Which Glue?

[D.A. Davis]

What glue do you guys use when putting riser inlays and limb tip inlays on?  I'm going to use Smooth-On for my riser and laminations, but wasn't sure about the inlays.

Also, when you cure the riser at 180 degrees, and then assemble it with your laminations at the same 180 degrees, is there any danger of your riser de-laminating?  But, I guess the fact that you've got the riser trapped in the form with the laminations would pretty much keep that from happening, right?

[Apex Predator]

I use smooth-on for everything.  I start with around 180 for my laminated risers, do the bow cook at 160 or so, and the overlays at around 130 degrees.

[D.A. Davis]

So, by lowering the temperature you've made sure that the riser and laminations don't de-laminate.  Do you put the whole bow back in the hot box when curing your inlays, or do you just put it near a light, and cover it with some tyep of insulation?

[Apex Predator]

I use this set-up that will apply heat to the riser and both tip overlays at one time.  I can raise or lower the entire rig and vary the temp up to over 200 Deg if I wanted to.  

 

[LPM]

I'm with Apex ......Smooth on works fine for everything.  

I would never put a finnished bow back in a bow oven for any reason for any length of time.

When I glue on tip overlays I rig up similar to Apex. I make sure the pieces are shaped to the surface that they will be glued to and properly sanded and cleaned with acetone prior to glue up.  

Shaping the overlays prior to glue up is smart because it eliminates stress on the overlay joint....Not all overlays need shaping but reflex deflex long bows or recurves do....In my humble opinion.

I do wrap alumium foil and small pieces of aluminum tape to keep heat off the portions of the limbs not being glued.  I like to localize the heat only to the area I'm working on.