The New Guy...... Questions about Ovens?

[Motivationteam]

I am new!  I know, I know.... You are thinking "hear we go another Dillwacker"     .  If so you would be right!  I want to get into making bows and I have spent many hours researching.  On question I have is- If I want to build a bow with good success do I need an oven?  Or are there alternatives?

By the way my name is Rich and I love hunting predators and just recently got into traditional archery.  Years ago I did quite a bit of Compound.
I live in Idaho and do have some experience with wood as I make Coyote calls.

[LESKEN2011]

Most of the modern glues can be used with or without extra heat. I have done most of my glue ups with the titebond products and various epoxies without the aid of an oven. My second glass bow was glued up with smooth on and put in the back of my pickup during the heat of the day. The thermometer read about 143 degrees for several hours. I have heard of guys putting them inside cars during the day. It gets pretty hot in there.

[Motivationteam]

Thanks Lesken2011 !!!!  I am pretty excited.

[canopyboy]

You definitely don't NEED an oven, but I think there are some advantages if you're using a heat-cure epoxy like Smooth-on. They may be minor though compared to having this giant box to deal with when you're not cooking up a bow.

I like to dry out staves and lams in mine at lower temps. I like the glue setting and being at full strength in a couple of hours on a glass bow. I like that at 180 degrees the wood laminations get heat-bent to the shape of the form which I think makes for a slightly better final product.

But the sucker takes up a lot of room at 7' long.

[KenH]

If you've got  money to spare (a couple hundred bucks) and you plan on building more than a dozen bows, and you just can't wait overnight (ADD rears its ugly head) -- then investing in a oven might be a good idea.  But guys were building wood-glass composite bows decades before anyone got the bright idea to hurry things along with an oven.  

Smooth-on and other bow epoxies will cure overnight if the temperature stays above say 75F.  Faster if warmer.  In many places, as mentioned, during the greater part of the year you can well over 100F just in your yard or a vehicle.

My advice is build a few one piece bows (flatbows and recurves) with the older fashioned "innertube" type forms and get some experience designing, laying up and finishing bows before investing a lot of money.  

Here are a couple of my recent rubberband form bows.  The Scythian is 48" tip-to-tip, and the SnubNose is 44" t-t-t

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Scythian Form

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SnubNose Shorty Form

Here are the two bows finished out:
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[Todd Cook]

I have built many with and without an oven. Supposedly there is greater heat tolerance if an oven is used.I can't tell any difference either way.

[bowhntineverythingnh03743]

If your going to get into making several bows and especially glass bows I would suggest building yourself an oven. Total cost when I built mine last year was around $150.00 and a full Saturday. Made 10 glass bows so far and it's gonna be with me for a long time.

 
 

Plus you could use it for many other applications with building a bow.