I spent the last few weekends cleaning my nasty shop up. I have some out-of-state friends coming up for a weekend to work on bows and B.S.

An finally, this is where bad bows go when they die. Straight to the fiery pits of hell! I hauled 100 gallons of wood byproduct out to burn. Draw knife curls, rasp dust, bark, sapwood and lots of other crap. It was a HOT one.

Were those bows cracked?

Top one was a gift bow that popped a splinter in short order, next one down was a super quicky hickory board bow I made for my kid many years ago, it wasn't junk but would never get used again, the bottom one broke at a knot while I was floor tillering it. There is also a locust bow in there you cant see. It was in several smaller pieces :)

Selfbow funeral pyre.

Nice shop dude.

Thanks Glen. Its 12 x 14 with 9 foot ceilings. The bench is 4 x8 and rock solid.

That IS a nice shop. Now that it's cleaned up, get to work. lol

Nice.

My shop was horrible. I cleaned it last weekend before a buddy came over to grind some lams, but haven't had the 'fire sale' yet. It's cleaner now than it's been in a long time. I cut up some crappy stave-splits and put them on the wood pile I'll take to camp, but I set some stuff aside that are destined to be fuel, or hammer handles, rolling pins, salt shakers, or whatever... they're just not bow quality. I don't know why I hang on to some of this stuff.

Nice shop. How do you heat it?

I lime your shop. Well lit.

Its in our basement. So its pretty much 65 degrees year round. Humidity gets a little nasty in the summer, but bows I am working stay upstairs between sessions. In winter I hang coffee cans full of water under the heat run to get some moisture in the air. It helps.

Brian, dad and I switched out my floros for LED bulbs, I would highly recommend anybody to replace floros. The difference is astonishing.

It's good to take a photo of a cleaned shop now and then, because somehow it never stays that way. Lance

I would really like to take on a one on one student, from the very start to the very end. A dirty shop wouldn't be very becoming!

It always feel good to clean up and get rid of unused stuff. frees the mind, makes you more productive. Nice work Pearl. Looking forward to seeing your next selfbow endeavor.

Nice shop..Agree with getting LED lights big difference in light brightness and being able to see details.. If you have a Sams Club membership they have some really nice ones for like 28.00 that can be plugged in together so all come on at same time..

The "outlaw" coming over Chris? Let some some during and after photo's of your bow making.

Nope. Greg, Pauly and Mike are coming over. Ill take plenty of pics over the weekend. None too incriminating of course :)

Any of those bad staves be used for hawk handles?

Now I am looking forward to those photos.

I kept my shop a disaster area for years, one day I decided enough was enough, built shelves, put stuff up, had a big burn pile adn cleaned my shop from top to bottom.

I found the key is to take about 5 minutes after you get done working to put stuff up. If you don't have the clutter it is easy to sweep or vacuum up the wood chips and dust to maintain your shop as an inviting place to enter every morning.

The difference between dirty and clean is amazing on setting your attitude for the day.

My shop, still clean after 2 years of following my new game plan.

nybubba, you saying you need wood for a hawk? I could probably find ya something.

Here is the before picture.

Nice shop, Eric. No doubt a clean shop starts the day out better. As you can see I have concrete walls, so hanging stuff is out. I was going to get more steel shelving, but didn't want to take up any floor space. I figure If I don't have room now, I don't need it.

Osage dust makes gas look like child's play. Its incredibly flammable. The fire will chase the dust like it does WD40 or bug spray. I dumped the last of the barrel on the pile and of course plenty of dust was in it. That fire leapt up inside the barrel like it was laced with jet fuel. How's that song go? "Drop it like its hot"

Eric you are my hero, nice shop pearl drums. Every time I claim mine I promise to keep clean but, well you know what promises were made for.

Son and I set up chop saw benches with detachable wings, chop saws, table saws, compressors, and scads of five gallon buckets loaded with power and hand tools, on every house we trim. Big or small the place rapidly turns into a sh hole once work commences. The only time the place really get cleaned like the shop in the photo up top is when we pull outta there.

Eric that is a great looking shop ,lots of nice equipment for lots of nice bows!

Nice shops guys, thinking about starting to build some board bows to learn. Need to clean out my garage first it's full of other family members junk.

I work on an outdoor patio with a workbench. I scrapped my shaving mule a few months ago but regret it now and will be building another this weekend. All my bow tools fit into 1 tool box. I have a 6X12 storage shed on the patio for my big stuff that I have to roll out every time I have a bigger job or need power tools. I like working out doors because it is pretty much dust free and easy to clean up.

Coming from a California guy, Steve! :) I dont blame you, outside working has its own vibe. I like sanding outside on nice days, but we dont get nearly as many as you do.

100gallons, that's a tenth of a cord! I could have heated my house for weeks with that hardwood. Nice to have a clean shop, although I would not know about that.

"As you can see I have concrete walls, so hanging stuff is out. "

You could always put some furring strips in and put ply wood or tongue in groove on a wall or two.

TTT

Nice shop PEARL DRUMS. Maybe you guys might work on a sapling bow?

Hard to say with the crew I have coming over. I know Mikey will be finishing up a slick little yew bow he has well along. I plan to build a hackberry bow that weekend and I'm not sure what my other two buddies have up their sleeves? Might be saplings?

No, I'm good, I just hate to see decent wood get tossed. nybubba

I dooooo like those shop pics. Keep telling myself "Someday bubba, someday".

I agree on tossing wood into the fire, but if you seen what I have stashed you would understand why enough is enough. Some of these staves have been around for 5-6 years plus and will never be a bow, at least not by my hands.

I am in the process of that, this weekend,,,,, it really got bad, and I am not like that,,,, decided yesterday when I had to dig thru too much stuff, to find my arrow spin tool,,,,, ha ha

Nice shops, you guys must be retired, I am so jealous. My "shop" is may garage, wintering ground for my one and the wife's two harleys replete with trickle chargers, the wood hauler on rolling pallets, two chest freezers, and a growing pile of garbage bags because it is too cold for some people to take the garbage all the way out to the driveway. I hear complaints all winter for not making enough bows......The OL uses the osage shavings as fire starter in the woodstove, and I never seem to make them fast enough....Best fire starter on earth.

On those LED bulbs I finally got around to replacing all the bulbs outside and inside.

Our electric bill dropped 60 dollars a month. The light output is tremendous, I will never go back to flourescent.

Jeff, That is why my shop is a mess, I don't throw anything away, but I am getting better about pitching stuff.

Good ol' fashioned tension break!

By looking at the shape of the limbs, where the break is and the width of the bow Id say you had a few things going on. One, if you look at where the limbs show set you will notice it starts right where the bow broke in tension. Getting the limbs bending more just off the fades may have helped. Two, it appears narrow for a white wood bow. I like no less than 1 3/4" wide for most. Change those few things on your next attempt and Id bet you get a winner from it.

My neighbor is a custom cabinet maker . Runs his shop out of his back yard and once a week burns his scrap. Always smells nice .

It's about time you cleaned that shop up Pearly. I wish I could be there to help put a fresh layer of shavings down. Tell the guys I said "Hey".

Very nice shop you have there but to be honest I could never trust a man that has a clean shop. A quick look at my shop will tell you that I am a very trustworthy fellow.

James

Nothing burns as hot as Osage, except coal. Osage is mighty, in more ways than one.

Chris, now that the shop is clean...how ya gonna find anything...lol

Eric, nice work space!

Happy hunting, Jason

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