Tips on building a Form (Pictures of finished Bow added)

[Buemaker]

Looking good, what kind of tapers did you use in the limbs. Bue--.

[rmorris]

Bue,
This bow only has two bamboo laminations in it, one .002 taper in the belly side of the bow and the back side had a parallel. Using the parallel on the back side has many advantages to me. It does not effect how your riser fits in your form nearly as bad as tapers do and you can join them together much easier. In some bows I use all tapers and I can not get the the back side lamination to look this good with tapers. If you look just below that dot on the bamboo layer you can see the joint.

[monterey]

Originally posted by Crooked Stic:
 I made a jig out of hardwood (maple) about 2 in. tall with the hardware holes drilled on a press. Then attach it to the form with long wood screws. This lets you drill right on the bench and not have to wrestle the form in a drill press.  

I do that same thing after it was suggested in another thread here on the Bench.  Probably was you who made the suggestion?      For the drilling part, I do it after the form is completed but attach the two halves together with the desired spacing by using a couple of brackets.  I'd do it your way, but don't trust myself to end up with the form cut in half and built to properly match the two halves space wise.  :D

[Kenboy]

I apologize for my ignorance, but what's LVL?

[rmorris]

LVL is laminated veneered lumber. It is used in the construction industry to make headers and joists.  The stuff most bow makes use is 1-3/4" thick and comes in heights of 9-1/4" or 11-7/8" tall. They make it as long as 48' but most lumber yards will cut you off a short piece for a form. If you are making a recurve the 1-3/4" is perfect but for a long bow you will need to get it down to 1-1/2" . Hope that explains it.

[Kenboy]

It does, thank you. I was going to use two 3/4" sheets of plywood screwed together, but LVL looks quicker and cheaper.