Ozbow

Good evening,

Last weekend I ran a course using Smooth-On for the first time.

I have to say I was mighty impressed.

The resin and the hardener are very gloopy at room temperature (here anyway), so when we had all surfaces sanded, I turned on the heat box and popped both tins in to warm a little while we wiped down the staves and backings with acetone. This helped quite a bit.

One and three quarter tablespoons of each was enough for one bow. The bow is a single layup of an ironbark stave with a bamboo backing. About 72" long and 1 3/8" wide at the center. Once mixed, the pot life is generously long at an hour or two so there's no need to rush the glue-up.

We clamped staves with the tried and true bicycle tire method and put them in the heat box at 55-60 deg C for four hours overnight. By morning the staves were cool and the excess epoxy on the outside of the stave rock solid.

The bows worked out wonderfully. We had a 72" long ironbark bow pulling 50 lb at 28" and about an inch of set made by a beginner on his first try. I made a 61" longbow pulling 35 lb at 25" with about an inch and a half of set. I found small imperfections in the preparation of the backings were filled by the epoxy, which cured to a thin dark but opaque line which you could see only by looking carefully.

I'm very pleased with the product and am lamenting not having adopted it years ago. It is the worldwide bowyer-industry standard for a reason.

Photos to follow in the next day or two.

Great results Dave, looking forward to the photos.

Cheers... Rod

Yep Dave to all that. when I started few years ago Jeff advised smooth on and its all I've ever tried as it was good enough not to even look for an alternative.

Dave,

Good news that the results exceeded your expectations.

I think you would have to agree that the price of Smooth on is value for money.

Daryl.

It is great value for money.

For those young or for whatever other reason financially strapped bowyers, this is a product worth saving up for.

I suspect I could have gotten away with only three hours in the heat box, but four appeared to have no deleterious effect.

I've been thinking of doing an experiment to see how much moisture a block of wood loses in the heat box.

i would'nt use anything else

Here're some pics of one of the bows from last weekend's course.

6" brace



61" ntn, ironbark of some species or other



At some stage, I think this tree either had a fungal infection or survived a bushfire. Either way it ended up with a unique grey line running along the length of one limb.



With a handle this deep...



and a draw weight of only about 35 lb, I think this bow could benefit the slender hands it's intended for by narrowing the handle a 1/4 inch.....



24" draw:



Not perfect, but pretty good I think.

The bow that the student made is pretty spectacular. A hurricane of swirly grain adorns one of the limbs. Photos to follow when I can get a hold of them.

Looking good