fluffydragon

It came out a bit bigger than I intended but I'm very happy with it. I used 3/4" pipe and a heat gun. The middle piece is also 3/4" with connectors jammed into either end of the middle connector PVC. When heat-shaping, the ends going into the connectors shrunk just a smidgen, so there's a piece of electrical tape on the inside to make the fit snug. I wanted this thing to be able to be taken apart for trips and storage.I used a few different grades of sandpaper - several very fine filaments came off the PVC with coarse sandpaper so I'm glad I followed the instructions and used a mask. I used a premade block/wedge sand thing (yay words) to smooth off any stray filaments before coloring. I was able to get the ends hot enough to flatten them a bit to look more 'bow like'.Instead o...

It came out a bit bigger than I intended but I'm very happy with it. I used 3/4" pipe and a heat gun. The middle piece is also 3/4" with connectors jammed into either end of the middle connector PVC. When heat-shaping, the ends going into the connectors shrunk just a smidgen, so there's a piece of electrical tape on the inside to make the fit snug. I wanted this thing to be able to be taken apart for trips and storage.I used a few different grades of sandpaper - several very fine filaments came off the PVC with coarse sandpaper so I'm glad I followed the instructions and used a mask. I used a premade block/wedge sand thing (yay words) to smooth off any stray filaments before coloring. I was able to get the ends hot enough to flatten them a bit to look more 'bow like'.Instead of paint, I rubbed 3 different colors of RIT dye into the 'grain' and wiped it off again with water and paper towels. I did this over a few separate passes to make the wood have a natural looking variance of color - the dye dried very fast and for some reason left a light shine on the pipe, no need to seal or spray with clear coat. It fooled everyone who looked at it into thinking I had a wood bow.I used rubber cement to secure the wrappings. Thanks for the tutorial!!