More bowmakers sprouting from Canberra (lotsa pics)
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More bowmakers sprouting from Canberra (lotsa pics)
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:
A stripe of wax on sanded wood
We often tilt the room 90 degrees to see what the tiller is like the right way up. Here the tiller is getting close
Nice overlay:
Four nice overlays:
We do endless-loop strings:
and serve the center of the string when the bow is strung:
Like I said, photographing the grain was difficult:
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:
A stripe of wax on sanded wood
We often tilt the room 90 degrees to see what the tiller is like the right way up. Here the tiller is getting close
Nice overlay:
Four nice overlays:
We do endless-loop strings:
and serve the center of the string when the bow is strung:
Like I said, photographing the grain was difficult:
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Articles to start making bows:
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Re: More bowmakers sprouting from Canberra (lotsa pics)
Dave, do you build reflex into the bows?yeoman wrote:Set on all bows (including the fallen one was pretty good. no more than 1 3/4 inch.
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!....
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!....
Re: More bowmakers sprouting from Canberra (lotsa pics)
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.
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
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
Re: More bowmakers sprouting from Canberra (lotsa pics)
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.
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.
Re: More bowmakers sprouting from Canberra (lotsa pics)
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.
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
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
Re: More bowmakers sprouting from Canberra (lotsa pics)
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
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
Re: More bowmakers sprouting from Canberra (lotsa pics)
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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Re: More bowmakers sprouting from Canberra (lotsa pics)
good job mate
Re: More bowmakers sprouting from Canberra (lotsa pics)
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
Cheers... Rod
Re: More bowmakers sprouting from Canberra (lotsa pics)
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.
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
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
Re: More bowmakers sprouting from Canberra (lotsa pics)
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.
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
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
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Re: More bowmakers sprouting from Canberra (lotsa pics)
Well done Dave. I am about to start bow making workshops at my new shop. Getting excited. Steve