Need advice

[cylyntbowyer]

Gonna be building  my first non glass bow for a friend this coming week,  68" tri-lam "hill style"
I have hickory, Osage, action boo, spalted maple, red elm, sassafras for lam choices.
1st question...
Do the all the lams need to be parallel? Or can I taper them and splice them together.
2. Any particular recipes for tri lam bow with my available wood/core choices?
3. The hickory board I have...does the grain pattern matter much? (Edge grain, flat grain, erratic)
4. Lam thickness for 68" ntn with limb width about 1.25" at fades.

Any help would be appreciated , thanks guys.
Chris

[David Flanrey]

Charles, I've never made a Hill style bow and don't know about stack recipes but splicing the lams will work.  You'll put an overlay on the back of the bow to cover the splice if your back is spliced.  On the grain, any will be ok as long as the grain doesn't run to the edge too much.

I'm sure some of the tri-lam guys will chime in and give us some better answers.

[takefive]

I haven't made a Hill style tri-lam, the few I've done have been R/D.  I don't have a lam grinding setup, just use my belt sander and check with a dial calipers.  I taper the back and core lams that way. Not very precise, but I leave enough wood on the belly lam for tillering.  I'm waiting for Roy and Little Ben to chime in.  They will give you some answers.  What weight are you shooting for?

[Bowjunkie]

I'd go with hickory back, if you have a decent quality quarter or rift sawn piece... osage core (red elm second choice, or if not a heavy draw weight)... and osage belly.

I would leave the hickory parallel.

Taper the core lam 1/8" from dips to tips, or a hair less... which would give you about .004/1" taper.

And I'd leave the osage for the belly parallel which will leave material for adjusting weight or tiller once you get to bending it.

It's impossible to offer lam thicknesses without knowing your target weight.

[Roy from Pa]

Hickory for the back, 1/8th thick parallel, 1/4 sawn would be my first choice, rift sawn my second choice, never flat sawn. Core lam either Osage or Red Elm. Osage will yield more draw weight than Red Elm. But Red Elm would yield a nicer contrast between the back and belly. Nothing wrong with Red Elm for a core and a 50 pound bow is easy with elm. The core lam whatever you chose, I would make it 3/16th thick at the flares, tapered to 1/16th at the tips. For sure Osage for the belly, I would make it 5/16th at the flares and taper it to 1/4 inch at tips. 1 1/4 wide at flares, hold the 1 1/4 width out 6 more inches, then do a straight taper to 1/2 wide at tips.

[Wolftrail]

Roy is there any benefit to using 3 different woods.  Why not use Elm belly, Elm core and Hick backing..? or Osage backing..?
1/4 sawn wood is about all I use.  Do you ever use flat or rift for any lams..?  I have bought some really good maple and pulled it over 30" without breaking.  Just testing it to see what would transpire.

[Roy from Pa]

You could use elm for a belly and a core. Bow building is all fun. But Osage is the best bow wood out there as far as I am concerned. But a Man has to go with what he has on hand. For a backing, 1/4 or rift is all I would ever use. The core lam is neutral so to speak. It's glued in between the back and belly. Hard Maple is another good choice for bow wood. Heck lot's of guys have made bows out of wood I would never think of using. But it just boils down to what we all have on hand  to try and make a bow out of.

[cylyntbowyer]

Thanks for the comments guys...really getting some good ideas. Im trying for 50#'ish.
The hickory board I have I'm not sure what the grain orientation is, haven't really looked at it I'm afraid to say. Maybe I should just order a strip to be safe.

[cylyntbowyer]

Thanks for the comments guys...really getting some good ideas. Im trying for 50#'ish.
The hickory board I have I'm not sure what the grain orientation is, haven't really looked at it I'm afraid to say. Maybe I should just order a strip to be safe.

[cylyntbowyer]

Another question.
Could I use vertical bamboo flooring as a backing? I know it's pretty tough stuff. If so I was thinking of using an 1/8th inch strip.

[Roy from Pa]

I wouldn't use it for backing.