Glass/Riser

[mzombek]

Guys,
When carving the handle of the riser, is there a limit of how much of the glass that can be removed from the belly and back of riser. The way my bow is now, I have about an inch width of glass on the belly side of the grip. Does the glass strengthen the riser on the thickest part of the grip?
Thanks, Z

[rmorris]

Glass works much better in tension when glued up than it does in compression so on the belly side the glass should not make much of a difference when it comes to the strength of the riser, but on the back of the bow you will want leave some glass if you are concerned about strength. When I make a longbow I try to keep it about 1.5" from the deepest part of the grip to the back of the bow and 1.125" form side to side at the thinnest point. I have also found that typically a weaker point is the arrow shelf. Here is a pic of what I do and I encourage you to post a picture for more feedback.

[Glunt]

Many longbow styles have no glass on the belly of the grip section (or no glass anywhere at all).  I remove whatever glass in needed to get the back of the riser shaped correctly, but also add .030" as an overlay.

[kennym]

What they said!!    

And look at the Martin bows with no glass back or belly, and for that matter a lot of TD bows.

But!  I like to err on the side of caution, and put reinforcement in the riser, be it glass, phenolic, or even wood laminations.

Usually when a riser breaks, it is at an angle down from the place where the shelf meets sight window. Take note of the bows above that are well radiused in that corner.

Good luck and have fun!!  

[mzombek]

If I decide to add an overlay, is it done the same manner as the tips, using a hot lamp of sort.