Hello Fellow Bowyers,
This has been touched from time to time but I want to know your method to installing smooth transitioning riser and tip overlays.  I find that simply gluing on the layers of phenolic and wood strips to shape and sand afterwards is pretty difficult NOT to grind into the limb material.
The other evening I pre glued the componants together over celiphane in the areas they will utimately be applied.  Once set up I took the overlays off the covered bow and sanded the ends down to a smooth angle on the ends.  After this they were then glued to the bow at the riser and the tips, creating a fairly clean transition from the start.  This project has not been worked on since to finish up but I suspect it will help keep the fiberglass limb material from being harmed in the sanding process.
Chime in how you prepare your overlays, riser and tips, and see how we can all learn from each other.

That sounds like a great way to do it Chris! This is prob my least favorite part of building a bow, I'm never fully satisfied with em!

That is what I did on this last one and it worked great.

My prior projects I glued each piece on the bow and together at the same time and was a PITA.

I just finished my first glass recurve, and boy would this have saved my some agonizing. Thanks for the tip!

I preshape the overlays so the fades are feathered as thin as I can get then then glue them down. After that I shape and sand the tip/overlay together. I don't use handle overlays that are visable.

I don't pre-shape my overlays. Instead I use a Dremel with a 1/2" sanding drum.

I get mine close with a spindle sander (careful!) and then hand sand from there but always get into the glass a bit to get a good fade.

Prefading seems like it would help and I think about it everytime but get impatient and start gluing stuff on :^)

Chris, I'm sure glad that you posted this!!! I'm at this very point with my 1st bow, and boy was I stumped. Some great ideas here already though.

I don't pre-shape mine but I make the bottom one about an inch longer than the ones on top of it. If I have three, the top one is an inch shorter than the second. Just saves a little sanding. Still have to blend everything. Smooth-on is my favorite for overlays.  It seems to blend nicer than ca glue for me. If you want the nicest blend, use glass for your overlays. This stuff can disappear into the limbs.
 
 

Beautiful bow, Bodork.  
I just unwrapped the innertub bands from my project a few minutes ago and was plesantly suprised with the tight glue lines.

I am with Pat, I preshape mine, seems to work good for me.
Try some of the suggestions here and pick the one you like the best.
Good luck on your venture.
Bert.

Ditto on the Smooth On vs. CA glue...

Ditto on the Smooth On vs. CA glue...

Thanks for the info Bodork!
Anybody here that have photos step by step of the process ?
I have just building bows for two years and im still struggling with overlays!

I don't bother shapiong ahead of time, but that sounds like a good plan.

I will add though, one thing I've noticed is that if an overlay is roughly sanded (i.e. with 50grit) and glued on, the transition is never very good ... the edge looks rough. A smooth, medium or fine sanding before will result in a better edge on the finished fade.

QuoteOriginally posted by LittleBen:


I will add though, one thing I've noticed is that if an overlay is roughly sanded (i.e. with 50grit) and glued on, the transition is never very good ... the edge looks rough. A smooth, medium or fine sanding before will result in a better edge on the finished fade.

you noticed right!
 also remember no amount of sanding will make a bad joint look better!

QuoteOriginally posted by LittleBen:
I don't bother shapiong ahead of time, but that sounds like a good plan.

I will add though, one thing I've noticed is that if an overlay is roughly sanded (i.e. with 50grit) and glued on, the transition is never very good ... the edge looks rough. A smooth, medium or fine sanding before will result in a better edge on the finished fade.

I just had one of those light bulb moments on why my fades sometimes look rough no matter how much I sand  

haha Chris, let me tell you, I can't even think about how many hours I wasted sanding before I looked at the fade carefully and realized that it was the roughness of the gluing surface ...

I believe this has alot to do with why glass can be blended so smoothly ... because it's prefectly smooth on both gluing surfaces.

I glue up my riser overlays first and separate from the riser. Then lay it on the riser (no glue) for placement and continue shaping and sanding. When I am good to go I glue up using smooth-on. I try to apply pressure to squeze out any excess glue and wipe it off before clamping down.

My frustration is simply in the glue that is left at the overlay tips. I usually get on side clean and a little residue on the other. Lots of careful slow sanding from there but I too have never been truly overjoyed with my results.

I have a question also...at this point in my building I simply apply a wide on finish. for those of you who use Thunderbird and spray on your finish - does it cover over some of those overllay transitions allowing them to disappear a bit?

I find that when I taper the ends of the overlays too much the tips are harder to clamp down to get nice thin glue lines.