This is the story of how a laminated recurve gets built. This entry is by the Bear (well... kinda) - he gave me the notes and pictures to put on this site.
These are the sapele wood veneers that will go into the limbs.
This is another view of the veneers that will be used on the limbs.
The form for the bow is ready to be loaded up.
The riser is being sanded down to specs.
Mixing two part epoxy to glue the laminations together. This will also need some time to cure.
The parts have been glued up with the epoxy, layer by layer, in the form. It's now time to stick this thing into the oven to help cure the epoxy!
This is the inside of the home-made bow oven. It's got aluminum foil, light bulbs, thermometer, and timer.
The bow is out of the oven and has been removed from the form. There's a lot of extra glue that needs to be sanded off. Better to have more glue than too little!
See the grids? Those are used for reference in sanding the limbs. The limbs are being sanded to the outermost lines.
Sanding in progress. Notice the tapering in the limbs and the continued presence of the grid..
And there's still more sanding! There is a fair amount of precision involved here!
Once the limbs are sanded, it's time to shape the riser.
The laminated pile of wood and fiberglass is starting to look like a bow!
The limb tips are being glued on. This involves multiple layers of material all glued together and clamped down to keep things from slipping loose. This bow will be able to use Fast Flight and similar materials as well as the old-school Dacron B-50.
Time to glue on the riser overlay, which is both for aesthetics and strength.
The string grooves in the limb tips are being cut with a chain-saw file. Again, note the use of the grid.
The string grooves still need to be precisely shaped in after being approximately cut in with the chain-saw file.
Once approximately cut in, the string grooves refined and the tips can be shaped.
The riser gets cut in with a carbide blade band saw. This is the initial set of cuts to get the approximate shape.
The finer details of the riser shape are generated via sanding. Lots of sanding.
After tillering the limbs (adjusting limb strength relative to each other), the grooves in the back of the limbs get cut in with a file.
It's getting close to done. Just a few more steps to go.
The sanding just never ends. This needs another round of sanding to handle imperfections and to make sure everything is precisely shaped.
It's time to spray finish the bow. This is what gives the bow its luster as well as sealing the wood and other materials from moisture.
Finished up bow, all finished and ready to shoot. It's time to tune it!
Dale Karch of 3Rivers Archery is test-shooting the bow. He gives a royal thumbs-up!
The bear has nailed a squirrel with a pink-fletched arrow.
And that was the story of how a laminated recurve gets built in a little shed somewhere in the middle of nowhere gluteal crack of Florida!
