plywood for sayahs?

[makenzie71]

I had some 1/8" oak sheets that I made plywood from...three grain direction changes, held together with a loctite epoxy, and cured at 125*f with 2500lbs of pressure applied.  I'm considering cutting my sayahs out of it so I don't have to worry about steaming a bend.  I can't see any reason it wouldn't work but I haven't ever seen it done.

It would be 12" sayahs on a 75lb bow.

[james parker]

it will work,ive made them that way,i use 20 plys very thin,,seems to hold better and looks more wood grain that way,,last ones i made wre hard maple and walnut witha center of paduke..more plys will cut down on the weight to achieve thickness of the parts

[PatM]

There is some dispute as to the optimum angle that a siyah should be. Personally I don't think you need much of a curve or angle for the best results, so your plan is a good one.  In practice I just use Ash for siyahs with the Grain oriented vertically. That essentially does the same thing that you are doing by laminating strips. The wood can then be cut with the slight curve(or angle). I like a 35 degree siyah.

[makenzie71]

Yeah what I'm working on right now aren't the crazy "crab bow" types so the sayahs aren't nearly as aggressive.  The bow I'm working on right now has the limbs spliced to the handle at 15 degrees, then the sayahs are about 15 degrees.  I'll have to post pics of it later before it breaks...I'm almost posative it won't survive tillering.

The plywood sayahs are going to be cut at about 30 degrees, with the string nocks being about 10~11" from the limb end.  Limbs will be 1/8"X2" ipe with bamboo on both sides...I'm hoping for more of the traditional "C" shaped horn bow look.

A few more experiments and I'll be ready to actually try horn.

[Del the cat]

...I just use Ash...with the brain oriented vertically. ...

Yeah, I try to keep my brain the right way up too 
Del

[medicinewheel]

Hey Pat, is there some special meditation needed to achieve a vertical orientation of the brain??

[PatM]

Apparently not.

[dragonman]

looking forward to see some pics of this adventurous sounding bow Makenzie.