
Posts: 2992
Joined: Tue Feb 07, 2006 9:11 am
Location: Logan City QLD

Re: More bowmakers sprouting from Canberra (lotsa pics)

#2 Post by greybeard » Sun Mar 09, 2014 12:27 pm

yeoman wrote:Set on all bows (including the fallen one was pretty good. no more than 1 3/4 inch.
Dave, do you build reflex into the bows?

Daryl.
"And you must not stick for a groat or twelvepence more than another man would give, if it be a good bow.
For a good bow twice paid for, is better than an ill bow once broken.
[Ascham]

“If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?” [Einstein]

I am old enough to make my own decisions....Just not young enough to remember what I decided!....

User avatar
yeoman
Posts: 1563
Joined: Mon Mar 08, 2004 1:32 pm
Location: Canberra

Re: More bowmakers sprouting from Canberra (lotsa pics)

#3 Post by yeoman » Sun Mar 09, 2014 1:44 pm

We do not. In an effort to make the process as user-friendly as possible, we glue the staves up straight. So it's a straight-stave longbow. For beginners, I think the perils of a reflexed stave trying to flip itself around might be a bit too much.

It'd be disappointing to have a reflexed stave end up with that much set.
https://www.instagram.com/armworks_australia/

Bow making courses, knife making courses, armour making courses and more:
http://www.tharwavalleyforge.com/

Articles to start making bows:
http://www.tharwavalleyforge.com/index. ... /tutorials

Sabinus
Posts: 138
Joined: Tue Mar 26, 2013 8:56 pm

Re: More bowmakers sprouting from Canberra (lotsa pics)

#4 Post by Sabinus » Sun Mar 09, 2014 9:40 pm

Hi Dave,
I'd dearly love to come and do a longbow weekend with you - I hope you'll keep teaching them for a while yet! The bows look sensational.

User avatar
yeoman
Posts: 1563
Joined: Mon Mar 08, 2004 1:32 pm
Location: Canberra

Re: More bowmakers sprouting from Canberra (lotsa pics)

#5 Post by yeoman » Mon Mar 10, 2014 5:30 am

Yep, I'll be teaching for as long as I can. There's at least another two courses this year, and I usually try and run four each year.

The students did a really good job with these bows.
https://www.instagram.com/armworks_australia/

Bow making courses, knife making courses, armour making courses and more:
http://www.tharwavalleyforge.com/

Articles to start making bows:
http://www.tharwavalleyforge.com/index. ... /tutorials

User avatar
rodlonq
Posts: 2096
Joined: Wed May 06, 2009 3:02 pm
Location: Ingham NQ

Re: More bowmakers sprouting from Canberra (lotsa pics)

#6 Post by rodlonq » Tue Mar 11, 2014 5:11 pm

Nicely done Dave. I reckon your students must be very happy to have done the course by the time they are shooting their bows.

Do you back the stave before the course or is the lamination joint quite fresh when you start tillering? Maybe it just hadn't cured by then?

Cheers.... Rod

User avatar
yeoman
Posts: 1563
Joined: Mon Mar 08, 2004 1:32 pm
Location: Canberra

Re: More bowmakers sprouting from Canberra (lotsa pics)

#7 Post by yeoman » Tue Mar 11, 2014 5:46 pm

Hi Rod,

I imagine it'd be hard to wipe the smiles from their dials by the time they're shooting...but then again I wouldn't try anyway. :biggrin:

The students prepare and apply the backing on the Friday night. We use a polyurethane glue that is set in 2 hours and proper cured in under six. Which means when we come back to the staves some 11 hours later the glue should be pretty much as set as it's ever going to be.

An examination of the delamination showed both bamboo and wood were fairly clean. At the very least, there was no tearing of either surface. We were very careful to prepare the surfaces as per the instructions. I'm pretty sure it was too tightly clamped.

Next course is in June.
https://www.instagram.com/armworks_australia/

Bow making courses, knife making courses, armour making courses and more:
http://www.tharwavalleyforge.com/

Articles to start making bows:
http://www.tharwavalleyforge.com/index. ... /tutorials

User avatar
Gringa Bows
Posts: 6331
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2007 7:09 pm
Location: Bundaberg QLD

Re: More bowmakers sprouting from Canberra (lotsa pics)

#8 Post by Gringa Bows » Tue Mar 11, 2014 6:35 pm

good job mate :biggrin:

User avatar
rodlonq
Posts: 2096
Joined: Wed May 06, 2009 3:02 pm
Location: Ingham NQ

Re: More bowmakers sprouting from Canberra (lotsa pics)

#9 Post by rodlonq » Tue Mar 11, 2014 8:52 pm

Fair enough mate. I like the way you taper the nock overlays into the stave. Makes them very low profile as if they were part of the original stave. Very tidy... The Tassie blackwood is very nice, looks a bit like gidgea, is it as hard?

Cheers... Rod

User avatar
yeoman
Posts: 1563
Joined: Mon Mar 08, 2004 1:32 pm
Location: Canberra

Re: More bowmakers sprouting from Canberra (lotsa pics)

#10 Post by yeoman » Wed Mar 12, 2014 4:42 am

When I started woodwork I thought it was hard. Years after when I learned of the likes of ironbark and such, suddenly it didn't seem so hard anymore. :razz: :razz:
https://www.instagram.com/armworks_australia/

Bow making courses, knife making courses, armour making courses and more:
http://www.tharwavalleyforge.com/

Articles to start making bows:
http://www.tharwavalleyforge.com/index. ... /tutorials

User avatar
yeoman
Posts: 1563
Joined: Mon Mar 08, 2004 1:32 pm
Location: Canberra

Re: More bowmakers sprouting from Canberra (lotsa pics)

#11 Post by yeoman » Wed Mar 12, 2014 8:31 pm

I heard from the student with the bow that came asunder. It turns out the instructions I supplied for repair were sound, and it now shoots very well, thank you very much.

So the delamination was a hurdle, not a barrier to success.
https://www.instagram.com/armworks_australia/

Bow making courses, knife making courses, armour making courses and more:
http://www.tharwavalleyforge.com/

Articles to start making bows:
http://www.tharwavalleyforge.com/index. ... /tutorials

longbow steve
Posts: 3116
Joined: Tue Jan 30, 2007 3:29 pm
Location: BLUE MOUNTAINS

Re: More bowmakers sprouting from Canberra (lotsa pics)

#12 Post by longbow steve » Wed Mar 12, 2014 9:36 pm

Well done Dave. I am about to start bow making workshops at my new shop. Getting excited. Steve

Post Reply