Process for gluing up multiple lams/pieces

[youngbowyer33]

How do you guys do a glue up when you have a backing, powerlam, belly lam, and handle pieces? Like do you glue it all together at once or maybe you glue the power lam to the belly first, then the back, and after you glue the handle on after you glued together all the pieces?

I think I'm going to do backing, powerlam, and belly wood at once and then glue on my handle later, maybe piece by piece of I get some bend in the handle during the glue up.

There seems to be a few options, so what do you do and why?

[Pat B]

A lot will depend on the glue used, how quickly it sets. It might be easier if you glue up the belly and power lam then add the backing. The handle riser can almost go on anytime. 

[PEARL DRUMS]

Great question, and one I've often thought about. Ill be interested to see some replies from a few guys. 

[Trapper Rob]

When we glue them up at Roy's we glue all the layers at once then when dry we glue on the handle & horn tips.

[bubby]

When we glue them up at Roy's we glue all the layers at once then when dry we glue on the handle & horn tips.

Yeah but old Roy has all the power tools to do that, me I glue the powerlam then make sure that it's feathered out good , then i glue the belly on, then the riser

[PEARL DRUMS]

Power lams are another thing. I dont think Roy uses them, or rarely.

[DC]

I glue one piece to the next. Rarely three pieces. Too much like herding cats.

[leonwood]

I always glue my powerlam on the belly first so I can sand the transition really smooth to reduce the risk of gaps. On tri-lams I never use a powerlam and just do the lams glue up in one go. I never glue my handles at the same time with my lams. This separation works really well and I have never messed up a glue up, and never have gaps in my glue line. I am never in a hurry so that helps a lot too

[youngbowyer33]

I thought it made sense to glue the powerlam on the belly wood first, so I did that on my 2 bows in progress. Thanks for the tips.

It really helped get the ends of the powerlam real thin and made it easy to check with the backing on it for gaps.

I really wanted to get a bow glued up tonight so I decided to try with the light running out. It was going okay until it started raining! I'll be sure to give myself plenty of time and light for the next one.

[Bayou Ben]

The biggest reason I build multiple lam bows is that you can bend thinner pieces better than thicker ones.  Once you glue two pieces together you now have a laminated composite piece that will bend according to the thickness of both pieces together; a lot different than 2 individual thin pieces. 
All of the pieces that I want to bend are glued at once.  In the case of the picture, backing, power lam, core, and belly.  The handle is added after once the bend in the handle is set.  I leave the core lams wide and add toothpicks on both sides the cut to width backing to keep everything aligned during glue up.  I've taken a lot of pointers from the way Roy Painter does his glue ups. 

 

[Stick Bender]

Roy is a good guy you would never know it but he is pretty knowledgable on other type bows then tri lams to, I use the tooth pic method on the slippery riser also ! Just don't mention the part about me saying he is a good guy