Bow in progress/D/R cedar/maple/finished

[BowEd]

Ok I got my cedar core and my maple backing for R/D 66" bow.Should I straight line taper front view or parallel to mid limb and then taper?Core is a shade over 1/2" thick 2" wide.Backing is 3/16" thick and 2" wide.I'll glue on a 12" handle after mating of core and backing off the form.Think it'll make 50#?I'm sure someone on here has tried this come on....

[bubby]

Ed I go parallel 6" past the fades then straight taper to tips. I can't help ya with the cedar no experiance there

[lebhuntfish]

Ed I go parallel6" past the fades then straight taper to tips. I can't help ya with the cedar no experiance there

I agree with the layout shape.

I've done a tri lam with boo cedar core and a white oak belly. It come out ok but the core was about 3/8" thick I felt it was too much because the white oak was pretty thin. The bow came out to about 45lbs if I remember right.

Patrick

[BowEd]

Thanks fellas.I'm gonna start @ 66" long.Probably won't make the poundage but maybe.I could pike it a bit if it does'nt.I'll lose some reflex then though.Making it thick enough might help.I was thinking to parallel to midlimb which is a bit farther for more poundage reasons.Might be problematic clamping it at the deflex post then though.I'll keep it 1/2" thick @ the riser and belly taper it from there.
Using Dean Torges model of R/D form.
I'm a little surprised the cedar took the bamboo on it's back.Suppose the oak helped there.
Yea now that I think about it more it might just turn out to be a so so bow but I'll do it anyway.A poor man's bamboo yew ehhhh.

[BowEd]

Ohhh if it does'nt make the poundage I've got a regular woman now.....She could shoot it.

[bubby]

Ohhh if it does'nt make the poundage I've got a regular woman now.....She could shoot it.


Problem solved lol]

[BowEd]

Torges form will give a bow around 3" of reflex @ the tips.Now hoping to keep half after coming off of the form.After tillering the tips might be even with the back.

[lebhuntfish]

Ed,  the bow I made took about 2.5 in of set. It shot in the upper 150's through the chronograph.  With boo being so strong in tension and cedar being so good in compression it might turn out for you. I thought the one on built was a little on the narrow side but it shot nice and had a smooth draw. The only thing I wish was different was that it had some Perry reflex glued in to it. Sleek and I glued it up flat. And with the power lam it looked deflexed from the start.  I did notice that if I were to do a boo backed cedar  then I think I would want to start with a thicker piece of Cedar.

Patrick

[BowEd]

I'd be afraid of the bamboo crushing the cedar myself.Could be wrong with that thinking,but I think not.That's why I'm using maple.I'm starting out wide like 2".I'll see if it can get the poundage.How wide was yours to start with?I'll do a dry clamp down run on the cedar today to see what happens.Got some very nice maple backing here now.

[bubby]

Maple is a great backer Ed and lots easier to prep than boo

[GB]

That should give you more than enough for a 50# bow.  I recently finished a mild R/D hickory backed ERC that I'm going to post.  The backer was 1/8", with a long 3/16" red elm power lam and 3/8" ERC belly.  It's 65" NTN and just under 1 3/4" wide at the fades and wound up at 45#.  I kept it parallel for 8" past the fades.  ERC is scary soft, but I'm pretty impressed with it as a belly wood.

[lebhuntfish]

Ed,  that bow was right at 1/14 wide and I think about 65ntn.

Patrick

[BowEd]

I see Pat.Your bow might have been a little too narrow but it's nice shooting 45#.At least I come to anchor good with that.....lol.
You bet bubby the more I use it the nicer I like it.Maple that is.A friend of mine Grant  north of me an hour had a bunch of maple strips from a construction job they were going to throw away.He's a bow maker himself and knew the value of it so he got it for nothing.We prepared a few good 3/16" by 2" wide 6' long straight backings yesterday through his drum sander.Amazing how much better a glue line you get flattening and evening everything up.Using smooth on for glue.
I parralleled the limbs out about 10" from the fades to be sure.I can side tiller on that.Tapered it with the farriers' file and sanding a good 3/16" along entire limb from the fade to 4" in front of the tip.Dry fitted it on the form.I weighed the whole business before glue up and it weighed 23.05 ounces.That's without a handle.It's got more than enough wood behind it to make 50#.Should come in @  around 18.4 ounces.Longer handle might give it a little more weight though.The last one before the fades give out on me would gain reflex as I removed belly wood.This one will need to have some side tillering done to it too.Might end up 1 and 3/4" wide too instead of 2" or somewhere in between.It's 66" long TTT.
Taking pics of it along the way.Pretty easy straight forward build.A kit bow.I like Torges' form until I find something better anyway.This time it'll have long fades of 4" to ease my shooting arrow pass in there to my handle and they should be less stressed because of the deflex too.Right now I got it with about 4" of reflex.Hopefully I'll get to keep 2" off the form and then tiller half that away to a shooter.
Anyway till the glue dries.

[lebhuntfish]

Man that sounds nice Ed. 

Yeah it was a bit narrow but that's all the boo I had to work with. Believe it or not, it was supposed to be a kids bow. Just couldn't bring myself to take all of the white oak off the belly.

Good luck on your project, can't wait to see the pics!

Patrick

[BowEd]

OK I'll show some pics here of the progress.Hopefully to a successful bow...lol.Get this ERC monkey off my back...lol.I'll put a slash and the word finished on this thread when I'm done.
I've mentioned things about it earlier here.This is the glue up on the form.Since I did'nt have a form and air pressure hose I used inner tube wrapping.It's pretty well known to work and in the past before I was on PA I did a half dozen bamboo hickory backed bows.A couple with horn bellies too.
This is just an ERC core with a maple backing.I've never been exposed to using power lams etc. and sorta understand their purpose though.
First since these limbs were 2" wide and using this wrapping method I used a pine buffer pressure plate to put pressure in the middle more.People have used rope etc. which should work too.Maybe someone might want to try this type bow someday.I'm sure there is different ways to accomplish this with the same results.
The pine buffer strips go on top of backing after wrapping back onto core with cellophane[keeps mess down] and then it's wrapped with the innertubing strips.

The dry fit onto the form after tapering the limbs

Now the wrapping.Since I used smooth on epoxy it can be heat activated or let to cure 24 hours at room temp.I've used c clamps too but don't like the spaces that can show up between the buffer pads or between the clamps if using a long buffer pad although I hav'nt seen smooth on fail usung c clamps though even on horn laminations.The thing about using inner tube is it's black.Set this bow out in the sun on a 90 degree day and it'll get to 150 degrees and cure in 5 to 6 hours instead of waiting 24 hours.

Above the wood burner since I don't have a hot box or a hot sun around me this time of year.

Specifics for using smooth on can be obtained from their site.Main thing is to get a thin even glue line the best you can.
Next is clean up and glueing overlays onto tips and tillering it to a bow.Not very primitive I know but it yields an all natural material good shooting type bow.I've seen many on here that are beauts using accomadating materials.