How bad can grain be on a belly lamination?

[Acheulean]

I don't care if it fails. I just want to know what happens.

[Hamish]

Instead of being childish, please educate exactly why I  might be incorrect? I have only been making bows for 21 years, though I do admit you never stop learning. Answers please?

[Acheulean]

I'm going to do a maple backed maple bow, because I've already got the wood, and I don't want to go buy an other board just for this. I'll use a 1/4" thick by 1 3/8" wide backing and 72" long. I'll try to remember to post pictures throughout the process.

[Del the cat]

I've butt jointed two lams of horn mid-limb. But not wood, I have a sneaking suspicion that the ends will crush and leave an ever widening gap when unstrung and eventually be a pain.
Now a butt-joint in the handle I've done many times more often than not with a stiff handle and a power-lam

I don't think anyone expects it to produce a bow for long term regular use or to actually be practical!
I think it would just be to demonstrate the principle.
Del

[Acheulean]

I've butt jointed two lams of horn mid-limb. But not wood, I have a sneaking suspicion that the ends will crush and leave an ever widening gap when unstrung and eventually be a pain.
Now a butt-joint in the handle I've done many times more often than not with a stiff handle and a power-lam

I don't think anyone expects it to produce a bow for long term regular use or to actually be practical!
I think it would just be to demonstrate the principle.
Del

When I was a kid, gift shops at places like Yellowstone were selling these wooden snake toys. They were made from two pieces of wood with slits cut in the side, and they were bonded to a flexible core, so when you shook the tail they would slither like a snake. I wonder if this bow might turn out something like that, at least when it's unstrung.    Probably won't be good for much, other than a conversation piece.

[Eric Krewson]

I have posted this before; I have made 30 or more BBOs with belly grain like this, never had one fail.

Julia Norris shot a similar bow I made her for at least ten years and won many state and national championships with it. She probably put in excess of 100 K arrows through it before it got wimpy and lost cast. The belly wood never cracked or showed a sign of failure.



I replaced her BBO with an osage static because they changed the rules for most primitive classes and don't allow BBOs anymore. She won the nationals at Cloverdale with her new bow this year. It is an ugly bow but shoots very well.

[Acheulean]

That's encouraging. Thanks for sharing. Do you have a picture of the sides of the bow?

[Eric Krewson]

I make the sides of my bows square with a slightly rounded edge. The wood in this bow has about 28 grains per inch, very tight stuff. The bamboo is thinner that the picture depicts, What you are seeing in the picture is the side and the hump of the bamboo on the back. The thin white line is the actual edge, about 1/16"

On the far right of the picture is a major grain swirl as well as a pin knot cluster.