BBO on the side?!?

[Stringman]

Ok I want to know if anyone has tried this. I have a piece of Osage that won't work with conventional ring orientation, so I thought a out backing it on the side. It is fairly straight grained so tell me if this will work and what I need to know first.









Scott

[lostarrow]

Never worked Osage but what you have there is a quarter sawn board ,but even better because it was split . JMHO, but you wouldn't likely have to back it. Unless there is some crazy thing about Osage . Like I said , it's like a board bow ,but better because it's split. Let's see what the Osage boys have to say.....................

[Roy]

Yes it will work, I prefer 1/4 sawn boards for BBO bows. Get that stave tapered from 1/2 thick at the riser section to 3/8th thick at the tips, leave it about 1 1/2 wide the entire length for now. Leave the back flat and do the taper on the belly side. I make my riser section about 13 inches long by 1 1/4 wide. I hold the 1 1/4 width out about 3 more inches past the end of the riser then do a straight taper to 1/2 wide at the tips. But the way to do this is get the belly side of the boo flat and then trace out your bows profile on the flat belly side of the boo and cut that out staying a 1/16th" away from your line, then get to the line with hand tools. Taper the boo from 1/8 thick at riser to 1/16th thick at tips. Use a toothing plane to score the two flat areas you are going to glue together. I use URAC 185 but it's no longer available, Unibon800 is it's replacement. Then do the glue up and after the glue is dry, glue on a riser section and after that dries, cut the bow out to the edge of the boo. Leave your handle area wide and then you can cut it down to suit your self.

[PaleoNinja]

Do It! That's perfect.

[Eric Krewson]

Your orientation is just fine unless you have some pin knots to deal with, they can cause you some problems.

[okie64]

Ole Roy and Eric gave you some pretty good info there. They both build extremely nice BBOs so I would take any advice they give you.

[blackhawk]

If you got at least an inch of workable width you can get a selfbow outta that....but if you got plenty of hedge and you've never made a bbo and want to then that's a good candidate and id say go for it..I don't see any issues in the stave from what I can see

[BowEd]

What Roy said.That's the way I've always done it.A deflexed relexed profile gives you a sweet fast bow.

[Stringman]

That's right BH, plenty 'O hedge. This piece doesn't appear to have enough wood to make a selfbow, and there are some tear outs that I'm hoping to cover up on the back.

Roy you have explained what I had in mind, but wanted to hear someone else say. It confirms my instincts were close. I had hoped to glue this up in reflex just not sure exactly how. Also will TBIII work or should I go with the gap filling epoxy? Another thought I had would be to heat recurves in then glue it... Just don't have enough practical experience to feel confident.

Scott

[BowEd]

Yep pre shaping your recurves before glue up is the way if you want recurves on her.I use smooth on wrapping it with innertube very tight so the glue line is very thin.You can hurry it up by putting it your hot box for 5 to 6 hours at 150 F. let er cool and she's ready for clean up.I put that painters trim masking tape on the bamboo to prevent squeezed out glue from getting on the bamboos back.Hold it in place on your wood with masking tape prior to wrapping with the innertube too.Also wrap it in saran wrap before you wrap it with the innertube so your innertube don't get stuck to your bow.C clamps will work too.

[BowEd]

Took another look at your piece of wood there.You might not have enough thickness to do a complete reflex with it.Never done that before.I'd think you would glue the handle on first then your bamboo.A D/F yes with the handle cut out to the shape of your deflex after glue's done,a foot or so long.Dry fit it till no daylight can show through.C clamp the handle to your bow.Dean Torges' forms work nice or a solid one piece form works well too.Torges forms are adjustable which is nice.

[Stringman]

Ok thanks, Ed.

So TBIII is out?!?

Scott

[blackhawk]

TB3 will work just fine,but requires a better fit...aka...no gaps at all,and don't score the wood like you wood with the epoxies. The epoxies are better at a novices mistakes of getting gaps and will hold just fine,but the TB3 won't like it. You also don't wanna starve the joint and put too much pressure on em and squeeze all your glue out. Either glue you use do a dry run mock set up over the form to make sure you have a good fitting joint. I've used TB3 a few times with good success and I've also used urac(now discontinued and sold as unibond) a few times with good success as well..its all in the prep work and using whatever glue you use properly.

[Roy]

Here is a video of my glue up with r/d. Note how the handle section is curved! This is why you glue on the riser section after this first part is dry. You lay the riser block on it's side and lay the bow on top of it and trace out the curve, cut it out, then glue on the riser, then cut it all out when dry. Note the blocks of boo on the back under the clamps for padding protection from the clamps. If you don't pad the boo it will get damaged at glue up and most likely splinter on you when tillering. I would spend a couple extra bucks and buy Unibond800, it's only about $15.00 and a can will make several bows. Also once your bows shape is cut out of the boo, lay the boo on your belly wood and string it to get it straight and then mark the edges so you can glue it up straight. I drill 2 small holes where they will be covered with the handle wrap and a small hole in the very end of each limb tip, then at glue up I stick toothpicks into the holes to keep it all lined up. Otherwise the boo could slide out of alignment at glue up and you end up with a crooked bow.  I just flip my belly wood tips with a heat gun before glue up, I don't think you want a whole lot of recurve in the tips of a BBO bow.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGXmqFxUjHU

[Stringman]

Perfect! That helps me to visualize the process. Thanks Roy!

Scott