Bow form, Is this going to be a problem?

[Don Armstrong]

I built my form from a piece of 3/4" oak face  plywood, from Lowes. I started to glue my formica strip, from Binghams, on the form. It was sticking over so I figured the strip was a little wide. Well, the strip from Binghams is .005 under 1.500 but my form is .050 under 1.500. I had already started, so I have it in the heat box. I used smooth-on. I assumed it was .750 plywood and not .725. Am I going to have problems. Do I need to glue strips on the side of my form, to make up the .050. Thanks, Don

[7 Lakes]

I used a piece of formica between the plywood to fill out the difference.  You could no doubt glue a piece to the edge of yours and even things thing out.  In fact, the more I think about it my next form will probably have a sheet of formica glued to both sides, just to make it easier to keep things cleaned up.

It's nice when the top of the form, glass and all laminations are exactly the same size.  It's easier to keep things from sliding around that way.

[Dick in Seattle]

Not sure what kind of bow you make, but for my longbows, I don't worry about the situation you have, as I always put the layup together dry and run it through the drum sander on edge to get a perfect match to the top of the form.   Since my finished bows are under 1.250, no problem.

[fujimo]

sorry to jump in here,
1. but does one need to use exterior grade ply( binghams suggestion)
2.and the contact for the formica, is it ok with the heat.
3.does normal white wood glue do the job for building the form.
wayne

[Robertfishes]

before I built my first form I bought a digital caliper and measured the width of 040 glass I was using in place of the "formica strip"(it was 1.755" wide) , I took the caliper with me when I bought the cabinet grade plywood, each piece of 3/4" plywood was just under 3/4" so I ended up needing a "filler" piece to make up the 1.75 inches in width..I think I used a piece of 3/8"? plywood to make up the difference, glued it in the center of the 2 pieces of 3/4" .After the plywood glue up it came out 0.177 wide..so I hit it with a sanding block and brought it into specs.. I guess you could glue some pieces of filler to each side to make up the difference???

[Robertfishes]

I use 3M "high strength 90" (spray can) to glue the glass onto the form, its rated for higher heat than their "77" spray.. right or wrong I use "titebond II" to glue my cabinet grade plywood form and at least 2 pounds of drywall screws, I think titebond glue gets soft and "lets go" at cooking temps so the screws are very important. 2 years ago I built 4 form blanks each 18"x 74",I still have 2 uncut ones in storage, if I didn't I would buy some LVL in 1.75" and 1.5" for forms.. Seems like this form has 3 pieces of 1/2" birch cabinet grade plywood and a 1/8"??door skin to make the 1.50 inch width.