Adventure of the week!: Hickory backed ipe long bow

Here's what i got for my birthday. Two black packages containing all the wood and glue to make a very nice hickory backed ipe long bow.

Here are a three pieces of ipe and a nice piece of zebra wood. the long pieces are for the handle and the short pieces for the tips.

Hopefully in the end it'll look a little something like this.--->

urac 185 glue. looks like fun.

Ok, first thing's first. sand the mating surfaces of the ipe and the hickory.This is just to roughen up the surface so the glue has something to stick to. Make sure you use a sanding block so you dont get any gaps in the wood. Use some fresh 60 grit paper and just a few swipes. You don't actually want to take any wood off.

May form explosive mixture?

Next you want to break out the glue. Be really careful when using this stuff, it has the potential to make a huge mess really quick. Make sure you don't use titebond wood glue, it doesn't have the flexibility that your bow is going to need. Ok, go find yourself a small container, a mixing stick, and a whole bunch of rags.

Mix up the glue as per the instructions on the bottle. Something along the lines of two parts resin to one part hardener. It should be somewhere around the consistency of incing. Spread a good bit of glue on both the ipe and the hickory. A small stick used to spread the glue works wonders. Then carefully lay the hickory on top of the ipe. It's a good idea to have a helper at this point. line up the edges of the wood and clamp using scrap pieces of wood in between the clamp and bow.

Spring clamps work just as well as c clamps

I used sixteen clamps, but more couldn't hurt. Make sure you alternate which side the clamps are on otherwise the bow might get a curve in it as it dries. Put the first clamp in the middle and work your way out to the ends leaving about 4-7 inches in between each clamp. Check periodically to make sure the pieces of wood line up properly. Both c clamps and spring clamps will

fine, but make sure you go back and check the clamps every five hours or so. C clamps can loosen up as the glue drys so they might need tightening. spring clamps shouldn't need any adjustment though. Some glue should squeeze out from in between the wood, make sure you wipe most of it off with your rag then let it set up for at least a full 24 hours before you take off the clamps.

Yep, still nice and straight.

That was easy enough. Ok now it's time to glue on the riser(the handle). If you want to put a stripe of anything in the handle, now's the time. In my case a piece of zebrawood that came with the bow was perfect. Measure out the length of the bow, then put a mark in the middle with a pencil. Extend the mark over the sides of the bow. These will help line everything up later. Mark the center of the riser also making sure the mark extends over the sides of the wood. Use the exact same method that you used for the backing. Roughen up the mating surfaces then glue everything together and let dry for another 24 hours. I know the waiting killed me to.


Getting everything lined up can be a real trick.

Love that zebrawood

If everything went well you should end up something like this. Nice and straight and a nice thick handle to carve out any shape you want. Now to cut out the bow.
There are lots of patterns out there. www.poorfolkbows.com is a fantastic place to find patterns and build alongs. For my bow i chose an english flat bow. It's a fairly simple design for those just starting out.

Here's your next tool, a vertical band saw. Cut out the sides of your limbs first making sure to stay just on the outside of your lines. Don't worry you'll sand them down latter. Next turn the bow on it's side and cut the taper down the length of the belly of the bow.

A little rough, but nothing the sander can't fix.

Next use your trusty disc sander to smooth out the limbs. Use long swipes starting at the handle and moving out towards the tips. Slowly work your way towards the lines you made when you drew out the pattern. Make sure you have some sort of dust mask this is one of the dirtiest parts. Oh! guess i should have mentioned this earlier, ipe dust can make your skin burn...really really badly. Go ahead, ask me how i know. Moral of the story is wear a dust mask and have some sort of protection. long sleeves are usually bad around machines, but this might be one exception.

Long pants are a must, because most of the dust is directed down from the sander. Work the limbs just enough to get them straight and remove the tool marks left by the band saw.