Custom Compound Bow Accessories | Building Rat Bow Ep. 2

Time for step two of the Rat Bow build! If you haven't seen part one it can be found HERE.

After building the stabilizers in part one, I needed to roughen them up to fit the look I was going for. A roll of lacrosse tape and some satin black/hammered copper paint fixed them up nicely.

After playing with a few colors I decided this "bronze"/black look would be the style I wanted to go with. The next step was to order a set of strings and cables as the set on the bow now had a broken strand. I spoke to Margie Carter at ThreadZ bowstrings and had them custom build me a set in bronze metallic and black. I didn't want to spend much on this bow but their prices are extremely reasonable and a string is one thing you can't skimp on!

Before replacing the strings I decided to tear down the bow entirely. This was partially done to show others how easy a compound bow comes apart/goes together, but also because it would make the painting process much easier. Of course the accessories came off first and they are our focus for this segment.

SIGHT

Most target sights have a sun shade, this is done because in direct sunlight your pin can become so bright that you can't see past it, especially if shooting into a dark lane. Most hunting sights, like the one I will be using, have vents and open fiber optics to gather as much light as possible for dawn/dusk lighting. However, as described, this isn't ideal for target archery. Target archers prefer to control their pin brightness with an external light and shaded sights. To recreate this with my sight I used a piece of 2 inch pvc to narrow and extend my sight guard, acting as a sun shade. Then I blacked out my fiber optics from the outside and closed the light vents with pieces of scrapped license plate. I ordered a 3 foot piece of .16 inch fiber optic that will be used to run to my light source on the bow and then piped into the fiber optic pins. I haven't decided on a light source yet but will be looking through the junk pile to find a dimmable led for this purpose. Lastly I painted and distressed the look of the sight so that it will fit the mold.

REST

The rest on the bow is an NAP Apache. While nothing was wrong with how it operates, it's looks just won't flow. To "fix" this I chopped the cage and shaped it into something a little different with a flap disc. A quick touch up with spray paint and it fits the bill perfectly.

STABILIZER WEIGHTS

As mentioned earlier, the stabilizers were built and cosmetically modified. After shooting a few times before the tear down I realized they required a fair amount more weight on the back bar. This was accomplished by welding nuts to an additional piece of ladder stand tubing and affixing it to the end of the bar.

At this point the bow is ready for paint! Our next steps will simply be to paint, assemble, install new strings/cables and tune! I'll post the completed build as soon as it is finished... as 3D season is quickly approaching.

Video of part 2 :