I'm going to take a crack at a glass laminated bow...maybe crack isn't a good word to use. Anyway. Was wondering if ipe would be a decent wood for the core. I am having a hard time finding bamboo that is longer than three feet. Or maybe I could splice two pieces of boo together to get the length I need??? I will also have to splice the laminates together, so their will be three splices on the same center if I was to go that route. would that be a bad idea, or should I just go with the ipe?
Any help would be great.
You won't have any problems by splicing your lams together. If your glass is spliced on the back of the bow- just put an overlay over it and you will be good.
I do three splices in mine all the time. I cut them on 45 degree angles on the miter saw, gouge them with the toothing plane, and glue them together with Smooth On... staggering the joints by 1/2" or so.
Butt splicing bamboo shouldn't be a problem.
And yes, ipe would work in a laminated bow. Pretty much any wood that will make a bow without glass will make a bow with it. Though I usually prefer less dense wood in between the glass.
Only 12% of the strength of a bow comes from the wood, while 88% comes from the glass. Almost anything stronger than Balsa or Aspen will work for a wood/glass composite.