Ozbow

LB Rod 55 reckons I've been a bit slack lately because I've been making bows and haven't taken the time to post them on the site , I meant to but I tend to spend most of my time in the workshop with one project or another when I'm home so posting to the site some times takes a back seat , but it's raining today and too wet for the work I had planed so here are some pics

















All bows have Kwila risers and the laminations are coffee bamboo flooring , the tip overlays are Buffalo horn , one is a 32LB bow for my wife another is a 40lb bow and the third is a 45lb bow with all parallel laminations

The 45# bow come out best , I had a problem with my air hose dropping it's guts under the heat with the first two , had it fixed by the third , one of those things where the hose would hold pressure all night but loose it all with in half a hour under the heat , after the second bow the leak become worse and I could find and fix it


David

looking good Davo,the buff horn looks good on the tips,and the kwilla does'nt look too bad............Rod

some nice looking bow's there well done

They look good Dave and I like the contrast of the glass and Bamboo.

Jeff

nice job, well done.............Bill

nice. i found the buffalo horn to be beautiful to work with and looks great.

how many lams of boo, how thick is each lam, and what thickness glass did you use?

Very nice Dave, good to see you making bows rather than the Kayaks . Your workshop is still to clean . Steve

Nice work Dave,I like the buff horn on the tips.
Rick

Gentlemen

Thank you .

Otis
I've used 5 laminations of Coffee bamboo and two of .040" glass for a thickness all up of .430"

Bare in mind that my scales aren't all that accurate so the weight of 45# for the last one may be a bit off , it does feel heavier to me and with my 30" draw I have no idea what it is at full draw , will take it down next time I go down to Bundaberg and get Rod to put it on his scales

The Buffalo horn is nice to work with and comes up beautiful on the buffing wheel , of course I then go and spoil it when I spray it because I still can't spray finish to save my life

I like doing the pointed tips , I feel they look better , it's all personal taste of course , I did the tips on my wifes bow blunt because she has a habit of grounding the tip and that would quickly destroy a pointy tip

Steve

Funny you should say that , I only just finished a rough SOF kayak a few weeks ago , I'd made up the frame several years ago just before I moved down from Clermont and it had been sitting in the sun all those years and that didn't do it any favors but I wanted to try out the idea , a 33" wide 13' SOF with a open cockpit so I covered it with denim , if it works out OK I'll buy a plan for the PBK14 and cover it in Balistic nylon .

Also I'm getting ready to build the Ozark float boat http://www.boatplans.dk/boat_plans.asp?id=34 , the plans call for 4 sheets of 9mm marine ply and the seams are just taped with no other glass sheathing , I'm considering using 4mm marine ply and covering inside and out with glass and epoxy , makes for a more complicated build but should be just as strong but more abrasion resistant and lighter , the original build specification put this boat at 41kg which at 16' long and 35" wide and 13" high make it in the same size and weight as a Canadian style canoe , I think the Ozark would actually be a more stable craft than the canoe and I think I can make it lighter , would make a great boat to hunt out of and also great for fishing the skinny water right up the mangrove creeks

Also as you may have noticed from the pictures I'm in the process of building a laminated Greenland style paddle

Got to keep busy

David

Very interesting Dave, I thought the paddle was some sort of Router fence . Please let us know how you go with boats (photos etc), wouldnt mind having a go at one myself . Steve

Steve

Will do , is it just the Ozark Float boat your interested in or some of my other boats ?

David

Davo wheres the full draw pics ......................Rod

I would probably be interested in the Ozark Dave as I would be after a hunting/river adventure style craft but dont mind seeing photos of others if you already have them. Steve

They look great Dave - well done.

I am sure there are laws about having such a tidy workshop though.

Rod

I tried to take some some full draw pics but just couldn't work out how to handle the camera and bow both at the same time , asked my wife to take some pic's but she reckons she's working and even if she wasn't she wasn't going out in the rain

Steve

Will take some pictures over the next few days

David

havent you got a timer on the camera .............Rod

Rod

That would require reading the instructions , not going to happen

David

Heres some full draw pics for Rod





Some kayak and such pics for Steve











Steve

Have started the Ozark Float boat and have it all cut out , just need to sand off all my marking lines and start putting pieces together , not going to rush this build so it may take some time , but I'll post pics as it progresses

David

the two draw pics are of different bows, yes? the second one is bending beautifully.

Otis

yeah two different bows , the top one is all parallels and the bottom one has one taper , strangely enough when I mounted both them in a jig and pulled both strings at once there appeared to be very little difference in their bending curve ,

David

David,
just by the photos it looks as though the top one is bending sharper closer in near the fades. funny you mentioned it was all parallel, as all my bows are too and they likewise bend in close.

that paddle you made turned out perdy Dave........................Rod

Rod

Thanks , I'm happy with the way it turned out ,

Otis

Yeah it's definitely bending more closer to the fades than the one with the taper but it feels good and as I said when both are put into a jig and pulled together not much difference , of course it could also be that I was only pulling to about 25 or 26 inches in the jig , the difference may show up more at the longer draw

David

Thanks for the pics David, I like the Yin and Yang effect on the top surface of the Kayaks. Love the Bass boat/punt? What does it weigh?
Steve

Steve

The boat was originally about 100 Kg when I first built it but a year or so ago I added the rear deck and extended the front deck so there is the extra weight of a sheet and a half of 12mm ply and about 6 pine studs , don't really know for sure what that would weigh but would take a guess at another 30kg

David

Well it is time to get my house finished so I can get on to the more important things in life . Thanks for taking the time to post pics David. Steve