Longbow For a Cousin

[aeronut]

#3972

My cousin Bob had shot one of my R/D longbows a few times and has been hinting around about wanting me to make him one for about a year and a half. His nephew Jim, (my second cousin) and I agreed to split the cost of the glass and glue and I would make one for him.

I started off with two layers of Osage .065″ thick for the core and two flat grained Hickory laminations .040″ thick for the back and belly. I sandwiched these under .050″ clear glass.

I listed several woods to make the riser out of and Jim suggested Hickory and Black Walnut because they are both trees that can sustain life. I agreed and made the riser by laminating two pieces of 1″ thick Hickory together and then narrowing the blank to an even thickness of 1 1/2″.

Next I added to accent strips of Black Walnut that match the curve of the riser.

Here is the bow, just needs some glue.

Here the glue has been applied and it is ready for the air hose and top half of the form.

After six hours in the hotbox it is feady for the next step.

Sanding off the glue boogers.

Remove the tape and see what it looks like.
Back.

Belly

Re tape the back and belly and draw the limb outline and the riser.

Cut out the limbs and riser.

Then check to see how the tiller is.

Add some tip overlays. I used Mesquite and der antler.

While flattening the Mesquite on my belt sander I wound up shattering two fingernails and jamming my thumb. Just a good reminder that power tools can bite.

Next was adding Black Walnut overlays on the front and back of the riser. Then start sanding everything down.

After sanding everything down to 600 grit and then buffing with 0000 steel wool I started spraying the finish. I put on six coats of Minwax Polyurethane. Here is the first coat.

After the third coat I signed the bow. Jim’s wife came up with the name. Since Bob was going to be ‘skewering’ things with the bow she said we should name it “Shishka” for shishka-bob. So it is.

Finished profile on the tiller tree.

Specs….68″ nock to nock 35#@28″

We are going to get together and go to a 3D shoot up by Kansas City this weekend and we are going to give the bow and two dozen arrows that Jim made to Bob then. He doesn’t know about it so it will be a complete surprise to him. I will post a picture of that next week.

It’s been a fun project. From start to finish it has taken three weeks of spare time after work and the weekends. All I lack is adding serving to the bowstring, some beaver silencers, and a leather grip.

Gonna be a fun weekend.

Dennis

[Mark Turton]

#25865

Hi Dennis, he’s one lucky cousin I hope we get to see it in all it’s glory before you hand it over. Thanks for letting us see the creation of another very nice bow.
Have a good weekend, Mark.

[Stephen Graf]

#28133

Dennis,

I always like to find out how people do their arrow shelf’s… I noticed your lines and how you did the initial cutout… I am wondering what you used to radius the shelf and finish the back corner to the shelf?

[aeronut]

#28308

Hi Steve, I enjoyed your story in the TBM magazine.

I just ‘eyeball’ the curve and shape it with a rasp and a file. There is about 1/8″ drop to the curve front and back. I use a 4-way rasp at first because it has a smooth edge and I won’t dig into the back for removing the bulk and then switch to a fairly coarse file to square up the back corner. After that I use a square cornered piece of Walnut and sandpaper to finish.

On Hickory it takes about 45 minutes to do.

[Stephen Graf]

#29156

Story… What story? Must be a different guy… Damn. I’ve thought about writing something for the magazine, but I’ve never come up with anything original, or worth reading that would live up to the the standards of TBM.

Now, apparently, I have the added challenge of not even having an original name… I guess I’ll have to come up with a pseudonym now too. Let me think….. I’ve got it.. I’ll call my self Dave Petersen, nobody’s heard that name before I am sure… No Don Thomas… No Dave Thomas… No Don Petersen… Oh, damn… I guess I’ll just renew my subscription and live in anonymity 😳

BTW – I do the rasp thing on the arrow shelf too.. But the fiberglass sure beats the hell out of my tools. I’m thinking there has to be a better way… I always use junk rasps cause I can’t see ruining a good one on every bow.

I’m going out to the shop this am to lay up what promises to be my best bow yet. Her sister died after 1000 shots or so ’cause when I was tillering her I had to get drastic to get the weight down. This bow has a thinner core and should fall right into tiller/weight. It’s a glorious morning here, perfect day for a bow to be born…

[aeronut]

#31005

Here are some pictures of Bob’s first shots with his new bow.

This was taken at Three Trails Archery. We went to a traditional only 3D shoot on Sunday. None of us shot worth a crap but we had a blast. At least Bob had an excuse….he was shooting a new bow he wasn’t familiar with.

I caught the arrow in flight in this picture just before it hit the deer.

Dennis

[wildschwein]

#31684

You are a very talented man aeronut.

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