I haven't had much time to work on the bow lately.  We have been putting up stands and getting other stuff ready for opening day.  And with my daughters cross country meets several nights a week it doesn't leave much time for anything else.  I did get some quality time on it today.  I used a long string to see if both limbs are bending evenly.  

I make marks on the limbs as I'm bending them.  When I start scraping it again I know where to remove wood and where to leave it alone.  I'm paying attention to the limb thickness on each side.  You don't want to have one side thinner than the other.  

After I got everything bending evenly I took it to a low brace. 

I pulled it back a few times to check it out before quitting for the day.  The outer limbs are a bit stiff.  I'll get them bending more before I go any farther with it.

What brand is the draw knife?

I made a double loop flemish twist string for it.  I used black and a wine red color.

I make the string a little short and put it on this jig to stretch it out to the exact length.  Once I started doing this with my strings they don't ever stretch on the bow.  I torque down on them quite a bit.  

It squeezes the excess wax from the string.

I took some thickness off of the limb tips and shot the bow some more.  Everything looks and feels good so its on to finish work.  I sanded the bow and coated the back with a thin layer of  glue.  It helps keep the moisture from the snake skin from soaking into the wood.  After that was dry I started on the snake skin.  I let it soak in water for about 15 minutes to soften it up.  I decided to use a black rat snake skin.  They actually have a nice pattern and look great on osage.  They fade from light to dark down the skin towards the tail.  It will get a little lighter when I remove all the scales.   It was long enough to cover the entire bow and still have several inches left over.

I hung it up and let the extra water drip off.  You want the skin damp and pliable but not soaking wet.  

I mixed a few drops of water in with the glue and coated the back of one limb.  I have to hurry and put the skin on it before the glue starts to dry.  After adjusting the skin and getting the pattern centered on the limb I started smoothing it out and working all the air bubbles out.  Then I did the same thing on the second limb.

Once I had all the air bubbles worked out of the second limb I wrapped it with ace bandages to hold the skin down on the edges of the limb.  As it dries it wants to curl up.   I set it outside in the shade to dry.  Its windy today so it should set up fast.

I cleaned up the edges of the skin with a fine cut file.  Then I removed all the scales from the skin.  Black rat snakes are one of the better skins to work with.  The scales come off easy and they lay flat on the bow.  Black racers have scales that don't want to come loose.  They are a pain.  Rattlesnake scales come off easy but they stick up and its hard to get a smooth finish.














I sanded it one more time. Now its ready for the finish to be applied. I'll give it a couple more days to make sure all the moisture from the skin has had time to dry.

-- Edited by osage outlaw on Thursday 15th of October 2015 10:33:50 PM

Beautiful Bow, thanks for taking the time to let us see your process.

I just put the last coat of tung oil on it.  All it needs now is a leather shelf and a handle wrap.  

Here are the finished pictures.  45 lbs at 28".  It's en route to its new owner.