Monday, June 14, 2004
I spent Sunday at Cloverdale Traditional Archery Nationals. And had a great time. It was muddy, but fun. I shot fair but inconsistent. I'm blaming it on the arrows made from dowels.
I had some money so I went through the vendors. I got some 190 grain 11/32 points at normal field point prices that match up with my 200 grain Ace broadheads. A lot cheaper than the brass 200 grain field tips. I found some hand spined weight matched shafts and got 2 dozen 23/64 in 60-65 spine. One dozen is weight matched to within 5 grains and the other dozen is within 10 grains. The arrows I have been shooting are matched within 100 grains after I culled out the lighter ones. I got some feathers and nocks too. I will taper the front to 11/32 and taper the back to 5/16 and sand the middle for fine tuning.
I got to visit with friends from my old Tennessee archery club. They have a stall next to Gary Davis's and sell used Bear bows. They had a perfect bowfishing bow I need to get, but I didn't have any more money or anything to trade.
I get a door prize ticket at a lot of shoots, but never win anything. I have just about stopped checking for prizes since I never win. I was walking back to the car and remembered the ticket so I stopped and checked. I won 2 rattlesnake skins from Rattlesnake Bows!! I immediatly walked down to Gary's stall and thanked him. He showed me a bow he's going to donate at MoJam. It is nice. Snakeskin on sinew on osage with a real nice finish. Sixty something pounds with about an inch of even reflex.
He told me how he applied snakeskins and it sounds real easy.
Rough up the back of the bow to expose fresh wood.
Put the skins in water.
Put a layer of cheap carpenter's glue or Elmer's white glue on the bow.
Lay on skins and line them up head at handle, tail at nock.
Trim to fit all the way around to the belly side.
Take the skins off. Coat them with glue.
Start at head, at handle, and press them on.
Smooth out air bubbles and wrinkles toward the nock.
Look down the length of the bow and line up the scales along the length of the limb, following the grain.
This is more important the color pattern and automatically centers the pattern.
Press the sides down over the sides of the bow, nocks, handle, etc.
The glue make a suction on the wood so no wrapping is needed, and wrapping will mess up the alignment anyway.
Let sit a few days.
File the excess where the sides meet the belly.
Go from the outside towards the belly.
Do not use a rasp.
A coarse file will do.
I could not feel the edge on his bow.
Rub the scales down the length towards the nocks. (do everything from handle to nock)
If the sides lift up, wet your finger and press on the skin.
This reactivates the cheap glue and sticks the skin back on.
Keep rubbing till the scales lift off. It will feel smooth.
Put on a layer of finish and let it get hard.
This causes the nubs of the scales to stiffen and it feels rough.
Sand with 350-400 grit sandpaper.
Repeat with another coat of finish, sand, repeat, etc.
His bow looked real slick and you could feel the skin pattern and just a little of the nubs sticking up.
He said he still needed to add some more finish to get rid of the last bit of scale nubs.
Well, it sounds complicated, but he assured me it's real simple and fast.
(2) comments
I had some money so I went through the vendors. I got some 190 grain 11/32 points at normal field point prices that match up with my 200 grain Ace broadheads. A lot cheaper than the brass 200 grain field tips. I found some hand spined weight matched shafts and got 2 dozen 23/64 in 60-65 spine. One dozen is weight matched to within 5 grains and the other dozen is within 10 grains. The arrows I have been shooting are matched within 100 grains after I culled out the lighter ones. I got some feathers and nocks too. I will taper the front to 11/32 and taper the back to 5/16 and sand the middle for fine tuning.
I got to visit with friends from my old Tennessee archery club. They have a stall next to Gary Davis's and sell used Bear bows. They had a perfect bowfishing bow I need to get, but I didn't have any more money or anything to trade.
I get a door prize ticket at a lot of shoots, but never win anything. I have just about stopped checking for prizes since I never win. I was walking back to the car and remembered the ticket so I stopped and checked. I won 2 rattlesnake skins from Rattlesnake Bows!! I immediatly walked down to Gary's stall and thanked him. He showed me a bow he's going to donate at MoJam. It is nice. Snakeskin on sinew on osage with a real nice finish. Sixty something pounds with about an inch of even reflex.
He told me how he applied snakeskins and it sounds real easy.
Rough up the back of the bow to expose fresh wood.
Put the skins in water.
Put a layer of cheap carpenter's glue or Elmer's white glue on the bow.
Lay on skins and line them up head at handle, tail at nock.
Trim to fit all the way around to the belly side.
Take the skins off. Coat them with glue.
Start at head, at handle, and press them on.
Smooth out air bubbles and wrinkles toward the nock.
Look down the length of the bow and line up the scales along the length of the limb, following the grain.
This is more important the color pattern and automatically centers the pattern.
Press the sides down over the sides of the bow, nocks, handle, etc.
The glue make a suction on the wood so no wrapping is needed, and wrapping will mess up the alignment anyway.
Let sit a few days.
File the excess where the sides meet the belly.
Go from the outside towards the belly.
Do not use a rasp.
A coarse file will do.
I could not feel the edge on his bow.
Rub the scales down the length towards the nocks. (do everything from handle to nock)
If the sides lift up, wet your finger and press on the skin.
This reactivates the cheap glue and sticks the skin back on.
Keep rubbing till the scales lift off. It will feel smooth.
Put on a layer of finish and let it get hard.
This causes the nubs of the scales to stiffen and it feels rough.
Sand with 350-400 grit sandpaper.
Repeat with another coat of finish, sand, repeat, etc.
His bow looked real slick and you could feel the skin pattern and just a little of the nubs sticking up.
He said he still needed to add some more finish to get rid of the last bit of scale nubs.
Well, it sounds complicated, but he assured me it's real simple and fast.
