Short bow build

[Aaron1726]

I might be crazy and in over my head but here goes!

My 3rd successful(ish) bow and first board bow started ticking at full draw.  Turns out my handle glue up did exactly what I was afraid it might do... pop!  About half of it was unglued this morning after shooting it....

So what to do?  I was never happy with the tiller on this one, was a learning experience.  I had backed it with dogbane in an attempt to fix some things and raise poundage, but no dice.  Anyway, I stared at it till lunch time and then started cutting.  Popped of the rest of the handle, cut the limbs off and spliced them together.

It's either gonna be awesome or a total failure.  Gonna be fun either way.

So what do yall think?  Great idea, or total flop waiting to happen?

[superdav95]

How much shorter did the splice make the overall length?  Should be interesting to see.  What glue are you using for you handle riser?

[Aaron1726]

The splice gives me a 49 in overall length.  My thought was to aim for a 22in or so draw length on this one.  And I was thinking to sand down some of the dogbane and re-back the whole thing afterwards.

The glue used for the handle was tite bond 3.  That is what I'm using in the splice too.  It's also what I used, thinned down, to do the dogbane backing.

[Hamish]

TB3 is a great glue for most purposes, but it will lift when the belly lam is too thin.
Only bowmakers high strength epoxy, or urea formaldehyde/resorcinol will hold a glue line like that.

[Aaron1726]

Thanks Hamish, yeah I will need to get some better glue if I try a handle like that again.

What do you think about tb3 for the splice?  I'm scared it's gonna fly apart in my hand.  I got the old backing stripped off and strung with a 4in brace.  I'm only pulling to 18in right now and 20lbs.  I did manage to shoot a few shots yesterday though.

I'm thinking I will be better off to back it.  I have plenty more dogbane that I could do that again.  I also have some bamboo, but I'm afraid it might be too much for the red oak.  And then I have rawhide too, so might go that route.  Not sure which would be best.  It's definately not gonna be a speed deamon, but it would be nice to have it be a decent shooter.

[Aaron1726]

Here's where it is so far.  23 lbs at 19in, it's a light weight, but so was the original bow, that one was 30lbs at 26in.  Was hoping that this one would be 30 at 22, so might be close.  Splice seems to be holding,  but I still want to back it with something before I push it too far.  Hopefully I'll get time this week to work on it some more.

[superdav95]

Ea 40 smooth on two part epoxy would work too if you can get it.  Are you thinking of sinew backing still?   

[Aaron1726]

@superdav95 thanks, I will have to look into getting some of that.  Is that what you would suggest then for this handle splice?  Not just the glue on riser?

My plan was to put a dogbane fiber backing on this like I had done on the original bow.  Mainly just because I have lots of it.  I've not yet tried sinew backing, though I do want to at some point, but I will need more sinew than I currently have, only a couple deer back tendons right now.

Thanks

[Aaron1726]

Got the first layer of dogbane on this evening.

[Aaron1726]

Got the backing done.  2 layers of dogbane.  And got the tips shaped a bit more.  Had to take a few scrapes and do some sanding to get things cleaned up and tiller corrected.  The bottom is still a little stiff, but might just leave it.  Here's how it looks now.  At 25lbs at 19in.  Still scared to go past that, lol.  Might just accept it for what it is and finish it up.

[bjrogg]

I think the tiller in above picture looks good.

I guess I haven’t seen the whole board to know what grain orientation looks like, but I certainly wouldn’t be afraid to draw it more because of the tiller.

I’d slowly try a little longer draw. It seems like you should be able to get a few more inches just the way it is to me.

Hopefully I’m not missing something and giving you bad advice but I think you spread the stresses out nice and evenly

Bjrogg

[Aaron1726]

Thanks bjrogg.  I think it's just mental for me.  I don't have any experience with a splice like that, so in my mind I'm just waiting for it to let loose, lol.  Guess that's part of the learning curve!  The board had good straight grain, I will give it a shot slowly increasing it and see how it goes.  Thanks for the encouragement.

[superdav95]

I second what bj said. It looks really good.  Great job on that splice it seems to be holding.  What glue did you use for your dogbane?

[George Tsoukalas]

Tiller looks great. Good save.
Handles add ons pop because handles are bending.
Jawge

[Aaron1726]

Thanks superdav.  I added some cotton thread wrapped around the splice that was soaked in tb3 just for some added integrity, but yeah I think it's just for my mental benefit more than anything.  I'm amazed how strong splicing with the z like that is.

On the dogbane I used tb3 that I watered down some and then I dipped each bundle in it before laying it on the bow.  Then I went back and painted on a layer after I got it all on there.  After the first layer was dry I sanded it somewhat smooth and then repeated with a second layer.

I'll get some picks at 22in, hopefully I can get some time this weekend to mess with it.