Best glue for BBO/Dimentions

[northland archer]

What are the best glues for making BBO bows?  Also, does anyone have a general set of dimentions for a bbo bow that will finish about 62" long with a good bit a reflex in it?  Would appreciate any help, this will be my first bow of all natural materials.  

Thanks Much
Treavor

[Art B]

Urac 185 is probably as good as it gets for boo backed bows. You may want to consider a r/d design for boo backing for that length bow. An 1 1/4" limb width will build you about any design you want using bamboo and osage. ART

[northland archer]

How wide at the tips should i go for a bow 62-64 long?

Treavor

[Scott F]

Trevor,

[disclaimer] I am NOT an expert but I've built my share of wood and bamboo backed bows.  

I switched from Urac to Titebond III and my glue lines really improved.  The switch was about the same time that I started to use bicycle inntertubes as a clamping source.  If you take your time and make sure that the mating surfaces of your backing and wood match up well, I don't know how you can go wrong with Titebond III.

Also, the shortest wooden laminated bow that I ever made was 66" because I have a fairly long draw.  I'm sorry but I can't give you a rough figure on where to start with your wood.  I suspect that you should start in the neighborhood of a 3/8" thick slat depending on the thickness of your bamboo.

Good luck and be sure to post some pictures!
Scott

[Art B]

Titbond glue is good glue no doubt. I personally don't trust using it on oily osage wood. If you need to do any heat correction you could have a problem using the TB glue.

If you take the time and concave and tooth both surfaces then glue lines aren't a problem using the urac.

Half inch tip widths are fairly common for most bows and always a good with to start with. ART

[Hermann From Bavaria]

i´ve good experience with tb3 and smooth on epoxy.
with tb3 you´ll have to make sure, that your joints fit well. this is not so critical with smooth on.

greets herm

[frank bullitt]

I've done splices with resorcinol, and Gary Davis has done 1000's with it. It does leave a dark glue line.

I also have a bamboo,walnut, and osage bow from John McCullough that is over 15 years old and shooting great. Resorcinol used in it too!

[Tom Leemans]

Urac #1
Resorcinol #2

Good glue lines are a result of the right amount of nice even pressure. I use a 1/4" thick piece of rubber between the bamboo and my pressure strip, which is a 3/16" thick ripping from a 2X4. Spreads the pressure out nice.

[northland archer]

I will plan on using Urac.  I decided to shoot for a 64" overall length bow with a bit of r/d in it.  If i start with a 1 1/2 " wide handle section, will that be enough to cut a site window in?

[Tom Leemans]

You can cut a shelf in, if that's what you want, but you need to beef up the riser from back to belly. (Whatever strength you remove from one area, needs to be added back to another to compensate.) Make it deeper, and/or make your handle section from multiple lams glued together. I'm not the shelf type, but I would advise the laminated handle for strength anyway. There's no need to go crazy with the whole center shot thing. Just get the right arrow spine.