Looking at mounting limb to riser now...

[PlanB]

Next time if fitting  joint like that, leave the tongue piece long and wide, and then plane the tongue to fit the fork -- you can plane and  adjust as much as you need until you get it right. Then cut the outer piece down to length and width needed.

[ajooter]

Good call B..thank you sir..always learning something here

[PatM]

Ya say that now pat!! Haha...they are 3" long and just shy of an 1.5" wide.  No going back now..just gonna have to see how it goes.  I may be able to cinch the v splice down some and narrow the v on the lever?

      1.5 is very wide though unless the limb itself was really wide in the middle of the limb. This is where it's nice to have a non spliced example at hand to mark a  mock splice on just to have a better idea of what the joint area dimensions actually are.
  You can probably narrow it after gluing but you'll lose a lot of your original gluing area. That will shorten the splice dangerously although wrapping will certainly help.

[ajooter]

I ordered the smooth on mt-13 but I see this is for metal to wood..which I will be able to use for the hardware for the takedown I'm attempting...but what is the best wood to wood epoxy you guys use?

[PatM]

I like West and System Three. They are readily available and good products. Both have a variety of bonding epoxies of various viscosities.
 Their gel or thickened epoxies are outstanding and easy to use.

 The epoxy you're getting will work fine for wood to wood. It's already bonding wood on one side of the joint. It can handle both sides.

[ajooter]

Sounds good pat I'll give it a go

[ajooter]

A little steam and the v cinched right tight.  I'll glue it up tomorrow.  I also added some underlays to the handle area of the limb.  I may further shape them later.

[ajooter]

It was a knock down drag out trying to clamp this lever.  Don't know how well it is going to come out.   It kept wanting to squeeze out on me so I had to use a big bar clamp end to end before I could put any side pressure on it.  Will see how it turns out.

[ajooter]

After the glue up here is the one limb somewhat polished up.  I ended up with a 2 3/4" splice which I was happy with.  The smooth on smells just like Elmer's when I was cleaning it up.  I have 14" of working limb and a 12" lever. The fade area has been built up with a red oak and zebra wood Lams  (whole thing is about 1 1/4" thick).  I plan on adding another pair of similar Lams on the back side of the attached area to give me a little more depth for the locking pin and limb bolt assembly.  I'm not sure how long the limb bolts from Binghams are so I may need to order longer ones.  Don't ask me why I put those Lams on..probably didn't need them...but I'm gonna roll with it.

Any problems ya'll foresee?

[ajooter]

Couple more pics....riser is solid hickory.  I have about 2 3/4" of mounting surface on limb for attachment to riser.  Little sketch of what I was thinking for the riser underlay. The riser is about 13" long.

[ajooter]

Closer look at the riser.  I left it wide at this point (1 3/4"). I've marked it at its Close final dimensions.  I have still considered sawing it in half and adding a lamp down the middle...but I like it's natural wiggle so I will probably just leave it.

I used the sister stave from one of the trade bows I'm working on.   I got the riser and limbs from the entire stave...well limb at this point 

[PatM]

Not enough meat at the riser ends to support those sort of forces.

[ajooter]

Even with an underlay glued on pat?  It will be similar to the underlay on the limb.

[PatM]

The pry bar effect of the whole limb is going to create a ton of stress on that angle you've cut and there's nothing supporting that stepped through area.
  The spliced in  tips are different stress level.