Air hose bow form

[manfromthepast]

How much space do you leave  to accommodate the fire hose?  I thought  I read somewhere about making the upper form undersized so as to allow about a 1" gap between the upper form and lower form.  Does that sound right?   Does that dimension include the stack of laminations also or do you need to add for that as well?  Any help would be appreciated.  Thanks.

[kennym]

I use about an inch plus the amount of the lam stack, and the riser if one pc. usually around 1.25"

[Dick in Seattle]

A similar question occurred to me today...   what about form thickness with the hose?   Say you had two forms, one for a 1 1/2" bow and one for a 2" bow.   I'm assuming the hose would conform as needed and be usable in both forms?

If you have a hose for a 68" longbow form, but get a wile hair to build a short recurve, or even a three piece, can you use that hose or is it really advisable to get a second shorter hose?

[PV]

I've always used 1" going under that at the fades to get more compression there.A bit of a hassle with a new hose but after a few bows it's fine. Saw a form build along the other day and the bowyer uses 1 3/4". Had his bows up there and they had great glue lines.

I use the same hose on t/d limbs and 68" bows Dick. 1 1/2 and 1 3/4 no problems. Haven't built a 2" glass.

[manfromthepast]

Thanks for the help.

[CLOVIS]

Old master crafters sell 1/4 " thick by 2" wide rubber pressure pads for pressing the lams together. You can cut it to the wdth. you want on your bandsaw. Works great. Leave room for this extra 1/4 "  Hope this helps

[greyhawk39]

I agree with kenny 1" all the way through the form top and bottom of it,work's fine, you get a tight bond and it doesn't matter what thickness your bow form is as long as the hose is centered on it.Mine is going on 19yrs.