Splicing ipe Glue??

[wvfknapper]

I have read a few comments that ipe is hard to glue, and I want to purchase a nice dark ipe board on ebay , I need to know what is the best type of glue to use? Also what is the best Backing material or do you think a quarter sawn piece of ipe , spliced,  with a glued on handle (Maybe also with a lam on the back of the splice) make a 68" 60 lb @27" bow and be stable with no backing?

wvflintknapper

[mullet]

  Robert, I'm no expert on Ipe but so far I've used TB3 and urac with good results after degreasing with oven cleaner and acetone. I'd back it with bamboo or hickory.

[sailordad]

i made a boo backed ipe elb,glued with bowgrip 100,72 inches ntn,pulls 60# @ 29 inches,shoots sweet. spits arrows at 140 fps

[kayakfisher]

Hey Like Mullet im not an expert on it all the lams and splices that Ive done has been with Weldwood Resorcinal glue wiped down the pieces with Acetone first before applying glue

[Pat B]

Like Eddie, I have made boo and hickory backed ipe bows and used TBII, TBIII and Urac. I degrease with acetone. Never had a glue failure and if you looked at my glue joints you would be surprised.   Either of the 3 glues would work for a splice also.    Pat

[Justin Snyder]

I have also used smooth on.  Justin

[Rich Saffold]

 WVflintknapper,

Ipe is easy to glue, and  I have never used  acetone, or any degreaser other than dish soap once. I think humidity in combination with atmospheric  pressure changes can affect the amount of oils which surface on the wood..

If the board is straight getting the bow you want is easy..Ipe is heavy and expensive to ship on top of what you may pay for it..If you can make a road trip to a yard which sells ipe you will probably save a ton of dough, and get to see the variety in the wood..

ipe is so dense that certain knots in the wood which can be quite small can cause problems.. so getting a board from just a picture can be a risk..

Rich

[markinengland]

I haven't found Ipe all that hard to glue. I use resorcinol and that works fine. I have glued bamboo and hickory to Ipe, degreasing both surfaces with cellulose thinners. I put the glue on both surfaces and use rubber inner tube wrap and get good joints.
The bow will need to be very little wider than 1 inch to do what you want, probably less around 7/8ths would do the job. Glue on handle can be intersting. make sure that the area of wood to which the handle is goed to is standing poud of the actual limb surface otherwise the handle may just pop off.
I haven't tried splicing Ipe but the joint should be stronger than the wood and if it is in a nonworking part of the bow shouldn't be a problem.
The only real failure I have had with Ipe was where the Ipe ended up really thin. A narrow deepish section may be better than a wider very thin section of Ipe unless the Ipe grain is very good (and it can be very hard to tell this!).
Mark in England

[Pat B]

Like Mark said. Narrow and deep for ipe. My first ipe bow was a hickory backed flat bow. I think about 62" long. When I hit weight while tillering, the boo backing was a third thicker than the ipe belly. The bow shot fine but looked a bit funny and I lost the performance of the ipe.  Pat

[Stonedog]

I use Urac....degrease with acteone and then jsut glue 'er up!  Used inner tubes for the clamps, bingo-bongo-bobs your uncle, you got it all done!

[wvfknapper]

Thanks everyone.

wvflintknapper