Actionwood for core wood??

[rogers]

Iv got a buddy that has really been wantin one of my recurves before season.  He is a close friend and cant afford regular price, so I finally worked out a deal with him.  I told him id do it for cost and he'd have to take me on our annual weekend huntin trip.  The problem is that he wants green mountain camo actionwood angle cut for the limbs.  I have never worked with actionwood.  From what I know it just laminated birch or maple.  To save him money I was goin to use the angle cut actionwood as the core wood.  

My question is has anyone ever done this?  Is angle cut action wood perform well as a core or should I use it as veneers with maple or elm as the core?

[Apex Predator]

It will make a great core!

[Robertfishes]

from what I'm reading in your post..you are wanting to use angle cut in the whole stack?? most guys use edge grain cut for cores and the angle cut for the thin(less than .030) outer veneers, reason is that edge grain is said to be stronger than the angle cut. someone let me know if I'm wrong, maybe I didn't read your post correctly

[kennym]

I'd say edge would be stronger,and possibly a bit stiffer per thickness than angle cut.

 Plus, angle is higher priced,even if you make your own. Due to losing about 3/4" off each blank to the angle.

I guess I need to build an a-wood test bow to compare to the other wood cores.......

[Robertfishes]

Kenny, my buddy over at BW told me a few years ago there is a 3 fps difference between their actionwood bows and their actionboo bows, thats not much but it is some difference.. However I had an actionwood bow of theirs that seemed to be noticeably faster than the others I had of theirs, It was an older style BW that had the narrower limb tips

[kennym]

Robert, is that with the a-wood being faster?

[Robertfishes]

no, my friend at BW says the bamboo is the faster by 3 fps, but the 1998? Birch prototype MA I had with Birch actionwood seemed to have better than average cast as compared to the other 5 Widows I had at that time....  

[kennym]

That was my guess that a-boo would be faster, but have only built one all awood bow....

[rogers]

Yes Robert, I was wanting the use the angle cut plus glass as the whole stack.  Can this be done?

[Robertfishes]

Kenny and Apex have alot more experiance in Bow Building and use of materials than myself. In my opinion and from what I have seen in other bows the actionwood is traditionaly used in the center cores as edge cut(see my pic). Many builders are using the angle cut but only as thin (030 or less) parrallels under the clear glass, I have done this once and the bow came out great. As far as price goes there is not much difference in an all actionwood bow and one with red elm or actionboo tapers..For me Red Elm is a great choice and arround half of my bows have it as tapers, the other half actionboo. I want to use Hard Maple on a couple of bows but I bought a bunch of red elm and amberboo from KennyM earilier this year so I have some inventory to use up first.. Compare prices on Kennys site or your chosen vendor, red elm is nicely priced and makes a good taper, amberboo is eaiser to work with(my opinion). Some edge cut GM tapers with 020 angle cut green mountain parallels should make a nice bow for your friend.  good luck with your build

[matt g meyers]

Can any one tell me where to get the angle cut action wood?
I ordered some action grey recently figuring that it would have the appearance of the tomahawk bows,but was sadly surprised to have it be the edge cut. Still made a neat bow , just not what I was after.

[kennym]

I finally caught on! RECURVE!! There is no core as we speak of in longbows, just a taper and a parallel? I'd say it would work , with the long angle of the glue joints.

[Robertfishes]

I am building the Binghams 58 inch one piece recurve,the Binghams suggested stack heights always come out 5 lbs heavier for me??  if I was building a 52 lb bow my stack would be 040 glass, 025 veneer, .125 taper 002/inch, 025 veneer, 040 glass. for a 255 total stack. The veneers would be  angle cut and .125 taper would be edge cut...I shape my limbs narrower than the pattern that comes with prints...my thoughts are that the edge cut would be stronger and less likely to twist the limbs.

[rogers]

Robert Iv warned my buddy about it, but he is wanting the angle cut badly.  I told him it'll only cost him roughly 20 bucks more to build it right.  Its amazing how limb design can change the stack thickness/wieght ratio so much, your .255" stack on my limbs would come out 70#@28 with my limbs. lol  Thanks for all yals opinions.

[Robertfishes]

sent you a PM, post some pics when you get the bow built, I bet the angle cut GM camo will look great under the clear glass..the edge grain cut taper will show more camo on the edges when you sand and shape the limbs