Monday 12 October 2015

The Devil's in the Detail

I've been finishing off the Molle' adjusting the arrow pass and marking it with a burnt in dot. I haven't done an inlaid arrow pass as I wanted to keep it relatively primitive, but it's easy to get the bow upside down or hold it right handed as the grip has a waggle to it. So I thought a mark for the arrow pass was a good compromise.

I've made a decent string for it and I mark where the string loops sit on the belly side of the nock with a pencil and then shape the tip of the bow to suit, it's details like this that make the difference in the look of a bow.

Having said this, I popped the string back on the Molle' and admired my handiwork... errr, one of the levers wasn't in line with the string Whaaa?
Well I exaggerate a bit, the string line was still running along the lever, but no longer central.
Not good enough! The levers have been reduced and are rather slim, any lateral misalignment could gradually become worse, and maybe stringing the bow carelessly could suddenly force the lever over sideways. Or am I being fussy?
I mulled it over a bit and jigged the bow up for a tiny heat correction and tempering of the belly face of the lever. The aim was to restore alignment and also stiffen the lever slightly. I had to be careful not let the heat get anywhere near the glue line. It took a couple of tries to get it right as I was only after about 3mm of movement... Maybe I'm a bit OCD about these things, but as the title says, the Devil is in the Detail.
It is possible to force a lever over a bit to correct it, a bit like putting some set into into a bow limb, and I did give it a gentle try, but it seemed a bit risky, I didn't want to risk breaking or weakening it.

Why had the lever moved? After some thought one possible scenario dawned on me.
I'd steamed the lever into line, but then I'd later sawed off the cracked belly edge of it, at this point it had maybe sprung back a bit. Then when I glued on the new belly strip it was a whisker off line. Anyhow, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Anyhow, it's done and cleaned up and yet more Danish oil put on it.
Meanwhile I've started on a Yew longbow for the same guy, he brought the Yew bought to me a while back and if I get both bows done I can deliver them together.
The Yew is pretty good, but having been seasoned in the round, it is shifting a bit now it's roughed out, I'm making the bow from the side of the log that has the central pith closest to the bark. Dunno if that makes sense? The centre of the log isn't in the middle, it's nearer to one side, which is also the side with a nice even thinnish layer of sapwood and the side that will give the bow a gentle reflex curve. All these factors get taken into consideration when making that saw cut down the log.
Enough chat, I'll let the pic's tell the story.
BTW:- The "R" mark penciled onto the stave by the knot tells me to use a rasp there as edged tools are digging into the grain. The knot will get dug out and filled taking care to leave the covering of sapwood intact.

I've also been busy racking off my cider into plastic bottles and I've picked the last of the rhubarb from the garden which I'm making up into rhubarb and sultana wine. I did some last year and it was better than some of the white wine you buy in the shops... damn sight cheaper too.

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