"decurve" riser

[Caddis]

I'm new to bow building and have a question regarding curvature of a riser and how it might affect string follow.  I am building my first bow using bamboo flooring slats (2 of them laminated together) with fiberglass for backing.  This is a 55 inch straight-limbed longbow for my son and will hopefully be in the neighborhood of 25 pounds at 25 inches.

Anyhow, I laminated the 2 pieces of bamboo and fiberglass together (G3 epoxy) and there is noticable curvature to the resulting blank.  Not knowing how to fix that I forged ahead and now have the bow sanded pretty close to final shape and am ready to glue on the riser.  In total, I'd say there is between a quarter and a half inch of string follow in the soon to be bow.  The riser will be an 11 inch Howard Hill style.  My question is, if I put a slight curve in the riser where it meets the bow, could I straighten out the string follow when I glue on the riser...maybe even create a bit of deflex?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.  Thank You.

[macbow]

I've never tried anything like that. Usually any reflex or even R/D is glued in with the slats especially with fiberglass .
By being sanded to final shape is that including tiller?

I prefer to put my handles together with 1/8 to 1/4 inch slats and glue them on in layers.

The amount of follow you describe is nothing if not desirable in a straight longbow .

[vanillabear?]

[Caddis]

Originally posted by macbow:
I've never tried anything like that. Usually any reflex or even R/D is glued in with the slats especially with fiberglass .
By being sanded to final shape is that including tiller?

I prefer to put my handles together with 1/8 to 1/4 inch slats and glue them on in layers.

The amount of follow you describe is nothing if not desirable in a straight longbow .

I have not yet tillered...by sanding to final shape I just meant getting the bow sanded to the lines that I drew onto the back of the bow that represent its approximate fianl shape.  Why is it desireable to have string follow in a straight longbow...reduced hand shock?

Thanks for your help.

[Caddis]

Originally posted by vanillabear?:
You're gonna have glass on the belly too right?

Actually I wasn't planning on it.  Not sure if this will ultimately be a mistake.  Since this is my first bow, and since the poundage was pretty low, I figured I would try not putting glass on the belly.  My reasoning is that I really don't have much of an idea how thick the bow needs to be.  With no glass on the belly, I can take the thickness down if the bow comes in over weight, which I suspect it might.  I used 2 0.13 bamboo lams and 0.04 fiberglass backing (total 0.30).

Do you think not having glass on the belly is a mistake?  I know from others experience that having bamboo flooring as the belly can lead to set, but I figured that having laminated pieces, instead of one thicker piece might help reduce this problem...does that thought hold water?

Thank you for your help.

[macbow]

Have you,made any progress?
On the string follow, I've read that some of the sweetest shooting self bows had some follow , maybe 1 1/2 inches even.
I know many years ago there were bows made with just one piece of fiberglass on the back.
Your  demensions sound like a good place to start.
If you wanted some reflex or R/D you would want to glue it in like doing a bamboo backed bow.
Please share how it came out good or bad.