Anyone seen the movie, "Fight Club?" (explained in thread, even if you haven't)
The first rule in dealing with me is:
You do not take me seriously.
The second rule of dealing with me is:
You do not take me seriously.
(If in doubt, see rules 1 & 2, which is obviously a somewhat mangled or "freely adapted" quote from Fight Club)
That, my dear fellow sawdust mavens, is the best advice I gave my long-term better half when we first met. A guy with a manual, who'd have thought it, right? Not only have I avoided many potential conflicts when I inevitably say something tension-inducing (we've all been there).... Since she knows I'm not being mean spirited, just commenting on and/or embracing the insanity of life... whenever my jokes fall flat on their oft-unappreciated faces, I still get genuine laughter either way. Perhaps it was the fact that I met my better half at the Archery club, and didn't want to be shot down... or just plain shot... that initially inspired this helpful guide.
Don't worry, I'm actually quite polite... just irreverent in a harmless fun-loving, lightly mock your best friends because it's the Aussie tradition kind of way.
Greetings all, my name is Hamish, I almost feel like I should falsely say "and I'm an alcoholic" for some much needed levity in this day and age... some call me Harmo... for reasons too boring to mention here, others simply call me Ham. I'm happy with any of the above.
I'm just a self-taught hobbyist maker/DIY renovation (or demolition) guy with many, many other interests and hobbies. So feel free to chat. Oh, and I've also done some rather in-depth product testing/reviews for a variety of tools, which seem to be well received online.
I've been doing wood working (on and off) for about 7 years now. Most of my wood working projects so far, have been workshop-style storage, chests of drawers, a 3D printer cabinet, a table or two, a barbecue trolley, some shelves, a wood storage trolley, speaker stands, and raised garden beds. Lately, with all the labour shortages and tradesmen engaging in wanton price gouging...the supreme matriarch of the household had me build a cabinet for her laundry.. and it turned out pretty well... although despite the fact that it's late spring in Canberra, I need it to warm up a little more before I give it a final coat of paint.... since there's a hand print in the gloss coat that needs attending to. Interesting, the paint was still soft after three days of drying in Canberra's cold, wet winter.. so you can see what I was up against.
I am by no means an expert wood worker, I have never done a "French Polish", I use whatever joinery gets the job done, and often use scrap wood for a variety of weird and wonderful purposes. Ultimately, I'm just a dabbler with an ever-so-slight penchant for over-engineering things. Hope to learn and share what I've learned.
Hope we can all get along!
Ham.
1 Attachment(s)
Thanks all, here's a pic those of you interested in longbows might like:
Hi everyone,
I appreciate those who took the time to read my intro, and respond so kindly, thanks WoodPixel, Taz01, JJF, and Cava. Those thinking about making an Archery bow, might want to consider alternative styles to a traditional English Longbow.
While my better half and I do have an interest in Archery, it might surprise you, that while I'm the main wood worker in the household, the only person between us who have actually made a long bow, is my other half... a fiesty little pixie who writes fantasy novels, sews crazily-elaborate theatrical outfits and shoots targets surprisingly well with little more than "an oversized-bent-toothpick". <cue cheeky grin here>.
That's the kind of mocking humour that defines our relationship.. Don't worry, she's from the "old school" branch of archery... and she claims that my inherently superior skill is all due to the advanced technology I implement. She claims: "Anyone can shoot well if it's all done for you". Of course, she's wrong.
Here's a picture of her bow on the wall. I tried to import a real forged arrow head for her hand-crafted arrow (she actually used proper feathers, twine, and nocking techniques to make the arrow)... but head was lost in the mail.. so please excuse the temporary arrow tip.
Actually, I've just looked at my image, and I have to ask once again, please forgive the poor quality image, my phone has a scratched up "water proof" case that clearly isn't as clean as it should've been.
Attachment 518228
This bow features real horn tips, and a laminated three layered construction (It's hard to source Yew, or other suitable heart-wooded timbers). The "Supreme Matriarch of the Household" May her wrath be ever aimed at someone else.... was not confident with her wood skills, so she sanded it by hand into shape and suitable tillered curvature.
I think she hadn'tused it for a while, and the glue had slowly started to come loose, then suddenly, "crack!"... it snapped. So that's why it's on the wall now as a decoration.
I on the other hand, have helped others to make longbows, and I (personally) have made a 97% of a flat bow. Unfortunately, due to a workshop mishap with a chisel (we've all had those, right?), I took a chunk of wood off the bow that I didn't mean to. I discovered the hard way, that you can't put it back on the bow once you've taken it off... at least, not when tension, shape, and flexibility are such critical things. I still have it somewhere in storage, I've been meaning to put it up on the wall. I'll see if I can take a pic when I visit the storage unit next.
I get that people love the long bow. It's rich and famous history and construction is interesting, and making one will teach you a LOT about wood, shaping, and the sheer effort in construction because of the flexibility and tension requirements of any half-decent bow. I found that it taught me far more about wood working by hand than bending thin strips in a steamer, and laminating them... which is probably the closest modern-day equivalent in wood working.
May I humbly suggest that aspiring "Bowyers" look into making a flat bow first. The more rectangular cross section will be easier to shape and tiller (the progressively greater bending of the bow as it's made) than the D-shaped profile (flat side forward) of a long bow.
If anyone does have a go, think carefully about your timber choices. Yew had a heartwood much more dense than its sap wood. So logs were cut lengthwise like a slices of a pizza, so the heartwood supported the compressive forces at the inside face/rear of the bow, while the softer/stretchier sap wood handled the tensile forces at the front outside face. Yew was almost harvested to extinction because of its benefit for archery bows, and is extremely difficult to get now. Which leads me to...
Also, be careful with your glue types, if you're laminating dissimilar timbers. Many glues are brittle, and do not handle flexing at all. Epoxy and Super/CA glues are all extremely likely to break. If you're willing to wrap key points of the bow in glue-soaked twine/fabric... I've found the more rubbery glues work pretty well. However,rubbery glues are likely to delaminate (peel off) if they're used alone. They must be reinforced. Everyone has their own preferences, and experiences, so please feel free to try your own, and perhaps let us know how it went!
Anyway, I hope this helps!
Hamish.
