After deciding on the bow's characteristics, the next step was to decide what materials to use and how the bow would look. Pictured here are the limb core wood laminations of red elm. Clear and black fiberglass laminations for the outer limb surfaces. A big chunk of Bubinga wood. Not shown are the red and black phenolic used as accent stripes. The limb tips were made from excess Bubinga riser wood.
Laminated Dream
This is the lower half of the bow form. Although this picture doen't show much detail, this is the most important part of the bow form as it determines the cured shape and curve of the limbs. Individual laminations and the riser are laid into this form with epoxy spread between them. The bow forms upper half is then set into place and pressure is applied. This pressure forces the "wet' laminations to take the shape of the lower form. Then the whole thing, form and all, is placed into a curing oven for four hours.
Once the curing process is complete, the top of form is unbolted and moved out of the way and the laminated bow is removed from the form. This is my recurve taken out of the bow form. Note the excess epoxy which has oozed out under pressure of the forming and curing process. Care must be taken to protect the form with a protective layer of wax and plastic. Otherwise the bow could become part of the form and seperating them without damage is difficult.
The next step is to remove the any excess epoxy. I use a combination of tools including a wood rasp and a belt sander. Gloves help avoid injury from sharp epoxy edges which can inflict serious cuts. Wearing a high quality dust mask and using a dust collector on equipment gives protection from harmful epoxy and fiberglass dust.
Note the masking tape on the limb faces. This is applied to one side of each of the outer glass laminations. This protects the glass from scratches during handling and provides a background on which to trace the limb outline.
A band saw was used to cut out the riser shape.
The rough cut riser.
Finish sanding the riser profile on a drum sander. The ends must be smoothly transitioned from a radius to a paper thin tapered edge.
Using a paper template makes it easier to trace the lmb shape onto the masking tape. The most difficult step is finding the absolute centerline of BOTH limbs and making sure they are aligned with each other. If they're not, limb twist can result making tillering the bow more difficult.
After tracing the lmb shape and riser contour the next step is to cut off excess material. I left approximately 1/16' to 1/8' of stock for finishing on a sander or with a rasp.
There's a few more steps which aren't chronicled here. Most have to do with finishing the shape of the riser, sanding, tillering, putting on a protective coating, and finally that first test shot. But you get the idea by now.
And here's how my story ended. This doe was taken at about fifteen yards, falling to a 'perfect' double lung shot. The arrow passed cleanly through. While not a trophy by most hunter's standards, I'm quite satisfied that it fulfilled my simple dream.
See You Beyond the Woods!
Roger
Riser outline traced onto the Bubinga wood block. A locating hole drilled in the bottom of the riser block allows for proper alignment in the bow form.
A glimpse of abrupt movement beneath the thick early-October undergrowth woke me from gazed-eyed dozing and I strained to focus on the origin. Forty-yards, thirty-yards, closer the disturbance came. In anticipation that it might be what I'd been waiting for, I slowly rose to my shooting stance. My body ached in cold protest as I unfolded from my long held position. It was an unusually cold and quiet morning and, wanting to avoid detection by tattle-tale squirrels, I had remained motionless for several hours. But as the ever-approaching forms became recognizable, the cold and stiffness were quickly forgotten. Two does! I kept my eyes fixed on the first doe as she paused to steal a bite off a small bush. Instinctively I drew my bow and suddenly, as though a hawk streaking silently towards its prey, my arrow was its way to write the conclusion of this story. But before I reveal the ending, let me share a few details that made this a special hunt, regardless of the final outcome.
I get excited every time I see deer in the woods- especially when it's hunting season! And when I get an opportunity to shoot, well that's just a bonus. And if I harvest one - wow! The motherload of a successful hunt! But there was something different and special about this particular hunt. I was hunting with a new bow for the first time this season. It was difficult leaving my regular hunting bow behind. That field proven recurve had served me well; taking several deer in past seasons, had acompanied me to Canada in pursuit of black bear, and was responsible for countless hours of fun stump shooting with friends. But earlier in the year I dreamed of harvesting a deer with a bow I made with my own hands. And on this cold October morning I was carrying my self-made bow, and along with it my hopes for a successful harvest.
Building one's own bow isn't for everyone. The time spent making my bow was traded for time I could have been in the woods hunting or scouting or pursuing other outdoor activities. And the money? Well, let's just say the cost of the finished bow was reasonable, but the equipment is an investment in itself. Nonetheless I set out in determined pursuit to have my bow ready for the 2003 Ohio archery season. I was bitten bad. Even took the bow with me on vacation and sanded on it in the back of the truck before anyone else rolled out of bed. Thinking there may be others who are driven to do something similar, I put together the following series of photos and text to provide a summary of how I went about constructing a laminated recurve hunting bow.
First I had to decide what I expected from my self-built hunting bow. Having shot other bows before, the poundage and draw length were easily determined. I also had some experieince in building other laminated bows. But desiring high-energy transfer to the arrow meant a slightly different limb profile than the lighter bows I had previously constructed. There were also a number of other factors to consider. With a passion for still hunting the bow needed to be lightweight for easier stalking through the woods. Since the connecting hardware on a takedown bow adds weight, I decided to make a one-piece recurve. Generally prefering longer length bows because they minimze "finger-pinch", I also wanted a bow that was quick to respond and handle in brush. A feature that is characteristic of shorter bow designs. And I couldn't forget that hunting the full breadth of Ohio's 4-month bow season meant experiencing both warm and cold weather hunting conditions. This affected riser design as I wanted the bow to nest into my bow hand naturally, with or without gloves, as the bow was drawn. This took a bit of fineness to work the riser contour in. All factors considered, I determined a 60-inch bow pulling 59# at 29-inch draw length would be the ideal setup for me.
With the physical characteristics of the bow decided, the next step was to decide how I wanted the bow to look. There are a lot of beautiful bow limb and riser woods to choose from. My personal tastes led me to select Bubinga wood for the riser. Bubinga is from South America and has a very dense grain structure yet is lightweight. With its reddish hue it complimented the red elm I had chosen for the limb core wood perfectly. Clear glass on the face allowed the red elm's beautiful grain to show and black glass on the backside provided a striking contrast. Red and black phenolic accent stripes laminated into the Bubinga limb tips and riser made this bow's design flow together. I applied a satin polyurethane to provide protection from scratches and moisture and the low-sheen finish made it less visible.
A glimpse of abrupt movement beneath the thick early-October undergrowth woke me from gazed-eyed dozing and I strained to focus on the origin. Forty-yards, thirty-yards, closer the disturbance came. In anticipation that it might be what I'd been waiting for, I slowly rose to my shooting stance. My body ached in cold protest as I unfolded from my long held position. It was an unusually cold and quiet morning and, wanting to avoid detection by tattle-tale squirrels, I had remained motionless for several hours. But as the ever-approaching forms became recognizable, the cold and stiffness were quickly forgotten. Two does! I kept my eyes fixed on the first doe as she paused to steal a bite off a small bush. Instinctively I drew my bow and suddenly, as though a hawk streaking silently towards its prey, my arrow was its way to write the conclusion of this story. But before I reveal the ending, let me share a few details that made this a special hunt, regardless of the final outcome.