a bow for Rudy, with trapping and pics

[otis.drum]

i'll woffle for a bit, and pics at the bottom. please excuse the waffle and for those who just like pics feel free to scroll straight down

i recently had a couple of mates come to visit me in friend and familyless weipa. both of them promptly put in orders for bows, and with the wet approaching (not that we ahve seen a wet yet) i said no worries. they looked over my bows and chose features, designs and woods they wanted.

i started making Rudy's which was to be 55# but it came out at 35# so that went to dad, who wanted nothing heavier. some of you may remember it form last month.

so with that i went back and glued another two up on some new (very basic) forms i made up to screw onto my lay up bow thingy i roughed them both out and both, though different lengths, lam thickness and limb designs, came out at exactly 80#@28 bit far in the opposite direction. i remembered talking to longbow steve about traqpping limbs a few months back so talked to him about the basics of trapping and decided to have a go at it. thanks Steve.

this process quickly took the poundage down from 80# to 65# and with some final sanding and rounding down to around 60# (yet to verify the exact poundage). the trapping was done by thinning the belly of the bow starting at the fades at about 35% to the original limb sides, and fading to no trapezoid at the tips (limb sides square to the glass). at the fades end it was tappered in over about 1 1/2 inches into fades/riser. there is a photo roughly showing it down the page.

i told Rudy it had come out a bit strong and to start doing some push ups, but knowing he wasn't going to use it very often (if at all) he wasn't fussed at all. infact he sounded excited as it was closer to the #65's Ben had ordered, bit of manly competition between friends.

so the rack, that i just got some more room on is looking pretty full again. i think there are four bows on the bottom shelf. the top bow is also a new one. i'll show that one off later tonight.

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two laminations of tulip oak and 0.050" clear glass either side. it has about 3" of reflex with nice flowing curves down the limb.

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on the back is a thin layer of tulip oak and bloodwood. no individual finger grips on the back, and i like the smooth lines in this one.

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not cut to centre with this bow, and you can start to see the trapping in the limb on the right.

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the riser is mainly bloodwood, with thin lams of spotted gum through it.

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please excuse the dust on the tips, its not under the clear. bloodwood, spotted gum and black glass.

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there is a nice dark character crack in the centre of of the bloodwood in the handle, and some wattle (perhaps sally wattle but not sure) to top the palm swell off.

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you can see the trapping in this shot. the photo makes it look uneven but it's just the light and slight angle the bow is on.

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here you can see the 3" of reflex couple with the forward handle to make for a deflex reflex design. behind it is the next bow i will show later tonight.

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here it is at full draw. note how much it is bending in near the fades and how straight the tips are. comparing this to the 'before trapping draw' you can really see the difference. unfortunately i don't have a pic of that. this is due to the fact the the limbs is trapped a lot more near the fades, and gradually less torwards the tips. the bow is about 60#@28 and 63" long. note the string angle is nearing 90*, i don't think this bow would be good for much over 29.5 to 30" draw before starting to stack. not to mention the excessive pressure put on the inner limbs and fades.

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i haven't named the bow yet. Rudy is a funny guy, dutchman come aussie, farmer come rockologist and a very close mate of mine, so it wont be going to him until i have a name i feel suits him and the bow.

i was worried that the outer limbs, with less trapping may be too heavy and slow the bow down or at least give some hand shock, but it doesn't seem to have turned out to bad, and shoots quite well.and after about 30 odd hours, he better be bloody happy with it

hope you enjoy.

[piggy]

Excellent work, they sure are nice looking bows

[Stickbow Hunter]

Those woods contrast each other well. The limbs do seem to be working a lot just past the fadeouts. I'm sure Rudy will like it.

Jeff

[muntries]

Beautiful bows Otis, you recon you'll have a go at making a business of it eventually? Any native timbers used?

[muntries]

oops didn't notice that, bloodwood & spotted gum.

[otis.drum]

all natives, except the fibreglass which i believe is native to the US

no business i don't think. don't want to get to hate doing something i currently love. but i will make bows for people here and there. i have a few to do in the coming months.

jeff it does bend in close and it may well fail yet. but i don;t mind if it does cause Rudy's already paid for it nah, if it does it will be a good lesson and i'll make rudy another one. good excuse to make a bow.

[longbow steve]

Very nice Otis, Good you got it down to weight . It is amazing how fine a line it is between 40 and 80# .
What glue are you using?
Stiff tips have their advantages and the drawn shape says to me that it should be a quick bow but stressed??? Steve

[otis.drum]

steve if i had a pair of scales, spine jig and chrono i could answer a lot more question it's a bit hard saying how fast it is when just watching the arrows you shoot from it. but it seems to send them out pretty well.

the fades and inner limbs are working hard, i'll just see how it goes. every bow is an experiment. i never want to make the same bow twice

[Gringa Bows]

Otis are the core lams. taperd or para's ,just looking again thought they looked paralell............Rod

[otis.drum]

Rod, i only ever use parallel lams. just the limbs are trapped so the belly is thinner than the back.

[Gringa Bows]

ok thanks mate.....................Rod

[otis.drum]

mainly because i don't have a lam grinder, but i have read that parallels are faster anyway.