68" hickory backed Lemonwood ALB(with pics)

[Pat B]

 As I said in my "...need help..." thread this lemonwood stave was given to me by James Parker a few years ago. I knew from the start I wanted to make a classic lemonwood bow and an ALB was a traditional lemonwood bow in the 1930s and 1940s. Being that this stave is a sawn board I thought a hickory backing would be a good idea and it is also traditional.
  After getting some ideas from other members I started by adding the riser to the belly first. This is the way I used to do it but its been so long I wasn't sure. Pearlie said to do it this way so I did. I need someone to blame if it screws up.  This first pic is the first dry lay-up. I wanted to be sure everything lined up well before glue-up.


I'm using an osage riser block. You can see in this pic that the riser's basic shape was cut out. I retained the removed wedges to help when gluing the riser to the lemonwood belly. You can see the cut lines if you look closely.


Urac is my glue of choice for this bow.


I mixed up the Urac glue using the volume method; 2 parts of the liquid and one part of the dry. After sanding the glue surfaces on my belt sander with course belt I brushed the dust off and buttered both glue surfaces, put them together and added the clamps. I used the retained wedges to give me a flat clamping area for better clamping.

 
The belly/riser glue up then went into the hot box for a few hours at about 120 deg. After it came out of the hot box I let it rest until this morning to insure it had completely cooled.

[Danzn Bar]

I'm going to enjoy following this one.
DBar

[Pat B]

 This morning I removed the clamps and went back to the belt sander to clean up the sides and to prep the backing and belly for glue-up. I got both glue surfaces ground flat and slightly tapered the hickory backing from the handle area out to the tips.
 Pearlie gave me a tip to prevent the back/belly from slipping around while adding the clamps(in my case tire tube bands). He told me to drill 2 holes through the backing and slightly into the belly at the center of the handle area. I clamped the backing to the belly so they were properly lined up and drilled two 1/8" holes. Then I cut 2 small pieces of 1/8" dowel, sanded it a bit so it fit into the holes easily but with no slack. I can already see how much tis will help.




...and this is where I stand now. I have the glue surfaces prepped, the alignment pegs in place so now it is time for the glue-up. I'll take pic as I go and post more later after the glue-up is ready to be worked again.

[Parnell]

Do you know if Degame can grow here in S. Florida, Pat?  I mean, Cuba ain't too far away.  Or is there some type of soil/elevation issue? 

Looks like it is going to be a very fun build.  I'll be watching.

[DuBois]

I am a little intimidated by the idea of a wood backing and will be watching this closely  . Cool idea on the dowels.
How do you guys get the surfaces so perfectly flat?
Thanks, Marco

[PEARL DRUMS]

Boards come that way Doobs.

[criveraville]

Thanks for the pics Pat. Will be watching this come together 

Cipriano

[IdahoMatt]

I am going to be waiting not so patiently to see more.  Looking great so far Pat. 

[Jesse]

Looking good pat. I would just use a little masking tape to hold parts for clamping but those pins should work fine

[mikekeswick]

Bandsaw and either a belt sander or a drum sander for preping laminates.
Looking forward to seeing how this one turns out.

[Del the cat]

Your bench looks a tad tidy... I have some spare junk. I can PM you some if you like
Del

[Pat B]

Steve, Degame also grows in a few places in Central America too but I don't know the soil type, altitude or any of it's requirements.
 Dubois, Like Pearlie said the belly and backing strips are sawn board. I smooth the gluing surfaces on my 6"x48" table top bely sander. I have a real course belt on it so it eats wood fast. This is also good prep for the glue surfaces because it gives you fresh wood to glue to plus minute grooves lengthwise from the course grit for more glue surface area. I good brush off with a stiff brush will remove the dust and ready for the glue.
...and speaking of glue...I began the glue-up. I mixed up the glue and evenly spread it on the hickory backing first then the belly




Then I mated the two laminates, inserted the dowel alignment dowels, aligned and clamped the tips and began wrapping the limbs, one at a time.




Once both limbs were wrapped (did I mention how messy this can be. rubber gloves and lots of news paper are necessary) I placed the glue-up on the form(see my form Chris).  I clamped the ends of the riser again and used the wedges like before. I then drew the glue-up into reflex with a large "C" clamp to just over 3/4" of reflex added.

  Once everything was in good shape I took the glue-up, form and all to the hot box. I had the box preheated to a little over 110deg(F). Once in the box I placed aluminum foil over the glue-up where the lights are so I don't get hot spots. I also have a small fan in the box to keep the temp even and circulating. Here she will sit for about 2 hours. Then I will let everything cool slowly before I take the glue-up our and it will be a day or so before I take it off the form.




 

[Pat B]

Del, I cleaned it up some for the glue-up and pictorial. 
  Jesse, I just had to try something new and I liked the results.

[adb]

I am a little intimidated by the idea of a wood backing and will be watching this closely  . Cool idea on the dowels.
How do you guys get the surfaces so perfectly flat?
Thanks, Marco

Thickness sander.

[blackhawk]

Good thing ya started a new thread cus I had cluttered  up your other one with a bunch of worthless junk 

So far so good .... hard to beat an alb....those ole timers knew a good thing