All wood takedown bow build along! PICS ADDED!!

[LittleBen]

Hello to all my fellow bowyers here on TG. I decided to try and do a little build along. I'll do my best to fight my inherent laziness and actually post photos as I work.

I'm building a 3 piece takedown recurve bow, I'm shooting for something wround 64-66" ntn and maybe 40-50lbs. The limbs will be Hickory backed Jatoba, 1.75" wide at the fades and tapering to 1/2" tips. The riser will be laminated Jatoba thinwood and probably some figured maple or laminated hickory thinwood on the belly side of the riser. Probably going to do 10-15 degrees deflex of the limb pockets.

Here are some pics of the recurve form I just finished, as well as some pics of the limbs just off the forms.
 
 
 
 
To make the limbs: first I steam bent each of the hickory backings to the form and let them cool and dry, then the same for the jatoba. Then I laminated the pre-bent lams on the form using TBIII. Form is thoroughly oiled so that the glue wont stick much. FYI the hickory backing is 3/16 and the Jatoba is also 3/16.

To make the portion of the limb which will attach to the riser thicker I will cut 6" from the base of each limb and laminate that piece on the belly side so that its layared Hickory-Jatoba-Hickory-Jatoba and then taper them over the last 3" to fade into the limb. (Pics to come)

Since I did not use any tapered laminations I will need to thoroughly tiller the limbs once the bow is assembled. I intend to remove wood form the belly and backing side of the limbs to maintain the 1 to 1 ratio of backing to belly wood.

[LittleBen]

Forgot to mention. Unfortunately the hickory has a large amount of grain runoff. I figured I wound just give it a shot, anyone have experience with poor quality hickory failing due to grain runoff?

Maybe I will have to back it again. maybe I could use really thin edge grain maple or something, or really thinned out good hickory. Any thoughts? I guess theres always sinew ..... or rawhide?

[Trux Turning]

Pretty cool- I'll be watching this one!

[briarjumper12]

That looks like something I'd like to try too. I'll be watching.

[fujimo]

my first hickory board bow, had bad run off on the bottom limb- possibly a growth ring runout about every 3 or 4 inches.
it is still shooting well to this day- many many hundreds of shots- and i geuss i can now say that the tiller was a little( ahem!!) less than perfect- beng only my second bow an all!!
gave me faith in hickory!

[fujimo]

ps. not saying that my bows now, are of perfect tiller- i think that they are just a bit better!

[D]

Hope it works for ya.  Interested in seeing how it finishes up

[wood carver 2]

I'm very interested!!! More please!        
Dave.

[jsweka]

This is gonna be neat to watch.

[red hill]

Very interesting thread. There won't be any fiberglass?
Definitely something I'm interested in as well.

Thanks, LittleBen.
 

[stringstretcher]

Looking forward to this.  I ask this question if this would work or not, and got few replies.  Good luck.

[Roy from Pa]

Looking nice, can't wait to see more.. A tip for you, wrap your limbs with plastic wrap before glue up, that will keep the glue from running down over your form and clamps.

[LittleBen]

redhill, no fiberglass ... just wood ...  and maybe sinew if the runoffs get too scary.

Roy, I havent wrapped the limbs because I was worried the TBIII would not dry if it didnt get good air circulation. Have you tried this with TBIII? I'd be interested to keep things a bit cleaner .... and Im sure my girlfriend would prefer I dont **** up the porch everytime I have a glue up.

[fujimo]

the other more lengthy alternative , is to varnish the form, and then apply multiple layers of fiberglass release wax

[Roy from Pa]

I never used Tb glue. You could just cover the form and area adjacent  to it with plastic wrap, or freezer paper with the waxy side towards the limb. The limbs would lift right off the wax paper.

[tradshooter55]

Where did you get the 3/16 Hickory and 3/16 Jatoba? Did you order it or cut and plain it. I have built a hickory/Bamboo backed long bow & a few Red Oak long bows. This is just what I was planning for my next project. I will surely be following this.

[LittleBen]

James? or Jim?

Anyway, the hickory I ordered as "hickory bow backing strips" most of the suppliers are cutting them 1/8-3/16. The Jatoba ... I found at a sawmill up in NY that was in an area that used to have alot more demand for high end woods, market fell out with the economy. They were sitting on lots of what they called "scraps" of some exotic woods .... jatoba, ipe, cumaru, sanotos mahogany etc. I think I got like 2-3 board feet of Jatoba, 2-3bf of ipe, and like 1bf of cumaru for like $10. The jatoba was already s4s and between 5.5mm (3/16) and maybe 6.5mm (7/32). I ripped it into 1.75" wide strips.

Now I really need to get to building a lam grinder so I can get some core tapers etc.

[LittleBen]

It was kind of funny almost, all those "scraps" were either perfect belly lams, or 1.25" x 3/4" x 6ft boards ... perfect board bow wood. Next time I'm up there I really need to go buy like all they're exotics. Down here in DC metro area its a wasteland of mediocre sawmills ... I much prefer the country sawmills ...

[tradshooter55]

LB.. Thanks for the info...Waiting on your riser design & build.

[Apex Predator]

Wear a helmet and safety glasses first time you draw her.  I'm interested in how the limb wedges turn out.