Ok, so I have built my form and have things ready to try a laminate bow, but I am finding that getting the handle to conform perfectly to the form is quite a daunting(sp?) task.

No matter how much I sand and tweak I always end up seeing a bit of light somewhere along the front edge of the handle where it will meet the lam.

How crucial is that the fit be completely perfect?

You only need to get it as close as you want your glue lines to be, because if you see light, you will probably have a thick glue line.

Yep, what Marty said, it won't show as bad on dark woods tho.

You might try laying the riser in the form,and taking a thin shim and a pencil and marking the riser with a line to sand to. The shim only needs to be as thick as the largest void.

Hope that made sense!!

Lining your form with 1/8" of rubber helps make it a little more "forgiving" as well.  Chad

I've got access to some soft rubber about 3/16" thick. I have thought about cutting some to place on my form. The top of my form is aliminum, what glue would hold up to the heat? I used 3M spray contact cement on the alum. but had some issues with it pulling away from the board along the low contours.

Cut a peice of 80 grit sandpaper and tape it to your form with double sided carpet tape. It should be a little longer than your riser. Then set the riser on it and sand back and forth moving the riser only 1/2 inch or so. You will be able to get it very close this way.Good luck, Bob

Canadabowyer, has a great tip, it's an old woodworkers trick for mating surfaces.

If you have a taper between the riser and the glass/veneers, make sure you take that into account. On the form I built from Kenny's plans, the .002 taper is glued directly to the riser. If I mate my riser block to the form w/o the taper under it the contour of the riser is off and leaves a gap toward the fades.