How Sammy makes a bow stringer

[bmxtrickster3846]

stuff stuff stuff

[huyked]

Thanks for the great tutorial! I didn't know it was you until your face showed on camera. ;D

lol @ 3:50.

[zachchristiansen]

At 3:30 I see you have your violin in the making on the bench back there. Did you ever finish that? And what happened to Poorfolkbows? Did you give up on it?

[philochristos]

@zachchristiansen I'm still working on the violin. I'm a bit tool challenged at the moment. Poor Folk Bows still exists. I just haven't put anything new on it in a while. I got into triathlons, so I spend a lot of time swimming, biking, and running, which leaves less time to make bows and stuff.

[zachchristiansen]

@philochristos It would be really cool to see your violin finished:D

Bow question: what is your glue of choice when doing work with laminations? I want to make a bamboo recurved bow, but I know next to nothing about the craft. Do you have any recommendations or do you remember any particular difficulties you have run into doing laminations?

[philochristos]

@zachchristiansen Smooth On is my glue of choice, mostly because I can use it with fiberglass. If I never used fiberglass, I'd probably switch to Urac. It's cheaper.

I made a couple of bamboo recurve bows. The hard part is getting the raw bamboo to bend around the curves. I used a form made out of a 2x6 and a heat gun to pre-bend the bamboo. Also, I use a power lam about 21".

[zachchristiansen]

@philochristos The only problem I have with Urac (I've never used it, I just do a lot of Internet reading) is that it seems that it is kind of difficult to get it mixed up right. Is that true.

I've actually changed my plans to a reflex-deflex bow. Would you recommend heat tempering the bamboo?

[JCGphotopigiste]

unfortunately it not work withe a recurve bow, i've tried it with my vintage Bear Kodiak ! :s

[JCGphotopigiste]

I'm make it with 2 nylon's straps ! ;)

[JCGphotopigiste]

i mahe it with 2 lyer nylon 's strap ! ;)

[AaJoIV]

THANKS SO MUCH! Ive been worried that my bow sitting out like it has been will ruin the string and the pull but now ive got it put away in a nice sponge patted case destrung.

[z1z2z3z4z1z2]

that knot looks like a "Figure-eight knot"

[aerohawkproductions]

couldnt you just take some rope and make two loops at the end?

[mattbattyo]

Get some thinner leather and it'll take the sanding out of the equation. Something like latigo will be really strong and reliable even when thinner. Melting the tips of the string and rolling it into a hard point would probably make threading the holes much easier too.

[philochristos]

@mattbattyo Thanks for the tip. <---Ha! I made a funny!

[xMrjamjam]

@philochristos if your finding it hard to cut the leather soak it for about 30 mins

the only problem with this is that it gets marked very easily so be careful when making cuts on the leather

[philochristos]

@xMrjamjam Thanks for the tip.

[mattbattyo]

Get some thinner leather and it'll take the sanding out of the equation. Something like latigo will be really strong and reliable even when thinner.

[philochristos]

@mattbattyo I've made them with thinner leather. The advantage of latigo in this case is that I got a whole bunch of it for free at a saddle shop.

[googlen0]

Or put the string on one end of the bow, put that end in the back of your shoe, ben forward and put the other end of the string on the other end of the bow.

[all156577]

u are funny

[KanzlerM]

Get a Stanley Knife.

[pobbrock]

Get yourself a green rubber cutting mat from an art store... your blades will last longer. Use that straight edge to guide the cut... I fear for your fingers man!

[ixidorForealz]

Oh, okay. Thanks. Your website caused me to want to build my own bow.

[ixidorForealz]

I've never seen anyone use something like that. I always strung my bows by hooking my leg around it then twisting my body.

[philochristos]

@ixidorForealz That's the way I always did it growing up, but then I heard that was really bad for a bow, so I started using stringers unless I'm in a hurry.