Longbow Build Question

[cainsaw]

#4270

Hello Everyone Was wondering if there is any Bowers that could answer a few Questions for me. I have been Building Longbows for about 5 or 6 months now and have built about 6 bows, But have mainly just used Hickory and Bamboo maximum of 3 laminated pieces. I am now looking to attempt a multiple laminated longbow with Fiberglass back and Belly of the long bow. My first question is should I alter the butted ends of my Core laminates on my center line. I am looking at using a black .50 fiberglass piece as my back then a set of Coreflex Action Bamboo 1.00 butted on center line then Riser block and the another 1.00 tapered coreflex action bamboo then a tampered Black Walnut of 0.60 then a Clear .50 Fiberglass. I was wondering is this layout ok or should I move the Second Set of Coreflex Action Bamboo underneath my Riser block and alter the butt Joints on my Center line and just use the Black Walnut and Clear Fiberglass on top of my Riser block.

My next question is should I add A accent riser piece on back of bow to help Support the butt joints under the black fiberglass or will the Solid 0.50 black fiberglass and the Epoxy hold the Laminates together, I am using Smooth-on Epoxy to keep from separating once I start tillering the bow. Thanks in advance for any help, I looking for advice since never tried a multiple laminated bow like this and really don’t want to trial and error method $150.00 dollars worth of material.

[Cameron Unruh]

#29416

Cainsaw – rather than butting the ends together – I use a plain scarf joint and a little super glue to hold them in place. If you just butt them up together they will separate a bit in the glue up process. The back glass is enough to hold it all together but I usually add an overlay simply because I like the look.

Here is a pic of both the osage riser bow has no overlay and the scarf joint is noticeable if you look for it but it came together clean enough that I did not use an overlay.

[cainsaw]

#30090

Thanks for Advise I will use the scarf joint to piece my coreflex pieces together. I read that somewhere several months back but forgotten about it. Those are some really nice looking longbows Also. I am building bows for friends and just asking for them to give me feedback on how the bow’s Shoot and perform. Hopefully after several more I will be comfortable enough to tackle a Take down Re-curve. I am a little nervous due to the Fiberglass, this will be my first time using the fiberglass, and have read it can be a pain to work with. I am just hoping my limbs draw evenly so I don’t have to sand very much to tiller the bow in, Since not like using stock piece of Hickory where you can sand all you want to get the bow down to draw weight and to drawing evenly. I added a white Accent strip into my Riser and going to add White and walnut for tip overlays will see how the White overlay looks on back of riser and probably will add to help support the fiberglass and joint. I will post picks once I get it laminated up and cured, Again thanks for the help.

[Stephen Graf]

#30474

It looks like the fades on your riser are a bit steep. Not knowing how long your riser is, I can’t say for sure. But if it was me, I’d want a more gentle slope to the fades.

I make the hand section of my long bow risers about 4 inches, or the width of my hand.

Getting the glass to lay down on the steep fades will take more force than to get it to lay down on a gentler slope.

[cainsaw]

#31202

Nice catch and thank you, just saved me from making a big mistake, I would have never caught that until I was ready to epoxy laminates together and that would have been bad to try to fix once I was epoxying everything together. It will almost lay down but going to take a 1/4 off each side to make the slope gentler, so it will not be so difficult to tape down once I do start epoxying everything together. Everyone else this is why they say do a dry run before you start epoxying the laminates, will remember that one from now on.:)

[Author]

Posts