well i just had my father up to weipa for a couple of weeks as my partner and i spent our second Christmas away from our families
it was great to have family to spend this special time with
amongst other things we saw a croc at the northern tip of oz, got bogged a couple of times (probably not the time of year to traverse the telegraph track, especially after 8" of rain
), took him to get himself an 80 odd kilo rifle shot boar, watched a couple of storms and generally enjoyed the company... while here i decided to make him a longbow. anyway i thought i would throw up a few photos of it.
this time the reflex almost became recurve
infact the string comes so close to resting on the limbs that a really close inspection is needed to see the small gap. and so it is by the slightest of margins that this is a longbow. though i'm sure some of you will feel it's a recurve, and that's fine
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my father shot my partners 45#@28" defiant and said he wanted something lighter, so i made him a light one, and he was very happy with the end result of 35#@28" and 67" long.
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i used a combination of wood in this bow. the limbs as always are tulip oak and under clear glass. the riser is made of bloodwood and spotted gum, accent on the back is bloodwood, and for the grip area i used what i think is tassie oak or ash, and the dark pieces are, i think, sally wattle. fair bit of thinking in there
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you can see on the bottom of the riser my dads version of a plane, signifying his flying and holiday to visit. my father has pretty massive hands, and so the riser is a fair bit bigger than i usual do. though it is still very comfortable and nice to shoot.
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bloodwood along the back of the riser for finger groves.
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i took a lot of wood out of the riser below the grip. mainly for looks, but also to trim a bit of weight out and balance up the bow. the spotted gum makes it pretty heavy with such a big riser. i like the shape the carved out section below the handle. it did however make for some more sanding!
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keeping with the rest of the bow i used bloodwood and spotted gum on the tips, and a piece of black glass to top them off. i chose fairly simple shaped tips for this bow. i love the colour of the bloodwood and the black glass really brings the red out in it. a couple of pics of the tips.
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for finishing the bow i have been using a gloss enamel, but didn't like the really gloss finish, so lately i have been doing a couple of final coats whilst holding the spray can well back from the bow, and only using enough to leave a satin finish. it blends better and up close looks much better IMO. on the bow rack it doesn't stand out as much as the gloss bows but up close and in full sun it looks really good. i'm wondering if our glossy finished bows let the animals know we are coming when out hunting? and if this may be an advantage? DrumBows
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...otis...
