Thursday 31 March 2022

Set in the Belly or the Back

 I ran the Hickory, Purpleheart, Lemonwood bow through the bandsaw and could see that the belly had taken most of the set. Not sure what to do with it, but I might just clean it up, (I made a bit of a mess sawing it, so I'll loose some of the Purplheart) glue it back together straight and then play at making it into a hinged take down.
Maybe chisel a groove for some sort of alignment pin or bar down the belly before sawing it in half, maybe saw it at an angle to give a larger mating face? I'll reduce the belly and re-tiller too of course.

Wednesday 30 March 2022

Messing About With a Tired Bow

 I've not done much with bows lately as I've been tidying up the bick walls in the garden, most of the top course were loose and some had been laid frog uppermost! I've also improved the drainage chanel, adding a bit of width to the path or improved wheelchair access past the tap and hose reel.
I've not been particularly inspired to make a bow, but then I remembered a tired old bow that one of the guys from the club was going to throw out! He gave it to me to have a play with and see if I could do anything useful with it.
It's about 72.5" nock to nock Hickory, Purple heart and Lemonwood. It was marked as 80# @28" 32" max.
It had obviously been shot a lot at 32" and has taken a nasty 2 1/4" of set.
I plan to saw along the purple heart and see how the back and belly recover when separated. Then I'll decide where to go from there... Maybe a 60# @ 28"?








Sunday 6 March 2022

Before and After of the Sallet


 I'm very pleased with the result. The welding was much easier and better once I bought an auto darkening welding mask. It really is a game changer allowing you to see what you are doing and to get both hands on the torch. I'v got to re-fit the leather liner and I may have to make some replacement rivets, as the ones I bought online didn't have big enough heads to match those in the sallet.
The sallet can now be worn with the back a bit lower, whilst coming down nicely at the brow.



Wednesday 2 March 2022

Archer's Sallet


I've been modifying a repro' archer's sallet that I was given as a present years ago. It's too big and the brow isn't low enough, it's more of a shallow dish than a deep bowl. (see first pic with eye line marked in black). Anyway it's an excuse to use my new welder.
The game plan is to remove the nice leather liner, cut a slot across above the brow, bend the brow down and welding in a plate. I'll also cut up vertically above the nose and take out a wedge of material and close up the gap. I made a block shaped like my head to support it while panel beating it, I've also bought a small panel beating dolly of E-bay.
The work is progressing and I cut out the wedge and squeezed the sides in with a big sash clamp (and some heat and thumps with a mallet), I then tack welded it to keep it in place.
The 2nd pic shows the tack weld and how much I've lowered the brow.