My new ZONA. Arrived ! Bow report

[Dazool]

 Some of you may know that I used to have a Samick Lightning recurve that shat a top limb last year, I tried to get some warranty but found it only had twelve months coverage, and a new limb set was going to cost me $230 inc. postage. I thought bugger it, I'm going to get a custom bow instead of a mass produced one, but which one? I spent a heap of time on an American forum searching and in September I took the plunge and ordered a custom made Zona three piece takedown recurve from ArcheryTalk member Bill Griffen. I had ummed and arrred and jinned around for three weeks before finally coughing up the half deposit to get in line, this was on the 9/9/09.
  
Bill informed me the build time would be around 12-14 weeks (just in time for Santa to bring it to me), fine I thought, this gives me plenty of time to change around things like wood types and accents if need be. I originally settled on Dymondwood for the riser woods, the colours Tahitian Green and Charcoal to be precise. Dymondwood or Actionwood as it is called here is a block of wood made from many thin layers or laminations of specifically dyed timber. There are a multitude of colours to choose from and when sanded it leaves nice attention grabbing rings where the layers join. The riser was going to be built with a center block of charcoal and the green butting either side (front and rear) separated with two white and one black phenolic strips either side of the charcoal for an accent. The limbs were to be either black glass or some wood that matched the charcoal with clear glass.
 
 After looking at some of the other bows in the AT' thread that Bill had made (he also makes one piece and three piece takedown longbows) I notified him that I would like the woods in the riser joined with a slight hourglass shape. He said this was no problem and sent me a photo of the roughed shape before it was glued up, this was on the 7/12/09. Here are the first pic's I got of my started bow.





 Bill also asked what I thought of the 6mm veneer of charcoal Dymondwood he had slipped in between the two layers of white penolic instead of the black, I thought it would look great, so these were the final colours and shapes we settled on.

The below pictures are the riser block a couple of days out of the oven, tapered and tapped for the mounting of the limbs. Bill then draws a rough outline from his template so he can start hand shaping the riser properly, as shown below, I received these pictures on the 27/12/09.





Not long after, Bill sent me some more photos, these showed up on the 3/1/10. Bill has a full time job driving a semi trailer and works on these bows when he has the extra time (Having 7 kids I'm surprised he can find any time at all!) so I didn't expect quick updates. These photos were of the riser actually shaped, as I mentioned, Bill does all the work by hand, no CNC machining here. These photos were the ones that started to get me excited!





Some days later (7/1/10), after looking at the other pictures of bows that Bill was working on, I was looking through the AT' posts and was surprised to get a message from Bill saying "Do I love her as much as he does?" Love what? I was thinking, then these popped up as the last post in his thread 'Custom T/D recurves and T/D Longbows'. Well, what else would I think? I love it nearly as much as my wife (I hadn't held it yet so I have to say 'nearly').

Bill informed me the specifications came in at 62 inches long and 54lb @ my 30 inch draw length.













 On the 11/1/10 I received another email from Bill telling me that my bow was finished and he would ship it out within the next couple of days. Attached to the email was the following picture. I think he was quite pleased with himself after producing this bow, I know he doesn't want to send it!



Now, just waiting for it to come so I can do a field report.

Cheers. Dale.

[piggy]

Mate, great looking bow there!
excellent choice in timbers

[rossy]

Sweet looking curve Fuzz, love the choose of timber . I bet the wait is killin ya now .
Is there a reason with goin with 62''? or was it your long draw length, that made that decision?

Dickie

[Dazool]

That is just how she came out Dicki. I told Bill I draw to 30" and mentioned that I'd like nice long limbs. It should draw very nicely being reasonably long. My old Samick was 60" so this one is not that much longer really.

Yes, my quoit is hanging out waiting for it to arrive. It was sent priority USPS on Tuesday, so it should only take 7-9 days. Just in time for some practice before I make a fool of myself at the club.

Dale.

[Dazool]

Yeeha! Look what arrived on the 20/01/10. I could not get home from work fast enough,



Upon opening the box (Like a little kid at Christmas) I found four neatly wrapped packages, unharmed from their trip from the other side of the world.



I unwrapped the pieces and noticed what a great looking job Bill had done. The joins between the Dymondwood and the accents were terrific, the very thin taper off of the wedge in the limbs was impressive, the limb tips and string grooves were very well executed. Overall I’d give it 9/10, some very small sand marks in her deducted that 1 point! I then put her together. The fit between the limbs and the riser was perfect, the limbs just fitted where they were supposed to go and the limb bolts did up with ease. I slipped the 58.5 inch 14 strand D-97 kiwi/black string over the top limb and fitted the bottom loop to the string groove. I then strung my bow in the manner I’ve been shown by a good mate, the limbs flexed with ease and the top loop settled into the nice grooves.

















A quick test yank came with a nice surprise.............A great fitting grip and no stacking! The draw was very smooth, from the start right back to my mouth which is my 30 inch draw stop. Bill suggested a brace hight starting at 7.5 inches so I de-strung her and gave the string a number of twists to get it there. I then grabbed some 11/32 woods and some XX75 2213 alloys and took her outside for a shot. It was so sweet to shoot, the arrows came out
spot on (both types of arrows) with a good amount of speed, they also went exactly where I looked (surprisingly, as I am sort of new to traditional archery). The bow was a little noisy (by no means excessive) so I fitted some silencers, possibly not needed, just me being fussy. I also fitted my slide on Selway quiver and it also helped dampen her a bit.
The alloys came out quite quick, this showed through the chrony’ and I was pleasantly surprised at the figures. This was the fastest for the alloys (it is 32 inches long and weighs a total of 517 grains).



The woods were no slouch either!



I have shot some hunting arrows through her and they fly just like the field arrows. All I have to do now is be successful with her out hunting. I am no expert when it comes to traditional gear but this is one hell of a bow for the $600 US it cost me. If you are interested in Bills Zona bows you can contact him here - http://zonacustombows.net/zonastory.htm

Dale Furze, owner of Zona T/D recurve No. 36

[piggy]

Mate some great results! you have to be a happy chappy.

[rossy]

Great write up Furzie . Looks like a excellent price, for a great custom bow.

Dickie

[jindydiver]

I love the look of that bow

Will you be bringing it to the expo?

[Dazool]

Yes Mick, I will take it to the expo on Saturday. It will be there for those who would like a shot (supervised of course!).

See ya on Fri. night I suppose!

Cheers. Dale.