HH style long bow (woops!)

[Lazyeye506]

So I set out to make my first laminated bow and in my usual style, I set out to make this thing with the full expectation of it blowing apart hoping to learn a few things for the next attempt.

My first and most devastating mistake was using two lams of 1/8" maple, (full stack back to belly is 0.05 clear glass, burgundy dyed curly maple veneer, 2x 1/8 maple sandwhiching a home-made solid padauk riser, veneer, 0.05 glass) which made bending the lams into the fade very difficult. After steam bending the lams to fit the riser better, I dry fitted (looked pretty tight) then glued up the stack using not a form, but flat boards and clamps. While glueing I noticed a nasty gap between one of the belly lams and the fade. I think this bow is probably toast now, but wanted to hear what you experts have to say about salvaging the bow if at all possible. The glue lines otherwise look pretty tight, and I can't bring myself to just junk the thing since it is pretty and I have developed a dangerously stupid attachment to it. All the same, I still want the experience of tillering and finishing a bow so I will attempt to make it work. Do you think I can keep this thing from blowing up if I keep it from bending near the fades?

Thanks! Mark E    

It might be worth noting that it is 69" overall and each limb is about 26" fade to tip, I don't need to draw it beyond 28"

[Lazyeye506]

Looks like there is something wrong with my picture, here is the link

[canopyboy]

I think it'll be safe to shoot, just look a little funny. Nothing you can do to fix it now. If it was mine, I'd tiller it out and see how it shoots. If it shot decent, I'd finish it up, write Roy's name on it, and give it to someone who needs a bow.

Since the gap is in between the two 1/8 maple lams and therefore basically in the middle of your sandwich, it'll experience maximum shear but almost zero tension or compression. Epoxy is generally good in shear. Plus, since the gap disappears before you get to the end of your riser fade, you're pretty much exclusively in the non-bending part of your limb anyway, so even the shear will be rather low. You may possibly be changing the little bit of bending that does happen in the fades of your riser, but not enough to matter IMO.

Good luck.

[Krasus]

Looks like it should shoot. If your worried about looks, you can always serve that section of the limb with silk and coat it in epoxy. Will look good and be strong.  Good learning curve. Try a lot thinner limbs next time, and just have more of them to make the stack dimension your going for.  

[monterey]

Agree with that said above.  I have one that is way worse than yours and it's still going.  

If you are going to run thick lams up the ramps it's a good idea to go with a well fitted hose form. You can get away with glass only on the ramps or glass with a thin lam or veneer.

This one is glass over a .021 veneer.

   

[Lazyeye506]

Thanks for the help guys, this is encouraging. I will post the results when I get it finished or destroyed, whichever comes first!

[Lazyeye506]

Update: I finished this bow, tiller was great, exercised it for 100 pulls per inch of brace height, shot it a few times in the apartment, then took it to the range and delaminated it in the first pull. I'm not sure why everything was fine at home and it blew up at the range, but clearly the problem was that joint at the fade. On closer inspection, that joint was a bit starved, so I had filled the remainder with CA, but that wasn't good enough!

Lesson learned, the next bow will have thinner lams and less steep ramps.

[monterey]

Lesson learned, the next bow. . .

Ah, the "next bow"!!

Heh heh, you are hooked.  

[passion for knowledge]

There's always 'the next one'!

I doubt the prefect bow exists, but we are all stumbling about trying to make it!

Enjoy the process.