I am making my first bow and it will be a bamboo backed, white ash core, and bamboo belly 66 inch r/d longbow. I have tempered all of my bamboo to a fairly deep brown, the bamboo has also been contoured to a more parabolic taper and is about .100in at the middle and .07in at the tips. I cut three full length parallel laminations of ash for the core.
I have several questions: first is can I use red oak for the riser as long as I sandwich it in laminations? Should I use titebond III or acraglas epoxy to build it (I would like to see how this bow turns out before building a hotbox)? Can I seal it with several coats of Watco Danish Oil then True Oil?
Thanks
Nicholai
Nicholai, Tempering boo for the belly add to the compression strength. Tempering the back, especially to dark brown will make it brittle and less strong in tension and will probably break.
TiteBondIII glue will work for these components I don't know about the epoxy. I use Tru Oil on all my bows.
Pretty big piece to bite off for a first time bow. Not meaning to offend but I have made over 50 and just now pondering a bamboo backed and belly bow.