More on bow forms

[TNstickn]

Thanks Kenny, Ill give ya a holler tomarow when I get off.

[kerryb]

i have put the mdf form in the oven for six hours at a time, letting cool completly,repeted 3 times, it is staight as a string. I sanded both gluing surfaces with 50 grit sand paper, and used tite-bond III, it is holding up great so far. i will be glueing up first bow up on it  soon as kennym has time to cut some of his great lams for me.

[PV]

Sweet looking elm Kenny!

[kennym]

Kerry,tomorrow nite!

[razorsharptokill]

I'm making a form per Kenny's instructions too. For the surface of the form I used a 1/8" x 1.5" x 72" pc of aluminum from Lowes. I roughed one side of the alum with 40 grit then I sprayed both surfaces with some 3M spray on adhesive. I clamped the cented with a bar clamp then screwed the ends down to the form surfce with counter sunk screws about 2" from the ends. I have it clamped using another pc of aluminum. I'll let you know how it goes. I think I will screw the center down the same way before I unclamp it completely then fill with epoxy to ensure a smooth, even surface

I was planing to stiffen up the sides by bolting angle iron to the sides as mentioned by Walt.

[Dick in Seattle]

For those wanting a 1 1/2" or 2" surface on a rigid form, you can get aluminum channel in those sizes.  I recently built a double form for flat 1 3/4" and 2" longbows, using the 2" channel, which has a wall thickness of 1/4", on top of a 1 1/2" board.  I laminated a piece of 1/4" ply up one side to the bottom edge of the 2" channel, then attached a piece of special cut 1 3/4" flat alum (there is no 1 3/4" channel) to the other bottom surface.  I seriously doubt I'll have warpage problems.  I've done three bows on the 1 3/4" side... one to go (I had made up lams that size) then i'm switching to 2" lams on the 2" side.  I was after a dead straight bow, but if you wanted some string follow, you could glue on a couple of tapers, ala Bingham's instructions.  Here's a pic, 1 3/4" side up:


 


Not what everyone is after, but it suits me and might give you some ideas.  If you're interested, here's a link to a build along type pictorial:


 http://dickwightman.com/archery/bowyering/buidlingform/buildingform.html


Once I've explored the possiblities of this form some more, my next project will be an RD form built per Kenny's instructions.  This just seemed very simple and durable for a first effort and suitable for my present interests.  Oh, yeah... the project was a lot of fun!