My board bow build.

[Selfbowman]

Gary listen closely to Wingnut he knows how to build a good bow.Looks good to.

[stinkbelly]

I bought a 1/8" x 4" x 24" piece of zebra wood at lunch today. I was thinking about putting it on the back across the handle. I am not sure what it would look like, but I sure love zebra wood. The only thing that may not be the best is that the zebra wood takes the impression of my nail so it would take the impression of any bumps too.

[Ol Man]

SB - I use RIT dyes and make my own colors for staining. You can use either water or alcohol as a base. Alcohol dries much faster though. I have mad a maple bow look so much like osage it has pretty well fooled everyone.

[stinkbelly]

I decided to add a piece of zebra wood on the back of the bow across the handle. I just glued it up so it will be a couple of days before I get to see what it really looks like.

I am not sure what I want the limbs to look like, but I really like Ol Man's idea about the RIT dye.

Here are some pictures of the newest work. The zebra wood was only 1/8" thick and since I had already carved the handle it was very difficult to clamp. I ended up using blue painters tape to wrap it similar to the way I read people wrap snake skins with ace bandages. I put three clamps in the only locations I could.





After watching Wingnuts video again, I realized I made a few more mistakes. Hopefully me pointing these out will help everyone with their next bows.

Additonal Mistakes:
* When reducing the weight and gaining draw length on the bow, I did not start shooting it in. It was recommended to start shooting it in around 23-24 inches. Supposedly this will reduce the chance of losing weight after the final weight is reached.
*Since I didn't shoot it in, I also didn't shoot it with my #1 limb on the top and on the bottom. This will help work them evenly. This should be done before the handle and arrow rest are cut.

[ElfEyes]

stinkbelly may I ask what video? is it on the web or do you have to order it?

[stinkbelly]

The video I have is one that he use to provide with his bow blanks he use to sell. It takes you through all the steps to go from his blank to a finished bow. I got very close to his blank off of the poorfolk website then followed (mostly) the video after that.

[Trick]

Nice work. I really like the shape of the ends. Thanks for sharing.

Matt