ipe glue up advice please( glue up #)BROKE ( resurrecting )

[sleek]

[sleek]

It even went into the core. So I will grind it all off and probably glue something else in, save the tips and the bamboo. The rest is useless.  No way that stuff is bow wood.

[bowandarrow473]

Looks to me like your belly failed  
If I may though I would like to say that I have read about ipe and it's compression qualities and the general consensus seems to be that darker ipe is denser and less likely to fret or even outright fail in compression and that comparitively lighter color ipe is less dense and more fickle when it comes to compression. Maybe that contributed to the failure?

[sleek]

You may be right on all accounts.  I dont know. I also was told it was ipe but be could have been wrong.

[bowandarrow473]

I actually just looked up some pictures of ipe wood and went and looked at some of the boards I have and I think what you have there was, indeed, lighter color ipe.

[sleek]

Well, thats interesting then...

[mikekeswick]

I don't think it is.
I've handled a lot of ipe boards and totally agree that there is some lighter coloured, less dense wood out there. It comes from the ipe plantations that are being used now to supply the decking industry - like any quickly grown tree the wood is less dense and also less stable. I've had a couple of these boards and although they made bows the set was about double what I would get with good ipe. Having said that though there is no way any ipe would 'fold' like that unless you had a serious hinge and pulled it to full draw anyway!

[sleek]

And that defiantly did not happen. Its a shame, such a beautiful wood.... and all that time. Waisted.

[---GUTSHOT--->]

I've made several ipe bows and I use 1/4 ipe for the core with Osage on the belly and backed with either hickory or bamboo. They shoot really nice

[sleek]

So im thinking, grind off all the crappy belly wood, and either glue on a new osage belly or do a bamboo belly. If I use bamboo, do I need to carbonize it or is natural fine? Should I just glue it on just like a backing strip, crown and all or flatten the crown down? Do I only side tiller or normal thickness tiller?

[bubby]

Do a search for dutch warbow he did a all boo build a long on tradgang

[mikekeswick]

Bamboo bellied bows are precise animals. You must have everything pre-tapered before glue up. You can't alter tiller much by side tillering. Good luck if you decide to go down that route but personally i'd want numbers from an already working bow before 'guessing'. It took me 4 attempts to get one dead on.....it's worth it when you get one right
Yes definately you want to heat treat the belly piece. Trap the back as well.