Four new bows for friends…

[Cameron Unruh]

#4021

I am in the final stages of finish work on four new bows for a few friends of mine that have been drawn into the traditional archery world lately.

The front bow is Osage with one parallel of Bamboo and one parallel of black Locust and a black locust taper along with the Osage veneers and glass. I was far enough along to begin shooting in the Osage bow a bit yesterday and I am very happy with the core combination. Very smooth!

The hard part of bow building is letting go of the bow…I get deeply attached to each bow because so much time is spend on each one that I selfishly would keep them all.

[Bruce Smithhammer]

#26162

Wow, Cameron – those look great! I can see why you’d have a hard time letting them go.

[coastalbendbows]

#26469

Beautiful bows bud. Nice craftsmanship.

[William Warren]

#26561

Now that’s one way to keep good friends! 😀

[Cameron Unruh]

#26595

Yes it is fun to bless someone with a bow, these friends actually pay for materials and I donate my time. It actually has become a lot more of an investment of my time and help than I originally intented. You can’t just supply a bow…people need help with arrow set up and shooting glove, some shooting instruction…you know the drill. I did not consider all that it would involve. Three of these bows are actually for friends and I am donating one to the local Spring Valley 4H and Minarets High School FFA Fundraiser this Saturday night. This event is attended by a host of hunters many of which are compound hunters…I am hoping to convert a few!

[Stephen Graf]

#26923

Very Nice!

I have a friend who is buging me to make him a bow, and I just keep puting it off. But you have motivated me. If you can do four at a time, this time of year, I aught to be able to make at least one.

Thanks for the motivation.

[Cameron Unruh]

#26984

Steve – These bows have been a project for the last couple months. Making bows is still a pretty slow process for me – it is actually a stress relief from my job.

[David Coulter]

#27196

Very nice. I admire you guys who are so good at shaping a piece of wood or metal into a beautiful and useful tool. Very nice. dwc

[James Harvey]

#27326

They’re lucky to have a friend like you Cameron 😀

[Cameron Unruh]

#27350

I don’t want to paint a picture of myself that is over inflated. I do have an agenda in all this. I really love building bows and someday 10 years from now or so I want to be an expert and known for building a quality bow. I don’t really have any big plans for any business of bow building. I just want to be able to craft a beautiful bow that really shoots well. My friends that are willing to cover material cost just make it affordable for me to learn and improve my skill. So it is a win win for me…

[Troy Breeding]

#28077

Great work Bro. Your really starting to shine!

Troy

[Cameron Unruh]

#28226

Thanks Troy – I am really enjoying the woods that you provided. The Black Locust with the Bamboo makes for a very nice core combination. I am working on my first black glass bow right now. I am going to dress it up with some Paduk ovelays. I also have figured out how to get my overlays to feather nicely into the glass. Working on those little details and making improvements is very rewarding.

[tailfeather]

#28467

Very nice work. Your pals will be honored!

[blacktail]

#28753

i dont even know what to say ..that is some very blessed skill…thanks for sharing your work..john

[Stephen Graf]

#29036

Cameron wrote: …I also have figured out how to get my overlays to feather nicely into the glass…

Don’t be shy now, do tell… 😀

[Cameron Unruh]

#29202

Steve Graf wrote: [quote=Cameron]…I also have figured out how to get my overlays to feather nicely into the glass…

Don’t be shy now, do tell… 😀

This is probably something everyone else already knows but in my process I was creating extra work. I was placing a relativly thin piece of wood down as a riser overlay and wrapping with plastic wrap then placing a pressure board on top extending past the ends of the overlay and clamping. Then working at cleaning up the mess of epoxy that had oozed out…I had a tough time getting the epoxy – glass and wood to all become one smooth surface.

So now I get my overlay wood VERY thin – I lay plastic wrap over the top but do not wrap the riser. I put a pressure board on top of the wrap and begin a process of clamping and cleaning. I clamp down the overlay but wipe all excess epoxy off with an old piece of cotton t-shirt. My pressure board and wrap both stop short of covering the very ends of the overlay by about about a 1/4″ this allows me to wipe off all excess glue and leave a clean area with no impact from the plastic wrap.

When I remove the clamps and plastic – I now really only have to work at a wood and glass transition which takes very little time to blend smooth.

In my previous process I was simply creating a great deal of work which was not producing the clean look that I was wanting.

[Michael Scott]

#33102

Cameron,

Those bows look awesome! Nice job! Best of luck on your endeavors. Remember each day to look for a lesson learned.

[Author]

Posts