Overlay Advice

[Scrub_buck]

How's the best way to prep the limb tips for wood overlays?

I am thinking about trying to put some osage overlays from scrap wood on taht elm bow i am working on now.

Scrub

[Josh]

If you don't have a belt sander, a piece of 60 grit sandpaper wrapped around a 2x4 works great for flattening out the tip for a tip overlay.  I always sand a little and then hold both pieces mated togetherup to a light to see if the light shines through...  When it doesn't shine through anymore I glue it on.  After the glue dries I blend both pieces together with a combination of rasps and sandpaper. They usually turn out pretty good, my first few were really blocky though.  Good luck!   

[gothmog]

the on e I just finished I used a scraper mostly, then when light no longer shone between them, as Josh stated, I sanded then glued up and clamped.  Shaped with rasps and sandpaper.

[Scrub_buck]

What glue is best for this application.  Epoxy    Titebond???  (I think I have a bottle of titebond II and III around here somewhere).

It might not make that much difference, but I'd like to get it right the first time (since iI have access to this resource) if you know what I mean.

[Josh]

I have used super glue, 5 minute epoxy, titebond I, II, and III, and Urac 185 all with success... The only failure I have ever had was with the 5 minute epoxy and that was because I accidently hit the tip of my bow hard against the floor. Just make sure you don't starve the glue joint and I think all these glues hold fine.  Good luck Sandy!   

[PeteDavis]

On fiberglass tips under great stress I used Super Glue gel. It's the skittle.

PD

[medicinewheel]

Superglue gel seems best for me, too.

[Pappy]

I use a good quality super glue,I use to use TT3 and it done fine,had a couple so I started using super glue and have had no failures and quicker to boot. As far as getting it ready to glue ,I sand the block on a belt sander so it is flat then usually use a scraper on the bow till it is flat and all fits good. I do it a little different from some on here ,I don't cut the tip of the bow down at an angle,I put the overlay on top of the limb and tapper the belly side up to the overlay. Just always hated to cut through the ring on the tip.Enough do it here that I am sure it's no problem ,I just always did it the other way before I saw the tips of the bow cut down. Hard to teach old dogs new tricks. I also wipe the tip and overlay down with acetone on denatured alcohol.
   Pappy

[HoBow]

Just clean with acetone and super glue it. Should work fine.

[DirtyDan]

I'm with Pappy on not cutting through the back and I also use CA flexible glue.  I also sand, scrape and use a toothing plane to make small grooves for the glue to settle in on both the overlay material and the back of the bow.   I also clean with acetone. If you buy the accelerant that comes with the CA glue you are good to go in about five minutes.  Don't clamp the overlay down too tight, though, as someone has said here, because it will squeeze out all of the glue.

[DCM4]

Only thing I can add is I try to keep the surface as flat a possible, where the tendancy is for it to be high in the center.  So I use a goose neck to take a little material out, staying away from the egdes, before I do the final step of roughing the surface w/ a mill bastard turned on edge, or a hacksaw blade, for want of a toothing plane.

[zenmonkeyman]

Another vote for Super glue gel.  I don't have a toothing plane, so I slice cross-hatches into the mating surfaces with an exacto blade.  My thinking is that hopefully the glue squeezes down into the slices and therefore has a deeper/stronger bond.

[Hillbilly]

I flatten mine with a belt sander since I have one, but I've also done it with sandpaper wrapped around a flat block or a big wide flat file. I make both styles of overlay, flat, and angle-ground, never had any trouble with either. With wood overlays, I usually use TB- antler, horn, bone and stuff I use two-ton epoxy or gel superglue.