My latest Homemade Longbow

[Rancid Crabtree]

If there is such a thing as a good time for a string to break, I guess I am lucky. I have a lot of work to do before I need a string again.

I used my belt sander with a 50 grit belt to grind down the limbs to the lines I scribed. My lovely bride got a picture of me at work.





Next, I marked the location of the string grooves in the ends of the limbs.



Using a chainsaw file I made the beginnings of the string grooves. This will help me locate the tip overlays. when they are installed, I can finish the grooves.





For the overlays, I want to use Bloodwood and antler. The Bloodwood will match the accent strip in the riser and the antler is just something I wanted to try. I had a section of antler left over from a knife handle I made. I will use the longest tine as it has no pithy core. It is solid all the way through.



Using the belt sander, I created a flat spot on the antler that will run against the rip fence of my table saw. I am using a carbide tipped finish blade so I get less chipping and a smooth cut.





I made the strips about an 1/8th of an inch thick.



In order to get the best adhesion with the epoxy, I needed to rough up the shiny surface of the clear glass. I used a hacksaw blade as a scraper. I did the same to the bloodwood and the antler.



I used the same epoxy, I used for the rest of the bow build.





I used only one bulb under each tip and some of the left over insulation from the hot box. Not much I can do except make the tillering tree.