Ok guys, I need some help here in viewing this buildalong for some better ways to do it. Hopefully someone can take some out of this and have some fun. I am building this bow (actually another one as well but we will concentrate on the one right now) for Brad Love in Poncha Springs. Brad and Stan own Western Archery and they employed me for seven years through High School and College. Brad intends to hunt with this bow this year (so I better get it done very soon!) Here is a pic of the blocks I am using for the riser. I am using Walnut and Paduak riser with white glass accent strips. By the way the glass was great for strenght but messed with my machines so back to micarta for all accent strips in the future.

the next several pics are going through the bandsawing and lamination of the riser

The next two pics should have been before the one above. This is my jig I use with a Luthiers Friend drum sander (great bowbuilding tool, though I'm going to try a router table at some point to increase the speed).

As we go along...my workshop slash garage needs a little clensing and I plead the fifth with any questions. That being said here is a pic of the two blocks cut out and ready for LF (Luthiers Friend) sanding.

here is a pic of my jigs and the LF. I'm sure you get the picture on how to get this done.

The LF has a guide bearing at the bottom for great template building. This picture is how clean the sanding becomes. Clean template buidling is essential to get the "parts" to match up. Notice where the LF has sanded it down.

here is after the LF has finished and how I will align the blocks.

Now its time to glue of the riser and accent strips. Ok, though I am building two bows now, I'm only taking pics of one of the bows and have since put one down to finsish the other. So what I am saying is that some of these pics are of a bow I put down and the other is of the one I am finishing BUT its the same way of building for both bows. Basically you'll see this riser without the white accent strips (the one I put down) and the one with is the one I am finshing. So...full disclosure here. The riser will change at some point to the other riser with white stips. You'll see...

Now its time to cut the fadouts. I use my chop saw... At some point when I can afford a really good table saw I will switch but this works for now.

And micraculously were to the white strip riser

Lets ignore the riser pattern for now because I do not do this until I know which side of the riser is top and bottom from the limbs. That being said Its time to drill the riser holes and add the limb pads. This may swich to the other riser again.

Now the limb pads. Other riser with Black but you get the point

Now on to limb building. I used Walnut limbs for the white stip bow and stained natural actionwood for the other. This pic shows my layout for limbs. Notice My "Limb Helper" at the top and how my tape lines stop on the front of the limb. I laminate my first layers of my limb tips and top limb pads during limb lamination. It makes life easier and more constant from limb to limb.

Great post. I will be following this thread and look forward to see the finished product.

here is the limb reado for the press

I don't think I mentioned this but this bow should be around 50lbs +-. Here are the Laminated Limbs

Notice above the lines that are drawn to get me close to center. I will use these lines and my Limb rectangular patters (just a 1 3/4" glass from gordons) to trace.

After the lines are traces I grind the limbs down using and edge sander. I paid good money for this tool as its very useful building these bows

After the lines are traces I grind the limbs down using and edge sander. I paid good money for this tool as its very useful building these bows

Ok sorry for the double post. Now I cut of 1/4" of the limb on both ends to get them uniform. I again do it with my chop saw.

Notice the difference.

Now its time for the limb holes.

its now time to attach them to the bow and start the tillering and limb shape process. I use tillering blocks. See the pics for this process

Notice the bow press above. I invested in one of these because it makes life a ton easier when tillering. Now its time to find the center of the limb.

Once I find center I mark both limbs

I can really see how the tillering blocks would save a lot of time and headache in the tillering process. Anyone that has used Bingham's limb alignment jig can attest to that! My question is, where do you get "tillering blocks"?

Now its time for the limb shape to be traced on. I use one sided tracing that I flip over, that is why the middle line is important.

the other side..

Now the limbs are ready for final grinding... I flip them over and use the pattern to bandsaw out close to the lines on the bottom making very sure to not bandsaw through them, leaving plenty of room for grinding on the edgesander

here are several pics of preparing the limbs. some may be a little redundant but oh well...

now time to grind down to final shape

I had my tillering blocks made by a machinist (sp?) but there are some great resources at this website at pirates of archery

http://www.piratesofarchery.net/bb/index.php

Some great resources...

Now its time to glue one the additional mircarta pieces to the limb tips.

I use this to measure the distance between micarta layers. see the black mark on the side?

I am enjoying this!! Thank you!

Now I grind the micarta down to the limb shape and am ready for string grooves (the hardest part for me and my arch nemesis!)

I use a jig i build with the same concept of another stickbow...siter.. see how it works? I use this for marking my string grooves

Now time for the grooves. I SLOWLY use a chainsaw file for one side, then after I'm done, flip the limb and use another file as a guide to start the second.

I am not all that good with limb tips so I do this very slowly and methodically.

After all is done its time to determine the top and bottom of the riser so i can start that project. the one wiht the smallest distance to the string is the bottom limb. I tiller my bows to 7.5" at center and the bottom lime 1/4" stronger (shorter) to the limb. After this is done I complete the tillering process by using and 18" tillering stick like this to work out all the limb twist. I do this by a combination of slighly removing limb material on the strong side and re-adjusting or SLIGHTLY deepening the string grooves. See the next couple pics for this process... I don't have any with the limb twist which would have helped so sorry...

here the limb twist is all worked out.

Time to shape the limb tips. I use a little jig that I have since reshaped to be less rounded but you'll get the idea.

now to start with the transition to the limb. This will be the last pic as I have not compeltely finshed these but will be done tomorrow. Spraying should actually be tomorrow for the final bow as well.

this is to get any sharp edges off the limb holes.

Now that I know the top and bottom of the riser here we go.

I use my other jigs and LF for shaping the riser. Here we go on the riser. Not many comments but some pics

now back to this pic again. Were ready to bandaw the front of the riser then off to the LF jig for sanding

Now the first thing I do it cut the shelf out using a table saw. I like this method because I could never the the bandsaw thing very uniform and it took a lot more work to get it right. I just run it over the riser to get the correct depth then bandsaw out the shelf.

I have above bandsawed out the front of the riser and used the jig above on the LF.

Here is the riser on the jig

Now the bow is completely shaped. Its time to start the grinding process to complete the riser.

As I work I use little templates and some tape to get my "lines" worked into the wood for the finish riser. I like lines or edges an a riser as I think it gives more of a custom look than rounded edges. There is a log of work here that I have not showed as it is monotonous sanding with a random Orbital sander, mouse sander, and dremel tool. Notice in this pic I am using the attachment to get the shelf sanded. I usually cut these out of the middel of the round pads used for the orbital sander as you really just use the edges instead of the middle. saves time and money.

I have finished sanding the riser and gave it one good coat of superglue to settle into the wood. I have also resanded it and now have only two things to really do. I have to put another layer of micarta on the limb pad on top of the limb and simply spray the whole bow. I am hoping to be done with this tomorrow as I have a wedding to go to in a couple hours. I hope you have enjoyed so far.

Thank you for taking the time to document your process, I'm really enjoying looking at these pictures.

Kindly, Tulku

Very good stuff there... I enjoyed it

Cool I love this.

Great job. Loved seeing the process.

When you see the process you understand why $750 - $950 isn't asking a lot.

Great job on the bow,and the build-along.I like the idea of sharing the building process,but can't manage to document it nearly as well as you have.Thanks for sharing.

Nice job..... are you married to standswithafist, lol. sorry could'nt help it, Dances with wolfes is one of my all time favorite movies,once again nice job on the build along.

Very Cool. I have always wondered about this process.

thanks!!!! excellent build along! inspiring

This is great & very helpful I will be starting one soon. May I contact you with any questions?

Hawkeye, contact me anytime. I plan on finishing this bow completely this week and spraying it on Friday. I will update the final progress soon. thanks everyone

ttt

Awsum build along!Thanks for sharing!

Fantastic build along. You are a very good craftsman.

Please show photos of the finished bows.

Thanks.

Muchas Groovas!!!

-Joe

Last night I finished gluing up the final limb pad. I will post a picture soon. Only finishing sanding for on the limb and sparying. I'm using fullerplast for the first time.

Ok, the bow is finished and I will have the pics up tonight.

Looking forward to completed pics. God and Christ Bless!

Here is a pic of putting on the last top micarta

Time for spray after the limbs are done and redrilled.

drying

oops that pic above was before final clean up and 1st spray...oh well. Here is the final pictures

Very cool. And when I say "very," I mean VERY! Thanks for taking the time to post this.

I didn't know this picture was that blury. I'll take some more clear ones and get them posted.

Nice build, thanks, I picked up a few ideas.

VERY!!! NICE Would like to see a full-length profile and face and back riser profiles. Thanks for the post!

standswittaknife- First things first, great looking rig you got there! That's a beautiful bow for sure! I've have a couple of questions though. What jig are you using to drill your limb bolts into your riser and limbs? Also, what limb pocket angle are you cutting your riser at? Thanks for taking the time to put this build along together.

I will get them on for ya. I have the pics and will get them posted today or tomorrow. thanks for the kind words. danny

Thanks for the Build along. What is the status now?

Very informative. Thanks for sharing. So...how does she shoot?

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