Let's Build a Trilam! (Finished pics on page 12... Refinished pics on page 13)

[ty_in_ND]

I'll do that, Aaron! I removed some of the tape, but the stuff above the handle area is still mostly there.

[jeffp51]

We still building a tri-lam? Or has your job been hammering you like mine has?

[ty_in_ND]

Well, it's been a crazy couple of weeks for me. Between work and home, I haven't had a lot of time to crack at the bow (as I write this, I'm at a music convention in the middle of Montana). The good news is when I get back on Saturday, I will have time again to get this bow finished.

I have been able to find some time here and there to get some work some on the bow. Rather than post the small incremental changes, here are some after I made a decent amount of progress:



Here's the bow with the handle now glued on and roughed out. I still need to bring the curves of the fade out parts of the handle closer to the center of the handle (I want a 4.5inch grip area), but this is a start to it. I've also taken off most of the tape on the bamboo and trimmed the side profile.



A close up of the handle. It's maple with a stripe of purple heart.



An example of the glue line in the limb. At least I know how to get these things glued together!

Stay tuned for more. The next update will come a bit quicker than this one!

[ty_in_ND]

We still building a tri-lam? Or has your job been hammering you like mine has?

I would have beat you to it If I weren't doing this from my phone   

[ty_in_ND]

So, I finally got things to a point where I can floor tiller this bow.  Here's how it's looking now that I have it all sanded and cleaned up:



So, here's a picture of the tip:



It's horn with an overlay of maple.  I just thought I'd run this by folks before filing in the nocks.  I was thinking of filing the top groove (the groove on the back) down deep enough to get to the horn, but I wanted to see if this would end up being thick enough.  I would be fine with building it up some more.

One more pic:



Tried as I may, I was unable to get the belly free of knots.  It was looking good until I started sanding to get the extra epoxy off of the belly.  I really don't want to end up with the belly cracking because of that knot, so if there's any advice on how to avoid it, I'd appreciate it (if it's anything I need to worry about at all, for that matter).

And as a way to help train my eyes a bit more, I uploaded a video of how the limbs are bending while floor tillering.  It would be good to hear how things are shaping up at this point.

https://youtu.be/NAI191WWxuw

[jeffp51]

It is looking nice so far.  I would be surprised if that knot causes problems on the belly.  The string grove should come down into the horn, but far enough forward that there is plenty of osage meat below the cut.  I like how that bend is starting to look.  I am enjoying watching this one come together.  Can't wait to see it in person.

[GB]

Your R/D profile looks terrific.   X 2 on what jeff said about the string groove and not worrying about the knot.  I'm terrible at floor tillering, so I'm no help there.  You'll get some good advice from the others on here.  Lookin' good!

[ty_in_ND]

As far as the groove goes, if I remember right, if i place it at 1" away from the very tip, the groove will be in plenty of osage.  I'll keep on keeping on with that limb with the knot with out trying to do anything out of the ordinary when it comes to scraping that spot.  And as far as the floor tillering goes, I know the 2nd limb (which is the bottom limb) is a touch more stiff than the top limb, but I think everything looks decent at the moment (maybe, if anything, the outer 1/3 of the limbs are stiff... but I don't know if I should monkey with those until I get it bending on the tillering tree).

I should be able to get some work done tonight, which will mostly consist of scraping the bottom limb a touch and filing in the string grooves.

[GB]

I just center my string groove on the overlay.  Doesn't matter how much osage is behind it, your overlay is strong enough by itself.  I've made a couple of backed bows that had pin knots almost to the edge of the osage belly and they didn't cause any problems.

[ty_in_ND]

I finally found time to upload more pictures and a short video. I've been working on tillering this bow this week and got to a point where I'd better get some input.

Here's how it looks pulling it down to 12" with a 1/2" brace height:

https://youtu.be/hzNa61dVZRU

And pictures of the bow at the 1/2" brace and unbraced after unstringing from tillering:





The left limb is the bottom limb. I've been working mostly on that limb to try to get it more even with the top limb. I'll be scraping it some more tonight and hopefully I'll get it evened out.

[PatM]

It really looks like it's wanting to work right up into your built up handle.

[bubby]

You need to get those outers to open and stay away from the fades

[bubby]

Ol' Roy has some videos on youtube showing the bow working if that might help

[Scottski]

I might try one of these one day.

[jeffp51]

I love to see updates.  Not sure  what to tell you about the tiller, but it looks okay so far.  keep it up.