laminate glue up advice: pleeease?

[missilemaster]

I just got done gluing up a Hickory backed Ipe R/D bow and when I took it out of the form, I cou simply pull the hickory off the ipe! Here is exactly what I did:

1. Cut ipe 1 1/8"wide, and tapered it from mid limb to 1/2" tips. Thined it down to 7/16" at the handle to 3/8" at the tips. Hickory 1/8" thick.

2. Roughed up both surfaces with a rasp. Vigorously scrubed ipe and hickory with acetone, waited 15 minutes.

3. Mixed glue (bowgrip 100) according to directoins on can. Put a liberal amount on both sufaces then quickly wraped a bicycle innertube around both (not too  tight) then clamepd it in my form.

4. put it in my hotbox to let it cure for 24 hours (twice as long as it says on can). I took it out  of the box andout of the form and all looked good. I noticed that over the next 18 hours it slowly started to loose reflex. At that point I realized that the tip had completely delaminated, the whole thing came off with a tug.

Does anyone know what went wrong? this is my 3 rd ipe bow that has done this. I REALLY want to learn how to make these kind of bows well, and I will!!!  Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

                         Thanks,  God bless, Cody

[blackhawk]

get some urac-185.....i have heard bad things about that bowgrip 100 stuff....did the glue specs say to roughen the back?

[missilemaster]

The directions did not say to roughen the back but that is some thick glue and i have heard that the back should be roughed on thick 2 part epoxies. What have you heard about bowgrip?

[blackhawk]

you should always follow the glues directions. ive heard some other folks having problems with it delaminating. its hard to know if its the glues fault or operator error?

[bryan irwin]

I use a hacksaw blade to rough up the ipe then clean with denatured alcahol i use smooth on.

[vinemaplebows]

   Bowgrip, for whatever reason woks for some people, I also have read a lot of people dislike it. Titebond will do just as good of job, and you don't have to rough the back up.

[mikekeswick]

Remeber glues work on a microscopic level. So 'roughening' up may simply mean give a quick rub with 80grit paper. A rasp is NOT the correct tool to use. Get some titebond and get the surfaces as smooth and dead flat as you can.
Have a look on Dean Torges website and look for the info on glues. This man is also a cabinet maker as well as a bowyer and really knows his stuff.
Remember there are different types of glues with different properties/requirements and you MUST know what you are dealing with before you use it and prepare your surfaces appropriately. A bow is probably one of the toughest things laminated wood can be. A good bow is 9/10ths broken at full draw.
When preparing laminates aim for perfection.

[bubby]

tight bond 2 will do the job, Bub