This will be for a trilam Hill style ASL.  I'm thinking hickory back and walnut core.  I'll probably use the same combos for a D/R trilam as well.

Any suggestions for this.

(Note:  when I say Hill style I don't mean to replicate a Hill bow so I m not looking for his classic formulas)

I believe poplar would be a good wood for you to use. It's light and soft...


Osage of course would be ok too..    

Why is it that all you guys east of Grand Island are so set on osage?  OK Roy I got to squeeze as much out of you as possible before you go under the knife and get your hands on the good drugs instead of that Coors light.    

Should the Osage be thicker than the hickory?

How critical is grain in the hickory?  

I found some hickory today, but nothing with the kind of grain one would look for in an oak or maple board bow.

People might say otherwise but the grain is critical. Aim to get the straightest grained board you can find. That goes for all your belly but especially back and belly.
Ipe, greenheart, pau amerillo would also all work.
You would need a good wood to pull off a narrow bow like you describe. So you need good elasticity and resistance to compression.

Osage belly 1/4 sawn @ 1/4" thick, leave it parallel.  Walnut core 1/4" thick, tapered from end of riser to 1/8" thick at tips. Hickory backing 1/8 th thick, you want perfectly straight grain hickory with very minimal run out and 1/4 sawn. The Osage belly should also be very straight grain with minimal run out. 1 1/4" wide at flares, maintain the 1 1/4" width out 6" past the flares then do a straight taper to 1/2" wide at tips. I would make the bow 62 to 64" long, with a 13" riser. But I don't know what hill bow specs should be. But wood grain choice is mandatory for these glue ups. You want very nice material.

And Osage is the king when it comes to all wood bows.  

Ipe, osage or yew. Anything else is no good IMO. Id lean towards yew if you can get some. I did up a boo/paduk/yew RD tri lam and its amazingly light.

Looks like a tour of the wood dealers is in order.

In the past, my big box stores have not had anything other than oak, maple and poplar.  Yesterday discovered that the HD now has some hickory and walnut too.  None of the hickory was bow wood though.

Heck, might even find some Grail wood, Roy!

Gotta be some ipe around here.

Dear Mikie.. There are numerous sponsors on trad gang that sell bow making wood. If you are serious about making a wooden tri lam bow, then I can point you in the right direction. It's that easy dude.

You need good wood material to make a good wooden bow. Wood bows are a whole different ball game compared to slapping a couple wood lams in a glass sandwich. Any one can make a glass bow...    LOL

Gee thanks Roy, (I think).  Please do advise who those suppliers are, oh great under rater of the meticulous process of building a glass lam bow!

BTW, I did build a poplar self bow once.  Probably won't do any more.

Pine Hollow Longbows, Three Rivers, Troy Breeding to name a few. All are sponsors here.

I still have my first poplar bow and it's doing fine. I just never shot it..  

Well, mine came in around 20#.  Think it ended up a car door victim.

Thanks for the dealer suggestions.  I am of course familiar with Troy.  Didn't know 3riv carried wood and pine hollow is new to me.

Still going to do some local shopping.  Who knows what at might be out there.

Hard maple is cool...

QuoteOriginally posted by Roy from Pa:
Hard maple is cool...

Yah, for gun stocks, cutting boards and bowling alleys. Get some proper belly wood Monty  

Let me poke around. Perhaps I have something, we could barter. I like to barter, except with Roybert. I never come out even.

Let me know. I have lots of stuff I'd turn loose.  Not sure what would work for you.

Maple would work too.

Pearly was talking about a core or backing son...

As far as sponsor vendors, you can also give Echo Archery a shot.

I recently purchased 2 pairs of osage lams from Carson and they are great!  The grain on the lams was just about perfect (nice straight grain on the face of the board with the end grain being between 45 degrees and perpendicular to the board).  Plus, if you want bamboo, the bamboo I got from him was also really nice.

Hey Tyler, good to see someone from my neck of the woods, I'm in Crookston.

Sorry for the hijack... but ya, I've seen your posts before here, but I didn't see where you where from until now!  It's cool to see someone else from the area on here.