Jack Farrell's Subeixi Bow Reconstruction

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Tue Aug 23, 2011 12:22 am

Zarasp; For the string, I took a piece from the shoulder of the skin of a deer raw hide, clean and without defects, even in thickness, maybe 20 or 26 cm across. Cut strips 6 to 10 mm wide in a spiral to make a long strip. Soak in water till very flexible and stretch the string. Wind across two sticks just a couple of inches longer than necessary. Wind the two sticks against eachother till the mass is tight. Attach one end up high and hang a good weight from the other end till dry. Keep polishing the string with the hand. this makes it round. I had to make several samples first.

Back to arrow making. The small whittled hollow allows you to insert a miniature plane diagonally and enlarge the hollow moving forward. Whenever working on arrows I like to keep the tools diagonal to avoid a transverse flaw.

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Tue Aug 23, 2011 12:41 am

Then use a larger plane to barrel shape the entire shafts. Or just continue with the small thumb plane. Remember that a plane first removes the high spots so super straighten the shafts twice before cutting on them to preserve the integrity of the grain.

Finish with the plane blade set very shallow for a good surface. A hole gauge- a metal plate with graduated hole sizes makes the arrows all the same size.

Next smooth with a scraper with a hook ground into it such as my Little Bird Scraper cut from a hand saw blade.

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Tue Aug 23, 2011 12:47 am

A scraper is ground at 90 degrees on a fine wheel. It is also held diagonally to the shaft and pulled to you. This removes the flats that the plane makes. Cut the nocks (easier said than done). Sand with #100 or 120 sandpaper. Then I cover with wet mud to take away the pale color; dry in the sun and steel wool with #0000.

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Tue Aug 23, 2011 1:00 am

People who do not know will say that these are commercial shafts because it is possible to make them quite accurate by hand. This also works with lumber shafts cut from squares on a table saw.

This cresting is made from hematite powder (red) and pearl glue and smut from a wood stove (black) and pearl glue. I do use artist's final spray matt fixative to fix the paint but the hard liners will never know if you don't tell them.

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Wed Aug 24, 2011 3:09 am

Here is a way to do perfect fletching by hand with few tools. The quill is worked down in thickness to 1 mm or less. A belt sander is an invaluable tool for this operation. Then take the wide side of the quill and cut down to 2 mm or less with smallest surgical scissors. If the quill is curved, then crimp along the edge between the thumb nail and finger tip to straighten. Cut the vane down to any manageable height. Pull one or two barbs off the front at a time to bare just a little of the fletch.

Take the crested shaft and nock the shaft onto a strung bow, any bow. Mark a small pencil dash at the beginning and end of where the quill is desired. Take a utility razor blade and drag it flat across the crested shaft several times between the marks to reveal fresh wood to glue to. Apply a bead of Tightbond or white wood glue and use pins to make the fletch stand straight up.

When the cock feather has dried, release the pins and mark the other two locations by dividing the circumference into three equal parts, mark, scrape and glue and pin.

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Wed Aug 24, 2011 3:19 am

Last came the points. It took months to get these from folks who do lost wax casting for art sculpture. I gave them one point from Inner Mongolia and one from Afghanistsan with good provenience of the same period as my bow, c. 500 BC. Molds were made and points cast; the most elaborate process imaginable, more difficult than the originals, I am sure.

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Wed Aug 24, 2011 3:21 am

One real prototype and four copies. You judge the quality.

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Wed Aug 24, 2011 3:25 am

Because of the technique, I still had to drill out the sockets using the original taper. It probably took 6 to 8 hours to make each arrow. Was it worth it? Sure it is! Jack

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Wed Aug 24, 2011 3:34 am

Goose fletches from Tiger.

Zarasp · Post by **Zarasp** » Wed Aug 24, 2011 5:50 am

Superb project! Superb craftsmanship!

did you sand the arrow heads for weight control?

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Thu Aug 25, 2011 12:02 am

Zarasp; I did not adjust the weights. They are 469,497, 512 and 515 grains, 8mm at the largest.

mushroom · Post by **mushroom** » Sat Sep 24, 2011 12:05 am

jack farrell wrote:Here is a way to do perfect fletching by hand with few tools. The quill is worked down in thickness to 1 mm or less. A belt sander is an invaluable tool for this operation. Then take the wide side of the quill and cut down to 2 mm or less with smallest surgical scissors. If the quill is curved, then crimp along the edge between the thumb nail and finger tip to straighten. Cut the vane down to any manageable height. Pull one or two barbs off the front at a time to bare just a little of the fletch.

Take the crested shaft and nock the shaft onto a strung bow, any bow. Mark a small pencil dash at the beginning and end of where the quill is desired. Take a utility razor blade and drag it flat across the crested shaft several times between the marks to reveal fresh wood to glue to. Apply a bead of Tightbond or white wood glue and use pins to make the fletch stand straight up.

When the cock feather has dried, release the pins and mark the other two locations by dividing the circumference into three equal parts, mark, scrape and glue and pin.

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Mon Sep 26, 2011 3:40 am

Mushroom; I pin the quill at the front. The other pins are into the wood only and lean against the vane (feather).

Alessi Francesco · Post by **Alessi Francesco** » Wed Sep 28, 2011 9:52 am

Hello Jack,great work,it's a very challenging bow to build.A very peculiar shape and construction(not easily understandable from a "scientific" point of view though).Congratulations.Are you going to decorate it?

Francesco

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Wed Sep 28, 2011 1:10 pm

Francesco; I want the construction as visible as possible so will not decorate. The only prototype for a painted one is one from a Chinese site which may be suspect. Others were covered with birch bark and one painted black.

Not worth covering up all the work for.

I want to take this one to a flight field. Will work on that.

Would like to make another, Just when though?

Jack Farrell's Subeixi Bow Reconstruction

Very well, don't stick the plume