I've built a few takedown bows and would like to share a little bit of my process with all of you (and any lurking here we don't yet know).
I was inspired to make my first bow after reading Sam Harper's site since I also lived in an apartment. I had a shop for all of about 6mo before moving into the city and another apartment.
I think we've all seen that board bows are well within reach of apartment dwellers and poor people (to paraphrase Sam) but I'm not content building just board bows, and I don't have the money for a house or the space for lots of tools. I'm going to try to show any of you out there who feel limited by your lack of shop space what you can do with a little elbow grease.
So ... We're going to be building a 3pc takedown longbow with a R/D design. I will be shooting for 45-50# @ 25" draw length, but I assure you these bows are not limited to that draw, only my arms are. More on this later.
Did I mention there will be no fiberglass here, but we'll talk a little about stack thickness anyway!
Tools I will be using:
Belt sander - 4x36
Electric and manual hand planer
Home made lamination grinder
Power drill
Half Round/Flat rasp
Half round file
1/4" rat tail file
5/32" chainsaw file
Hand saw
Pencil
Tools you NEED:
Drill
Planer
Hand saw
Rasp
File
Sanding block
You may actually NEED a belt sander or a table saw to cut/surface the limb pad.
Materials:
Backing strip; hickory or bamboo or other
Core lamination
Belly lamination
Riser block 2" x 2" x 14" or so.
tip overlay material and optionally accent materials.
Limb Form
Bingham's takedown hardware kit
Glue of your choice, for this project lets say Urac/Unibond or TBIII so we don't need an oven, if you have/wanna build an oven, then also smooth-on.
Superglue
OK! Lets get started!
thanks ben i live in a rented house with a living room / kitchen and not much space so looking forward to seeing how this progresses so thankyou
I built a 68" longbow of very similar design for the bow swap 2013, and very much liked it, but want one thats shorter.
I've decided on 64", with a 14" riser. The limb will overlap the limb pad by 3.5" and will use a wedge of 6". This will give a working length of ~22.5" for each limb This doesn't sound like alot, but it's the same as a 60" bow with an 8" handle and 3" fades ... it's really not all that crazy, trust me.
So here are the specs we're shooting for:
64" ntn
45-50# @ 25"
I've chosen:
Hickory backing
Maple core
Wenge belly
curly Maple wedges
and a wenge and curly maple riser
BUT WAIT! We want to try to make as little dust tillering as possible, so lets test out the stack and taper first. We're going to use supertiller ...
I won't bore you with how to use it, and frankly, it only functions properly about half the time on 35% of computers ... but this is the result of modeling a wenge limb with a stack thickness of .440" and a total limb taper of .006" and a width of 1.6" at the end of the wedge. The width taper is basically pyramidal, slightly widened to 2/3 out on the limb then tapering to 3/8" nocks
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/limb.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/limb.jpg.html)
The model indicates this bow would have a draw weight of 49# @ 25". My experience is that supertiller tends to overestimates draw weight so we're going to go with a total stack of .450", and since the wedge is 6" long, we're going to add .036" to get the butt thickness of .486" .. rounded to .490". That will give us some wiggle room.
Supertiller also show a chart of limb stress along the limb, I can't figure out how to get it to work right, but just trust when i say that this was the most even limb stress I could get was at .006" taper.
Now that we've chosen a limb profile, and a general design for the bow, and we're happy, we're going to need to make a form to glue up the limbs and give them that perfect shape!
Here is mine, I already had it so I'm not going to show pics of building it but basically it's 3 layers of 3/4" pine laminated together, the profile is drawn onto the side, and then you just start cutting, sanding, planing, whatever you gotta do to get the shape. I used a hand saw to get close to the line, and then a belt sander to true it up. The holes are 1 1/4" or 1 1/2", wide enough for 2" spring clamps.
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/P1110327.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/P1110327.jpg.html)
Since it's a bear to make a form and I don;t have space for more than 1 or 2 of them, I make them longer than the limbs I intend to build, the right 3/4 or the form is a constant radius curve and for the left 1/4 of the form, the radius gets smaller, giving more and more of a curve as you get to the edge ... this was I can get some different profiles based on where I position the lams along the form during glue up.
Now onto preparing the laminations.
we've decided on a stack of .490"
I've decided on:
Hickory backing, .150" parallel
Maple core, .120" taper
wenge belly, .210" taper
I could taper them all, and theres no reason not to but my sled tapers at .0025" so if I taper them all I'll have too much taper.
I will taper 2 lams to give .005" taper, and I'll add the last .001" or so of taper during tillering ... it's an imperfect system for an imperfect world. If you can taper at .002", then taper them all. If you don;t have a lamination grinder either send your material to someone who does, or buy it pre-tapered! I didn't say I was going to teach you magic here!
Then we need a wedge. I believe I settled on .250" thick wedge, 6" long. This I will taper by hand on the belt sander ... carefully. A word to the wise on the wedge ... this is one place where you have to depart from what our glass loving brothers might do. Since our lams are so much thicker than what they use, you cant have any unnecessary contour to the wedge ... It needs to be a simple ramp shape. You're not going to be able to make a parallel section over the limb pad and taper the rest ... the lams will never make that bend.
Here's what the lams and wedge look like ready for glue up:
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/P1110326.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/P1110326.jpg.html)
Now we glue it up, you're going to need lots of spring clamps, and also some c clamps for extra pressure at the end of the wedge.
FOR GOD'S SAKE DO A DRY RUN FIRST AND CHECK to make sure your gaps are all good. You'll get a feel for where you need more or less clamp pressure. A pressure strip of hickory, maple or oak of .125" along the whole length, or just a critical section can go a long way to getting a better glue line.
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/P1110328.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/P1110328.jpg.html)
I'm using TBIII, so I leave the limb on the form for 5days to dry if it's very low humidity, longer if not. Better to wait than screw it up. I find that TBIII adds alot of moisture to the wood, so we're going to wait 2 weeks to tiller once the second limb comes off the form anyway ... might as well relax ... nothing about this is going to be fast.
Then do it all over again:
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/P1110329.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/P1110329.jpg.html)
Now wait 2 weeks for the wood to lose moisture. No I'm not kidding.
In the mean time glue up your riser block if you're not using a solid block:
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/P1110332.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/P1110332.jpg.html)
I should have mentioned you'll need between 20 and 200 beers for this project depending on your habits and your choice of adhesive
Most of my 150 to 200 beer bows come out a bit funny looking. Could probably handle the twenty though. :)
I'm enjoying this build along. Not so much for the apt aspect as just to get a good look at how you wood lam guys do this.
Is this a done project or should we kick back and wait two weeks for an update while those limbs dry.?
BTW, I have never considered the idea that the water based glues like TBIII could have that effect on the MC!
It's a finished project ... but don't tell anyone.
Yeah the water based glues really do ... I realized this from two things ... first the limbs are like wet noodles if you take them off the form after only 24hrs, and also titebond dries faster on wood than on my linoleum floor ... that's because the wood is absorbing the water and the linoleum isn't.
My final hint was that bows which I finish more quickly, often settle in in weight over weeks-months, and more than once the core has actually shrunk more than the back or belly so that the limb edges aren't perfectly even anymore.
Two weeks? Aw man, I was hoping to be shooting it tomorrow :smileystooges: Glad you are posting this and I'll be following along with great interest, Ben. I own a small home, but I'm limited to a small area in my basement. Nice to see a build along that can be done without a fully set up shop. :)
Ok, lets keep moving along here.
We've got our limbs laminated and our riser block glued up. I determined that 10degree limb pad angle will yield about 1 - 1.5" of reflex, just about what I want since I want to end with just about zero reflex.
Mark your riser for the limb pad
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/P1110332.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/P1110332.jpg.html)
Get out your was and start cutting
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/P1110333.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/P1110333.jpg.html)
It's gonna be pretty rough after the hand saw so clean it up on the belt sander, or if you use a table saw it's probably clean enough already
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/P1110343.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/P1110343.jpg.html)
Now we need to get those limbs and the riser drilled. We wanna do this before cutting out the limb profile in case we have less than perfect alignment.
I use a drilling jig I made. It's basically like the Bingham jig, except it's oak, it sucks, and it was $6 not $60. A drilling jig is not required but helps.
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/P1110345.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/P1110345.jpg.html)
Mark the limbs for the limb hole position, mount the jig and drill the 1/4" holes for the alignment pin holes only.Same for the riser.
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/P1110355.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/P1110355.jpg.html)
Then install the alignment pins in the riser, mount the jig to the back side of the limb, align the limb with the riser, Clamp the limb with jig onto the riser in the aligned position and drill right through the limb into the riser with a 5/16" bit. This ensures the limb is aligned and doesn't rely on the jig being perfect.
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/P1110358.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/P1110358.jpg.html)
Then enlarge the hole in the riser only to 27/64" or whatever is required for your hardware, and tap for the threaded limb bolt inserts.
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/P1110360.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/P1110360.jpg.html)
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/P1110361.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/P1110361.jpg.html)
If you don't have or want to make a drilling jig, you can just mark the hole locations and drill by hand (not recomended) or with a drill press. This is not likely to result in very good alignment.
OR you can just clamp each limb to the riser and drill both the alignment pin hole and the limb bolt hole straight through the limb and into the riser. The only downside is you'll need to fill part of the alignment pin hole on the backing side of the limb with a wood dowel or something. You can always cover this imperfection with a piece of glass, wood, or phenolic if you like.
Here's the result:
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/P1110364.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/P1110364.jpg.html)
Pretty decent alignment, not perfect but within 1/8" or so.
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/P1110366.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/P1110366.jpg.html)
Well it turns out I forgot to take picture of the limb profile marked on the back of the bow so I'll describe my process.
To begin, I draw a first perpendicular line across the limb 4" from the butt end. Then draw a second perpendicular line across the back 2/3 of the way to the tip, in this case it was just about 9" form the tip.
Second mark the tip width, you'll need marks for 3/4" wide, and 3/8" wide.
Now to draw the profile, mark a line extending along the limb from the side of the limb at the first line to the 3/4" wide mark at the tip. Do the same for the other side. This is your first taper line.
Next draw a line from the 3/8" wide tip mark, to the intersection of the first taper line and the second perpendicular line.
Like this ... Now cut out the profile, you've got a modified pyramid bow, little wider at mid limb to get some extra stability from limb twisting without adding too much limb mass.
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/limbprofile.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/limbprofile.jpg.html)
Next we bevel the limb tip and add a chunk of buffalo horn.
Here's the profile of the limb and the limb tip overlay glued on.
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/P1110370.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/P1110370.jpg.html)
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/P1110368.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/P1110368.jpg.html)
Lastly we're gonna add some spice to the limb butts. I don't have a picture, but I did this by bolting the limb to a block of wood that holds the limb at a 45 degree angle and then round it by hand against a belt sander. You can do this with a file as well, It will just take a long time.
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/P1110372.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/P1110372.jpg.html)
Here comes the part I love! All that work grinding lams and gluing pays off right now.
I did a quick floor tiller, I could see it was slightly stiff midlimb-tips, so I sanded very slightly then braced it. Here's the first brace:
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/P1110377.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/P1110377.jpg.html)
Had slight limb twist which I corrected, did a little sanding on the right (upper limb) and this is where we ended up.
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/P1110383.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/P1110383.jpg.html)
I then finished tillering which basically just involved pulling it one inch at a time and confirming that everything was kosher. After I got the bow to an even brace height and eliminated the limb twist, there was no more tillering needed. Just slowly exercising and working the limbs to full draw. tillered out to 26" for an inch of safety.
Ended up with 1/16" positive tiller, and just a hair of reflex. We'll see how it holds with shooting in. So far wenge seems to be a pretty decent belly wood. Granted it's probably 5x as expensive as ipe and not nearly as good, but it sure looks nice too.
Very nice build along ben! It's great to see this done with "poor folk" tools.lol
OK well lets keep moving along. We've got the bow basically tillered. Time to finish sand the limbs and add a little spice to the riser.
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/P1110388.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/P1110388.jpg.html)
I don't have pictures of the process, and really this should be done before drilling the riser, but I made a mistake/last minute decision, so I added a 1/16" phenolic strip the full length of the riser for some protection from riser breakage, then added 1/16" curly maple, 1/16" phenolic, and a second 1/16" curly maple lam onto the back side of the riser. I forget the exact length, but I didn't sweat the exact measurement here.
I also shaped the belly side of the riser block on the belt sander and added 1/16" curly maple lams onto a couple of the belly side curves.
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/P1110390.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/P1110390.jpg.html)
Also went ahead and stained the backing, rounded the corners, finish sanded the limbs, narrowed the tips to their final width, and shaped them up.
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/P1110384.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/P1110384.jpg.html)
I really wanted the stain much darker, but the sanded hickory back doesn;t take stain too well.
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/P1110386.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/P1110386.jpg.html)
Unfortunately I don't have before and after finishing photos, but anyway, after the previous step I got out my rasp, my file, and my hand saw and got working. Normally I use my belt sander for some things, and sometimes a drill mounted sanding drum, but in the spirit of this project being doable with minimal tools, I did all the riser finish work by hand, and have the blisters to prove it.
Once I got it all shaped out with the rasp and file, I sanded with 80, 150, then 220 grit, wiped off all the dust with denatured alcohol and finished the bow with 4-5 coats of wipe-on-poly, my go to finish. I did NOT try to fill the grain, I decided to leave the wenge more natural.
Here she is, all dressed up.
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/P1110398.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/P1110398.jpg.html)
This shows the true color better
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/P1110397.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/P1110397.jpg.html)
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/P1110399.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/P1110399.jpg.html)
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/P1110400.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/P1110400.jpg.html)
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/P1110401.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/P1110401.jpg.html)
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/P1110402.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/P1110402.jpg.html)
This shows the riser beveling the best
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/P1110396.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/P1110396.jpg.html)
The finished bow strung and ready for some more shooting.
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/P1110391.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/P1110391.jpg.html)
Full draw pic soon to come!
Bow turned out 45# @ 25", will probably settle in to about 43# or so with more shooting in (only some secret in the apartment arrows through it so far)
So it came in a little light, but still an acceptable hunting weight. I ended up with about 1.55" wide, slightly more narrow than the original model, and a stack thickness of .450" right after the wedge ... which was slightly thicker than the model predicted (at .440"). This is to be expected because like I said the model in supertiller tends to overestimate draw weight. I think this is because it only models a single wood and wenge and other typical compression woods are stiffer than most backing woods, and core woods. Or it could be I added slightly less reflex than predicted and the model also doesn't account for set in a wood bow.
All in all I'm pretty happy with this project, my only issue is with the color of the maple i-beam vs the maple accent lams. They were not from the same board and are obviously 2 types of maple because they don't really match. Live and learn ... next time all the wood of each species will come from a single board!
Excellent build along! And very cool looking bow.
Good looking bow :thumbsup: Thanks for the build along. I used Transtint Golden Brown dye in alcohol on the last hickory backed bow I made and it got it much darker than the stains I usually use. I'm adding this to my bows to make wish list.
Very nice build along.Great looking bow.I do belive I will use this for my first attept at a take down.Thanks Ben
Great looking bow. I really like that braced profile. Thanks for the buildalong.
Thank you all for the kind words.
D, Thats one of the reasons I like supertiller is the ability to fine tune the braced and drawn profile.
Glad you all enjoyed. One word of caution as to the use of wenge as a compression wood. I did this mainly because I had a ton of it, and the grain was very very very straight. I wouldn't recommend going out of your way to use it unless you must. Ipe or Osage would be much better choices.
At the time I started planning this one I had no osage (still don't) and had no ipe. I will likely move to osage and ipe almost exclusively for these takedowns because the limbs are highly stressed for the length of bow.
Very good, nice BA. Bue--.
Ben, You are getting me inspired to try a take-down bow! Not sure that's a good thing?
Here are a few questions for you.
I seemed like you drilled and tapped the wood in the riser to insert the limb hardware. Is that correct? Is this hardware store hardware or a Bingham or other supplier thing?
How much time do you get with the titebond before it skins over when lamming the limbs? Would like to try this with titebond but still know that the smooth-on would probably be better, but also more expensive!! :(
Did you use titebond to lam up the riser?
Thanks again for putting this up.
Still waiting for that full draw pic!
Really nice, Ben.
Roy, Thank you for the kind words.
Mike, the titebond working time depends quite a bit on the temp/humidity but I'd say maybe 10min or so. also the more glue you use the longer your workign time so I usually really load it on there. If you've got a decent shop area I'd probably try unibond or smooth on before TBIII. I use it on everything because it cleans up with water, doesn't bond to my kitchen linoleum, and is non-toxic in case my dogs get at the form during glue up (hasn't happened but just to be safe), also it has no odor so it keeps my better half happier than epoxy (i presume urac/unibond also has an odor).
I did lam the riser up with TBIII ... I did that months and months ago so I didn't have any pics.
Regarding the hardware, I did drill and tap the riser for the limb hardware, I used Bingham's takedown hardware kit with the knobs. I like not needing any tools to takedown. I think they get liek $13 plus shipping for it. Plus instructions for installation, well worth it in my opinion. I guess you coudl use hardware store hardware but frankly I don't knwo that you'd save much.
Here's the full draw pic for you guys.
Just another quick disclaimer about TBIII. I waited nearly two weeks after glue up to start tillering and that probably wasn't enough. when I finished tillering the bow was at 45# @ 26", by the time I had all the finish work done (4 days later) the bow was up to 45# @ 25", and I just rescaled it today and it was at 47#@25". Also it hasn't taken ANY set from shooting in since tillering. But during tillering it took about an inch+ of set.
What this tells me is it was still too moist 2 weeks after glue up, and some of that set was avoidable. Also, it may still be going up in draw weight and may even hit 50# @ 25". I will have to keep an eye on it over th enext month or so, and make sure my arrows are still correctly spined once things settle in a bit more. So like I said when I started, you really have to watch moisture content with water based glues. We should be treating bows glued with TBIII the same as we treat sinew backed bows, allowing a month or more of dry time before any beinding is done.
You can see from the pic that this bow could be drawn to probably 28" or so before getting to a 90degree string angle (I'm drawing 25"). Assuming your backing and belly can handle the stress, I beleive this is a suitable length and design for an all wood takedown longbow for anyone with a short-normal draw length. This bow is also only 1.5" wide, so going a bit wider, say 1.75" would reduce the stress alot and allow ou to get out to that 28" mark a little more easily.
(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc450/Benjaminklein/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_0284.jpg) (http://s1212.photobucket.com/user/Benjaminklein/media/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_0284.jpg.html)
I had the chance to do quite a bit of shooting with this bow on saturday and it performed great. Had the slightest fret in one spot on both limbs, I believe it was a weak spot in the board because they were bookmatched lams and it's in the exact same spot. Not even sure it came from shooting, but they're only about 1mm wide, and aren't growing.
The accuracy was fantastic, gotta love a nice longbow. Even though I'm barely as tall as this bow is strung, I really enjoy shooting thsi length of bow. I've found this is about the maximum I can shoot out of my ground blind also.
I did not have the chance to chronograph it, but it shot arrows tuned to my 43# recurve quite well, albeit they were ever so slightly weak whcih I think the addition of a velcro rest and plate will fix. Also the point on distance was besically identical to the recurve using the same arrows and some arrows weighing about 10% more. I expect to see about 150fps @ 25" with 500grain arrow, thats about as fast as any bow I can confortably draw will fling an arrow, so I'm quite pleased.
Musta' used better hickory this time eh' Benny boy?
Nice build along and a great bow man!
Haha thanks Chris, you're consistently my toughest critic (which I do enjoy) so it's nice to hear you like the work.
And YES! I will never use anythign but the best hickory. These pieces were literally arrow straight nearly quartersawn (slight bias) and the grain ran at probably less than 5degree angle to the length of the board. I also decided to abandon the recurve takedown because the recurve reduces the bending limb even more, and it's already pretty short because of the riser and wedges. This way the whole limb is working.
Also, the recurve, although I finally got a set of limbs to hold together, is not very fast at all. This longbow will beat it all day long because the tips are light, and the limbs evenly bending. Tough lesson to learn, but it's the truth. I think recurved wood bows are very very very difficult to execute without losign performance and/or durability. Best left for osage I believe, or maybe just more patient bowyers than I am.
Ben you can't be but about 4 foot 10" tall.. LOL
Full draw looks very sweet.
Look who's talking old fart???? Your wife has to "give ya' a boost" just to reach the handle on the beer fridge.
If I where you? Id be making me a matched set of static limbs. Just make the hooks small, I used half the diameter of a quart paint can for my form shape. For statics to perform the string has to leave the bow at say 40-50% of the draw length. If the string hangs around too long all you are doing is shortening your bow. My qt paint can caul is perfect for 27-28" draw. Id tighten the radius up even more for anything under 27". As far as fat tips go, narrow them just as much as you do straight limbs. I dare ya'?
Looks great Ben, I've always liked your laminated wood bows. Someday I want to try making one of your all wood takedown bows.
Joe
Ben, well done. I especially like the PBR can...
Can't wait to try to short-draw that one! You got a Sunday free sometime this month?
Finally shot the bow through a chronograph. 47#@25", 150fps @ 535 grains , 161fps @10gpp. On par with my glass bows.
That's with about 1/2 " of string follow.
Sounds like a screamer to me! Nice craftsmanship, and thanks for the very informative and well laid out build a long. I guess I'd let you build me a bow. Lol. Well done!
very good looking bow very impressive thanks for the build a long
The reason your lams aren't 'matching' after a while of the bow being made isn't because of the TBB3 and the water in it, it's because your wood still had excess moisture in it to start with pre-glueup.
I have to store my wood for years in a humidity/heat controlled space to get everything to true EMC. I've constantly been surprised as to just how long this actually takes.
QuoteOriginally posted by mikkekeswick:
The reason your lams aren't 'matching' after a while of the bow being made isn't because of the TBB3 and the water in it, it's because your wood still had excess moisture in it to start with pre-glueup.
I have to store my wood for years in a humidity/heat controlled space to get everything to true EMC. I've constantly been surprised as to just how long this actually takes.
I hear what you're saying but I'm not convinced. I never have the problem with smooth-on regardless of drying time for the lams and always do with TBIII. And these lams were all cut and tapered long prior to glue up. On the order of 6mo-1year in my apartment, possibly longer.
I think he only way to resolve the question would be to conduct a controlled experiment.
Smooth On is way superior than TBIII!
I use TB3 for glueing cherry bark backing on and it does raise the MC by a scary amount. I did one last winter on elm that was at 7 % MC and it took a good five days in my drying box at 90 degrees to bring it down to 8 or 9 %.
Roy it's just different, I made hundreds of wood lam bows with TBB3 and never had a single problem. It requires slightly different prep to Smooth on but it will hold together any wood bow design if used correctly.
Littleben - no need to do experiments. Just contact Titebond, ask their tech staff and get a copy of the datasheet.
I always get the datasheet of any glue i intend to use. They are very, very useful!
I don't see how the data sheet is relevant here. The only question is if titebond significantly effects the MC of wood. Since it's water based, some of that water must necessarily get into the wood.
My experience has been that no matter how dry the lams are before glue up, if I use TBIII, the glued up limbs have a higher MC than before. Take five'so data seems to support that.
Im not saying it's bad glue, my original point was just that after gluing with TBIII, it would be wise to let the glue up dry out for a good long time if you expect it to get back to the desired MC.
Hey LittleBen
Working on a stick my self apartment work shop too it is a pain got to watch the noise and cant work too late. hand tools love em not too noisey and presise cuts lol. I have been buggin every one for plans or set up with no luck so far hope you could help me out. so your riser is 14" and limbs are 22.5" if i read your post right. I was wondering if you could send me template of your riser and limb specs and how did you taper them.
any thing you can pass on will be appreciated. I am building 1 money is tight 2 I love this stuff and learning new tec gets me fired up Lol
Thanks bro
The Jammer
Laminations for the limbs were tapered on a drum sander.
I don't have a template for the limbs, but the form is an arc of circle. I know because I recall drawing it onto the form. All indid was use a string and a pencil to draw an arc of the radius I wanted that would give me the deflex and reflex I wanted.