BBI reflex/deflex...

[toomanyknots]

Here is a bbi r/d I am working on. It is about done, I am just being lazy with the sanding/finishing. It turned out ok. I haven't weighed it yet, but it is pulling about 30 - 40 at 28" I am thinking. The accents and power lam are yellow heart, and a thin stripe of jatoba. I copied okie's form, from this post: http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php?topic=17070.0 (awesome form btw, thank ya okie!). The bow is around 65 or 66 inches nock to nock, I started with a 67 inch stave, so this is what I am guessing. It shoots pretty nice, but I am thinking it would shoot better with some string bridges, partly to keep the string from slapping the limbs. The brace is 7" and the string is still touching the limbs.  It isn't the most stable bow, it took some finagling to get the alignment right. At first the limbs wanted to twist on me.













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(Notice my crappy glue lines /  \ ...argh)
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[burn em up chuck]

  nicely done,cool curves

                chuck

[Newindian]

I wouldn't have the faintest idea how to tiller that

[Joec123able]

Very cool I've never seen a bow exactly like that

[mikekeswick]

Dude! That's a cool stick! 
Maybe try to get a litte more bend mid to outer limb if you make another like it

[toomanyknots]

  nicely done,cool curves

                chuck

Thank ya!

I wouldn't have the faintest idea how to tiller that

Haha, me neither. So I didn't really. This is just how it wanted to bend, so I went with it?

Very cool I've never seen a bow exactly like that

Thank ya!

Dude! That's a cool stick! 
Maybe try to get a litte more bend mid to outer limb if you make another like it

Thank ya! Ya, I am not too sure of the profile of this bow. I am thinking my form is to blame. Does it have too much reflex? Or is the reflex too much mid limb, and needs to be more towards the outer limb? Or maybe I left too much material on the tips, and they ended up being stiffer? I like the full draw profile, I just think the reflex looks too close to the center in the braced profile?

EDIT: Yall think I need a thicker power lam? I used 1/4" of yellow heart 20" long, but I am thinking I might need to use 1/2" or so? As it seems to be bending a bit at the fades?

[ionicmuffin]

Glad the bamboo is working for you TMK, its frustrating when your bows blow up in your face one after another. Ill be starting a bendy handle one soon and I plan to give it some r/d still nice job! i believe that the outer limbs are stiff, which is fine because its your first bow of this style, but for the next one id imagine you want to just get it bending a tad more, unless im wrong, but still, looks great!

[ionicmuffin]

Also, question for you. How thick was the bamboo, and how did you thin it down to that thickness?

[toomanyknots]

Also, question for you. How thick was the bamboo, and how did you thin it down to that thickness?

Between a 1/16" and 3/32". Thicker at the handle and thinner towards the tips.

Glad the bamboo is working for you TMK, its frustrating when your bows blow up in your face one after another. Ill be starting a bendy handle one soon and I plan to give it some r/d still nice job! i believe that the outer limbs are stiff, which is fine because its your first bow of this style, but for the next one id imagine you want to just get it bending a tad more, unless im wrong, but still, looks great!

Yes I think you are definitely right about the outer limbs! I wanted a little stiffness in the outer limbs, but I think it is bending a lot off the handle too, which is making a crazy profile.

[lesken2011]

That's definitely a lot of reflex, for sure. Overall it looks sweet. I have been entertaining a similar project, but need to put together my form. Is there anything you would do different next time? Also what glue did you use for the glue up?

[toomanyknots]

That's definitely a lot of reflex, for sure. Overall it looks sweet. I have been entertaining a similar project, but need to put together my form. Is there anything you would do different next time? Also what glue did you use for the glue up?

On my next one, I will try to have more meat near the deflexed handle to keep it from bending, and/or less on the outer limbs to get em working more. I kinda wanna do something like a really long power lam, 40" long, on top of the other power, and the continuous thickness ipe strip. So I would have -

- One continuous thickness 1/4" ipe strip about 66" long
- One 40" tapered "power lam" (yes it is long)
- One normal 20" power lam, 1/4" thick at the center
- And one bamboo backing, about 1/16" at the edges

The obvious solution would be to have one tapered belly lam, but the thickest I can get ipe to bend in this form is 1/4". If I had a lam grinder than I would be good to go!  Maybe I will just do 2 ipe belly lams, 1/4" thick at the handle, tapered to 1/8", to give me 1/2" thick belly tapering to 1/4" thick tips? (I am tapering with my belt sander at the moment) Well actually, that wouldn't work, that would be just like two of the belly lams I used on this one stacked together, ? I don't know, I am just thinking I need more meat off the deflexed handle. My ipe belly lam I used in this one was 1/4" thick tapering to 3/32" thick at the tips, or roughly something like that. Maybe a smudge over an 1/8". I also used a 20" long 1/4" thick at the center power lam. Oh yeah, the glue was tb3.

[dmc]

Nice lines! Excellent work on the riser. Me likey! Looks like you have had waaaay better luck on this one than your hickory. It's nice to see great results for your efforts.

[DarkSoul]

Nice 
Very sweet curves. Perhaps a tad too much deflex. I don't think you need more meat in the handle fade area. The thickness layout and powerlam sounds just fine as you describe it. You probably just put too much deflex in it, so it appears to bend too much in the fades while it doesn't.

[lesken2011]

You might try making it a tad wider at the handle fades which may would help some with the bend near the handle and might also add with the over all stability issue.

[vinemaplebows]

I like the looks, but was wondering about the string slap when I seen the pics. Did you pretaper the limbs before glueup? You look like you got the tiller right on.

VMB