Bow Form Materials

[RecurveJim]

Being a machinist for the last 26 yrs,I have access to a variety of materials.I would like to make (more humbily)attempt to make my first lamiate longbow.Would 1 1/2"thick T6 aluminum make a good form,or would I be better offf using wood?Also I would like to thank Kennys threads and Kenny himself for so unselfishly sharing his knowledge of bowmaking,In my trade,especially with the state of our economy its hard to find people willing to share thier expertise and kenny should be commended.              thanks for any input Jim

[Robertfishes]

I remember seeing a thread with an alum form.... UPDATE*** I found it using the search function...it was member #1997 Holm-Made.. maybe this link will work???    http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=125;t=000756#000000

[eflanders]

When I was at the Kalamazoo show I asked Chad Holm about his form.  HE said he thought it was worth it, but he had swapped the maker some merchandise to get it made.  His one and only complaint he mentioned to me was the weight of it.  He said it was substantially heavier than any of his other forms.  I do know of a few guys that use an aluminum strip on top of their wood forms (myself included).  I did this to protect and maintain the flat and squared surfaces of the form.

[PV]

Wood moves.... What you have today may not be what you'll have tomorro. If I had your knowledge and access all my forms and jigs would be made of metal.
That being said wood is relatively cheap and easily modified thus making it a good material for experimentation but if you're going with a proven design such as Kenny's metal is the way to go IMHO.

[bjansen]

I would absolutely love to have an aluminum form.....If you can do it...do it...but!...make sure you are satisfied with your form idea first. It would be terrible to spend that kind of money for a design you aren't 100% satisfied with.  

Here is how I build mine.  If you are going to build one out of wood, I suggest using an LVL beam.

 http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=125;t=004633#000000

[Dick in Seattle]

I compromised and used aluminum channel (straight longbow) on top of a clear fir plank.   Had to drum sand the surface of the plank once to get it to exactly slide in thickness, then slightly 45 degree the corners since the inside of the plank wasn't a perfect 90 degrees.   I made two of these, one 2" and one 1 1/2".   The 2" saw very little use, but the 1 1/2" has produced something like 30 bows now and is as good as the day I made it.  (Pictures and buildalong at  www.dickwightman.com     click on "Archery Activities")

With your skills and access to material I imagine you're thinking more in terms of solid alum., but this gives you at least one report on alum. in use.   I'm looking forward to trying a layup on 1 1/2" alum. square stock.   I ran into a piece of scrap at the local Online Metals place and instantly said, "Whoa!  Why not?!  What a simple way for someone to start out!"

[**DONOTDELETE**]

I'd love to have an "Adjustable" metal form and use some sort of spring steel in the limb section. Something that you could alter the geometry on, and still get nice sweeping curves or tighter radius tips for R/D work on recurve bows.

i think if i had the resources and the skills of a machinist. I'd use aluminum for the body, and spring steel for the limbs and incorporate heat strips right into the form with Teflon strips over the steel.

the weight of the form wouldn't be an issue with the heat strips. it could be set up stationary and use hydrolic or air pressure for the press.

[eflanders]

Aluminum & steel move with temperatures changes too. It just doesn't move with moisture changes. Unfortunately it also can get dinged up easily too..  Not to offend anyone but I personally think the movement factor is pretty much a non-issue.  I really like Kirkll's idea and thinking.  If I only had the money and resources...

[PV]

I wish wood  movement was a non issue eflanders.

I'm glad it isn't for you but we have a humid enviroment here in MA. EVERY one piece form I use has twisted. Some after just a few bows and others after many. I seal the lvl's and reenforce them with 1 1/2" angle iron and they still move..

Would metal move enough out of square to put twist in a limb? I don't know if it will but my wood forms sure do. When Chad and I were discussing metal forms he said he had not had any problem with movement.

No offence taken BTW. Appreciate your input

[RecurveJim]

Wow,my ears have smoke coming out of them,thanks for the input.Im so glad I asked this question,being a rookie at this the idea of developing a good form with wood or cheap materials for a prototype is spot on.Kirkll'sIdea of an adjustable form is remarkable,I have to admit I would like to have a longbow shaped like black widows PL bows,the way they look unstrung to me is a thing of beauty,as for movement of metal,aluminun is very stable,for example,if you put a 1"cube of it in the freezer say for an hour,then took it out,put a dial indicator on it,set the indicator to zero,the aluminum would grow around .001 by the time it reached room temp,I have never made a bow,but im quite certain a solid aluminum form would be straight for life,if one was worried about that,you could have it hard coated relitively cheap and that would also pretect against dings and scratches.Ill try to post my progress on this endevour,if anyones interested,again thanks so much for the input.