cherrypie-build

I recently had the urge to try a one lam bow build, just to see how it would come out. I had been thinking about it for awhile, then came across some info on a one lam bow that Rudderbows is now offering. Naturally, with that impetus, I had to try it. It came out very well and was a super easy build, leading me to consider building another as a buildalong with advice on how it could be done by a beginner with minimal equipment. I'm going to go ahead with that project and will be combining information on this bow with that presentation. In the meantime, I thought these comments and pix might be of interest to anyone reviewing Cherry Pie's gallery presentation. The comments are rather long. As I said, they will become part of a double buildalong for beginners, so I thought they would be of interest.

Here's the start of the project and some building comments, as I explained it to the Howard Hill Longbowmen in a series of emails:

“Started the next bow this morning. I'm playing a game to see what happens when I go to an extreme. Sweet Georgia Brown was a two lam bow and is really great, as well as being less trouble to lay up. So, logically, I had to ask myself what will happen with a one lam bow? This idea kicked around in my head a bit, then I spotted a thread about a new bow that Rudderbows is offering... Yep, a one lam glassed longbow. OK, obviously the idea should work, but what will it feel like?
A couple of days ago I picked up a 7' x 8" x 1" cherry plank. This morning I trimmed the ends to get the nicest 6' out of it, then ran out a 1 3/4" billet. The fun was the next step. While in Rockler's picking up the cherry and some other stuff, I spotted what is to me a new gadget, a groove clamping ball bearing table saw guide specifically designed for cutting thin laths on the table saw. "Hmmm," says I, "I wonder if I could cut raw laminations with that?"

The answer is that I can, indeed! I set the saw carefully and laid the 1" billet on end and sliced it lengthwise into two very smooth lam pieces that ended up just under 1/2" each. I laid one aside... if the idea works well there's another bow... and will grind the other down to the thickness I decide on for this bow. Have to go study my new book to decide that.
Oops.... haven't told you about the new book. I have been keeping a little pocket notebook on each bow I build. However, it's been very helter skelter, with rough notes quickly jotted down in my own handwriting, which I often can't read. The other day, I decided to devote the necessary effort to clarify all that material and arrive at a standard format for presenting my bow layup formulae, then transferred all the data to full size pages, printed them out and put them into a 3 ring binder. I can now quickly run through for the weight of bow i want, then review the layup formula I used for the bows I've built to that weight, see what length they came out at, what materials and thicknesses I used and any problems I encountered. Neat!
Problem I'm facing right now, and the reason I'm taking a break, is that the UPS man just dropped off my latest order from Kenny... glue and glass. This morning I had only one choice in glass, 1 3/4" clear. Now I have two other choices... brown and black. Not sure what effect I want. Decisions, decisions, decisions...Dick Wightman”

“I put Cherry Pie in the oven at 4 o'clock, will turn off at 10. What a hoot! One hour, from setting up the glue table to putting it into the oven, all clamped... the hand clamping took 35 minutes of that time. Oh, yeah, that included cutting a new 1/8" alum. top piece for the clamping stack as I hadn't used the 1 3/4" form in quite awhile and had forgotten that I had a pretty weak pressure spreader piece. As I started, I stood there and looked at the table... two pieces of wood - riser and core. Still shaking my head. I'm really anxious to see what comes out tomorrow.
Dick Wightman”

“Pretty good day, though not as much accomplished as I had hoped. Ann had a boat to measure across the Sound, so I had to take her to the ferry in the morning and pick her up in the afternoon, which pretty well broke up the day.
The bow came off the form as clean and easy as I've ever seen. With only one long glue line, there really wasn't nearly as much glue glop squeezed out as with the usual three to five lines. I got the blank set aside and the form all cleaned up and rewaxed, and the clamps all put away, then took Ann to the ferry.

When I got back, I made short work of grinding off the excess and squaring up the blank. I was working with 1 3/4" glass and lam as I had that glass on hand. My original idea was to go for a rather wide pyramid bow, but when I floor tillered the blank, I could see that it would come out pretty heavy if I did that. Obviously, that form is more appropriate to an all wood bow than a glass lammed one. I decided to go ahead and grind the blank down a more normal flatbow width and did so.
Then I peeled off the tape to see what I had... mostly real good, with one surprise. For some reason, and I don't know why, the very end of one limb did not laminate for about an inch, and at the other end the other limb didn't laminate for about 1/8". Not a big deal as I was working with a longer unit than I wanted the bow to be anyway. I sawed the longer bad end off and left the other alone, figuring to clean it up when I shaped the tip. This would give me a definite positive tiller on the shorter limb, which I marked as the bottom limb.

The layup itself came out beautifully, other than those ends, which might be from a bit of sap coming out the ends in the heat (though I didn't see any indication of that) or maybe just from the end clamps being a hair too far in. I might take to checking the position of the end clamps in the line and if they aren't well up to the end, adding a small wood block under them. Anyway, the cherry looks good, though not spectacular. It's an even grained reddish/yellowish appearance, not unlike yew or even osage. The fades came out perfect... no bubbles and dead square end cuts.

I re-taped and drafted my bow shape on the tape, then used the belt sander to taper the limbs. Once I had them tapered, I wanted to see what I had for draw weight, but I didn't want to cut nocks in, since if you do that and find a result you're not happy with, you have no back up option but to cut the limbs below the nocks, shortening the bow by two to three inches and significantly raising the weight, sometimes more than you want to. I used a trick I came up with on Osage Can You See, and built up thicknesses of tightly wrapped electrical tape where I would have wanted my first nock cut to be, i.e. if the blank was left full length. I then put a string on it, the built up tape limiting the string movement on the limb and permitting me to get a weight test draw. It came out pretty good at 42@28. Figuring to lose maybe four pounds with the edge shaping and contouring, that would produce a 38# bow about 67" long. This result is quite consistent with my previous results from multi-lammed bows, so I can apparently work with one lam and figure that my existing formulae for multi-lams are going to be pretty usable. Nice.
I had just enough time left to go ahead and work the square limb edges into some angle and contour, using the belt sander again, and did in fact end up with a pull of 38@28, 33 at my 25" draw. I may work it some more, or might just leave it be, since I didn't really make this intending that it be a bow for me to shoot. I'm awfully happy with Georgia Brown for my this summer's bow.

I got a rough shelf cut in and tomorrow will be devoted to shaping the shelf and final bench sanding for a finished appearance and then application of True Oil.

I think this is going to be a real nice bow. It's a tiny bit stiffer to pull than a multi-lam, but not objectionably so, and feels like it will have good power.

The whole time I was working, I was mentally writing a book... kind of "Laminated Longbows for Dummies". I can see this bow being built by a beginner with really minimal equipment. I think it could be built with nothing more than a table saw and a belt sander for power equipment. You could use a 2x6 fitted with wood pegs and bicycle inner tubes for clamps. I've talked with a number of guys who have built perfectly good bows with no oven, just letting the glue cure at room temperature on a hot day, or putting the layup in the back of a station wagon parked in the sun. I may build another and do a buildalong, deliberately using a minimalist approach, or at least explaining at each step what the minimalist approach would involve. It would be a neat little challenge and would possibly encourage some folks to give it a try.
So, a good day with all. Tomorrow should see it being shot.

I shaped the shelf and did the finish sanding this morning... quite a bit of finish sanding... dropped another pound or two. It's now at 35@28/30@25. I took it out and shot it... and shot it.... and shot it. Shoots nice enough that I had a hard time stopping. I can't say I had my shooting perfectly together. I was shooting after I did my PT exercises, so I was probably already muscle tired. I didn't produce any spectacular groups like I did with Osage Can You See, but it shoots just fine. At 30 yards, I can keep at least 80% of my shots in my javelina, with about half in the kill. The misses were generally for obvious reasons, I let down my draw or dropped my bow arm. No chrono figures, but it seems to shoot reasonably flat. At 30 yards my secondary aim point is the javie's back, which is only a few inches above his kill, so the point on is probably 25. My point ons are generally closer than most folks because of both the light bows and my short draw. I'll run it through the chrono when it's set up with a new string and tuned.

It's a bit of a stiff draw for me, but smooth, no stacking that I can tell. Has a mild thump, but nothing I'd call hand shock. The cherry provides plenty of punch; I don't think it gives up anything to yew or osage as a core wood, really. The stiffness of the draw is likely mostly because of the 8 pound difference from the bow I've been shooting, Georgia at 22#. However, if you really really pressed me about it, I'd say that I think one lam probably is a bit stiffer than a multi-lam, which only makes sense from the standpoint of the physics of wood in a bow.

The first coat of finish is on, and the bow is going to be lovely. The one lam provides a nice, visable side surface that took good color, a soft rose glow, while the back and belly are a deeper orange. I don't care for the looks of that short riser, but that's a minor point. The final tiller ended up even... again. I think I'm going to have to try shifting my risers slightly off center if I want to experiment with real positive tiller, but that's an experiment for another time.

If someone told me that this was the only bow I could shoot, I'd say, "Fine, when's the next 3D?" Full pix in a day or two.

This pic and the next show what kind of shook me up. Ready for the build, but with only the glass and two pieces of wood! Note the section of bifold door clamped to my rollaround work bench. If you don't have one of these door sections in your shop, you should. They are fantastically handy as extra work surfaces (shown here extending the surface of my table so I can work on the long glue board) or as runout surfaces behind saws and sanders. They're light and stack or stand out of the way with your wood.	My basic layup set up... glue board, glue (it gets mixed on the square of masonite the cans are sitting on), some stirring sticks, a rough and a fine brush and a roller.
Here is that limb end that didn't take the glue, as described above. I've decided that it was a case of the last clamp's pressure causing the glass end to lift. In future where I have that kind of a situation I'll put in a wood block to extend the pressure.	This pic and the next show the gluing at the fades. I'm real pleased with the way I have these coming out now. My early efforts weren't so neat.

Cherry under glass. Looks a lot like yew or osage.	I'm also pleased with the nice square riser ends. As you probably know by now if you've read my stuff, I place the riser on top of the wood stack but run the glass up the fades.

Captain Dick