Mr Hare Tours Harlow

I got Mr Hare finished and as it happens the Gibber Gallery is calling for entries for an exhibition of things juxtaposed with landmarks/sculptures/etc from around the town.
I set off with Mr Hare in a carrier bag to get some pics.

Obviously he liked the pub best, but I was rather pleased that I managed to sneak a shot of him in a cheeky pose on Henry Moore's Family Group.

Random Ramblings

Lots of odds n ends have happened.
I was checking an old bow from 2011, the first Osage bow I ever made to see if it was a suitable weight to lend out to someone wanting to try field archery. The bandsaw was in the way of the tiller and rather than move it, I kept one hand on the bow, bend down to look at the scale and heave on the rope... about 40# .. pull again.... 45 at 28"...  BANG being Osage it broke into nasty splinters and one contrived to give a nasty cut on my finger.
I was a bit miffed and realised it was silly to make a primitive for someone who might not like field. I had a shufti on line and found perfectly good Flat Bows starting at just over £90 in 5# increments from 35# to 50#. Just the job, perfect for field, faster and cheaper than I could make with no waiting time. I sent him a link, which he was pleased with.

I've been making more flight arrows and getting in a bit of a muddle, so I made a new storage box from odd bits of ply and pine that I had lying around. It has compartments for length 24, 26, 28, 30 & 32" arrows. I sorted out my other arrows and shafts too, so I can now see the wood for the trees. I may need to sub divide it for 1" increments... I think flight arrows could easily become a life's work!

Been buying stuff online too, I got some carving chisels, a set of 12 Clarke ones, with a small set of 6 and two others as a job lot. They seem to be pretty good and I've been watching Youtube vids on chisel sharpening, as the curved and V ones are a bit tricky to sharpen. That then led me on to making a strop for honing the edges. It's one of those things I've been meaning to get round to for ages, easy enough to make with an off cut of MDF (which is flat and stable) and some leather from an old sofa that I rescued as it was going to the council tip (it was a hideous colour, so no good for bow grips). I glued the leather down with UHU glue and gently rolled it down with a length of steel bar (rolling pin would do) to remove any air bubbles. I've bought some green honing compound (E-bay) to load up the leather but it's not arrived yet. There is some discussion on line about which side of the leather to have upper most. Consensus is either works and the flesh side hold the compound better for a coarser compound, smooth side for really fine finish. I'll let you know how I get on.
(The strop is in the top pic, the block with the pinkish leather on it just above the box of small chisels. It's 8" x 3" so it's big enough to do a plane blade).
The chisels are really for the Hare project and other potential work, also for other family members to use. The Hare is coming along nicely with the limbs all roughly made but not fitted yet, I'll be able to start working on the detail soon and deciding on the degree of articulation I want, simple pivots or a hint of a ball joint for a bit more movement?

The bow making it taking a back seat at the mo' having made a few pretty rapidly, although I have had some enquiries. Someone has asked for a laminate, I suggested Boo/Yew but for some reason totally beyond me they don't want Yew on the belly??? It seems a bit like wanting to put tractor wheels on a sports car, but I may do something eventually if some suitable exotic wood turns up... maybe Boo/Yew/Ipe.
I only do stuff when I feel like or am inspired (or the missus asks me ;-) )

Flight Arrow Testing

I finally got out to do some testing, a bit too windy really and 2 out of my 3 arrows snapped, the side wind didn't help as it took the back end sideways as the point stuck in the mud.
Originally I was only going to take my two new 26" flight arrows, but at the last minute I grabbed a 28" one which I knew performed well. The shooting machine was set to loose at about 25.5", but it was nearer 25".
The big shock was that the heavier longer arrow consistently flew about 40 yards further! I shall have a re-think!
Ah... I was jumping to conclusions! When I checked the weight, the longer fatter arrow is in fact 8 grains lighter and has slightly lower profile fletchings! I should mention it's also painted luminous yellow.
I've done the arithmetic and if I make a fat, yellow arrow that weighs nothing, it should go 1,500 yards :-)

I took video, not great quality, but it shows they are coming away from the bow quite nicely. It's hard to get a longer shot which would show how quickly they stabilise.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pWBvcecdwM

I think the shafts I have are OK,.
I'll keep the remaining, unbroken 26" one as a reference and do some more testing.

Meanwhile the wooden hare is coming along, I have his front legs done and a try out rear leg made from thin ply.

A Bit of a Change

I seem to have been making bows at a break neck pace this year and I'm in need of a change. I want to test the flight bow, but it's too windy, the crossbow project is at a bit of a lull.

Ages ago I saw a lovely carved hare with jointed limbs on Bargain Hunt.... ah the joys of retirement and lunchtime TV. Gotta make one of of those I thought!
Well I have some chunks of cherry which are suitable, so I just jumped in doing it all by eye just for the fun of it. I roughed it out freehand on the bandsaw and than progressed with chisels and rasps, it's difficult to work on as it rather large and difficult to clamp steady. It will just about hold in the bench vice. The cherry is funny stuff, cuts really nice and smooth, but can split or tear. It should look nice when polished.
The eye is turned from a piece of dark wood, might be walnut...
Hopefully it'll end up being a fun piece that might sit on the table in the summer house, something for children who visit to find as they explore.
It's nice to have something to tinker with that doesn't have any sort of deadlines attached to it.
Maybe I'll pick up the crossbow, or a bit of elder that was cut last year, in the mean time I can potter along with the hare, mind I'm already wishing the ears were bigger, but I can reduce the head and body a bit to suit.

The BooYew Warbow Gets a Workout

I wanted to know how the Boo/Yew shot, and Rob the guy I made it for was going to a Shires Rove. My mate JT was going up there too, so I sent the bow up with him and anxiously waited to hear the verdict.
I got a private message of face book that evening:-
"I just wanted to let you know from the moment I got my hands on the bow I’ve had a smile on my face it is by far, and I’m not just saying this, the best bow I’ve ever had the pleasure of shooting.
So we knew it was going to be fast, but it’s more than just fast, no hand shock, no stacking just really smooth and will shoot a half inch arrow 100 yards direct. I didn’t get to do a flight shoot today but will next weekend.
No words can really thank you enough for what you’ve done
This bow has by a country mile out performed all my other bows. It had a lot of positive comments I even stopped for 15 mins on the way home at the woods because I wanted to shoot it more
Thanks again "

The pic shows he has a really good long full draw, so next time he's at my place I'll get it on the tiller for a quick check now it's shot in.

Cameras can give odd impressions of tiller sometimes as the camera is often above and behind the centre of the bow, also the bow is seldom completely vertical. I find it tends to foreshorten the lower limb slightly or make it look a tad week, anyhow no harm in having a check on the tiller, and if it needs a scrape on the upper limb its no problem and well worthwhile to ensure an even tiller.

Just to illustrate what I mean. I've taken the top pic, rotated it to get the arrow horizontal, and fitted an ellipse. It shows the upper tip as being a tad stiff, mind that's the one with the belly knot where the slight reflex kink sits.
Having just written that, makes me also consider the nocking point, if the arrow is nocked low or high, that can make a slight difference.
All this may seem a bit OCD, but with a warbow it's important to get a good even tiller to maintain longevity. As my mate JT said to someone "it's all about the tiller"

Boo Yew Warbow Cleaned Up

Pretty much finished, arrow pass marked, one coat of Danish Oil, needs a string.
Top pic shows it immediately after glue up so you can see how much the shape has shifted, during completion, just a whisker of set.
Once I'd made the proper string and it was at a full 6" brace i checked it on the tiller. It was just short of 120# at 32"

You have to bear in mind that it is impossible to measure accurately as, if the bow has been strung for a few hours it will drop a few pounds. I'm also not going to hold it at 32" while I fastidiously check the draw length, then peer ate the scale. I wouldn't winch it back there and leave it while I pondered trying to read to the nearest pound.
The target was 110# or a tad over, which is pretty much what we've got :-)

Boo Yew Warbow Fiddling and Fettling

The tiller was looking a bit ugly (top pic) and I noticed the bow was trying to twist and turn sideways just a tad such that the back wasn't sitting flat, but was angled to one side.
There are ways to fix this sort of thing. A bow will try to bend towards the weaker side, so just rounding off the other edge can help, as can shifting the nocks across. My previous go on the tiller pulling to 100# at about 29" (top pic) indicated that it would be a whisker over 110# at 32", but in order to improve the tiller I might lose a few pounds.
I decided it was time to fit the horn nocks, and to take a little off each tip, about 1" off the top and 1/2" off the bottom. Taking a little off raises the draw weight a few pounds and also moves the nock down to a slightly wider area of the limb where there is room to shift it sideways by say 1/8" - 3/16" which will counteract the tendency to bend sideways.
I got that done and slimmed the tips, blending them in to the new nock position. The bow seemed better proportioned and the sideways bend had gone. The draw weight was up a tad too, so, after some more fiddling and fettling, like taking the nodes of the bamboo down a whisker and checking for thick areas using the verniers (of course there is a tendency for the nodes to create a thick spot) and generally taking out tool marks etc it was back onto the tiller for a video.
Video here:-
having reviewed the video I did a bit more then took it to just over 110# and that was about 31" which is pretty much done, maybe a few scrapes here and there.
The pics show before the horn nock fitting and after. I don't know if you can see the difference, it's pretty subtle, maybe if you click on the pics and flip between them. The kink in the right limb is rather distracting, but I'm loathe to try and get it flexing any more as there is knot, a filled knot and some weird swirls of grain there, which could possibly decide to form a pinch if I try to be too clever.

Boo Yew Warbow

The glue up looked pretty good and I pressed on planing off the excess boo and glue from the sides and generally tidying it up and gluing on temporary nocks, ready for a quick look on the tiller.
It looked to have plenty of weigh but the outer limbs needed a good bit of reducing. As I took wood off the belly a knot appeared which need filling. That's been done and it's already at a low brace, hopefully I'll get some work done on it tomorrow as the weather will prob' be too wet and windy for shooting.
I'm pretty optimistic as it feels quite lithe and I already have it at a low brace.
I may need to glue a tin slat to the belly near the grip to make it a bit more rounded in the hand, but we'll see as it's gradually getting  narrower and more rounded anyway. It started out at 40 mm wide and is now down to about 47.