My uncle gave me 5 walnut boards.Around 10 feet long each.They have been drying for years.I have 1 planed down around 3/4 of an inch.I am planning on cutting them down and glueing them together.Would that make a strong take down riser.

In my opinion walnut will handle up to about 60#, especially if you laminate some accent strips in. Depending on the pc of walnut ,of course.

What if alternated the wood walnut and maple.Would that strenghten the riser.

Maple is stronger than walnut. IMO

Couldn't hurt.  I've never had trouble with walnut,but know some folks have...

When glueing the riser what kind of glue do you use.

Smooth on is my pick.

What about tightbond 3

I had the same idea as you wappkid...I did this once with some scrap walnut and maple...3/4 board stock...I started with 3/4, and then decreased the thickness of each lamination (to try to avoid it lookign like I glued up 3/4 boards...I also used smooth on...I have not yet tried gluing up a riser with TB 3...

wow that looks good

I would do just as they suggest and laminate it with the maple.

Many years ago when I was just learning to build I did what you want to do and used TB glue, after a full day of shooting it the handle let go at the glue line. I would use Smooth-on or you may regret it like I did.

ill use the tite bound 3 any day !! you simplay have to  use a toothing plane   rough up  ur glue lines iv never had a bow let go yet on over 200 iv done with tite bound 3 im sure rick schaffold can attest to that also  just make sure you run a toothing plane or hack saw blade over ur glue lines then clean em with acetone befor ya glue it up  brock

If I roughed the glue lines with some rough sand paper.And then heated the wood up in the heat box for 30 min or so.Then glued it with the tight bond 3.Do you think it would hold it together.

yes but you dont need  the heat box  befor you use tite bond 3  maybe a good idea to heat the wood 2 or 3 days befor ya glue  if ya wanted to just to make sure it s dry  if i roughred it up with sand papaer id go with 36 grit  but i recomend you use a old hacksaw blade if you dont have a toothng comb    rember  your  glue line  is stronger than ur wood    brock

Thanks for the info.I am new to building bows. But not archery.

The problem with Tite Bond is that it releases with heat.  So, when you are laminating that riser into a glass bow, you may have problems.  I would recommend Smooth-on or Urac-185.

I am building a take down recurve.But I think I am going to go with the smooth on.

I have a couple of bottles of the tight bond 3.I thought I would try to get some use out of it.But I guess I will use it on somthing else.

if ur bulding a take down recurve  id defintly go with the smooth on  but id use urac 185 befor smooth on  as for tite bond 3  i thought you were just glueing a backing onto a slat  and glueing walnut to maple ha  thats what i use it for  good luck brock

Smooth on for the riser, why risk it? Good luck.  I've got a ton of Walnut, glad to hear it will work for a riser, Kenny have you used it for lams? Would be great to not need a veneer to make the limbs look good under clear glass.

-Mike

I raised this same question re TBIII with my building gurus awhile back and was strongly advised not to go there.   Advice was to lam up the riser and bake it in the kitchen oven at about 180, then,when baking the actual bow, hold the heat box temps to about 140 -150.

Incidentally, I like vintage bows, and walnut/maple lams were a common feature.   I have a Root longbow with a 25" riser of maple and walnut that i am planning on building a duplicate of.