I think bone will work, although the bone I got from Rich checked after I cut it
. The first piece was really perfect in size and length. It had a crack in it to begin with, but after about an hour it developed andther parallel to the first. The second section would have been a bit large for a handle, but would have had a built in shelf. It too developed cracks within a few hours, and would have been too large to do a wrap on to strengthen the sleeve. I decided to go with 1" id copper. I put it in a vice and flattened one side making a D shape. I shaped the ends to just smaller than the sleeve and wrapped the ends with denim and then saturated the denim with TBII, and then wrapped them with inner tube to dry. I sanded the end that would be the fixed end to fit properly into the sleeve, and epoxied it into place(after roughing the inside of the copper with a file). I let it cure for 24 hours and then stressed the joint, both with twisting and bending the limb as if the bow were being drawn. For now it seems to be holding fast. Next I will get the removable end fitted end shaped to within a few hundredths and then add a denim/epoxy resin micarta handle buildup for the handle and shelf. I can see a lot of sanding in my future. I need to go pick up some different color denim to finish the handle. I am thinking of black, tan and green for a camp effect. I know the copper alone won't be strong enough to support the stress, that is why I am going with a larger riser type handle with the micarta. Any thoughts?
