osage billets or board?

[trentcur]

Im starting a hill style osage with bamboo backing. I have never worked a stave of any kind. I was thinking of doing osage board or billets? (from pine hallow). What are the advantages to the billets? I would need to splice them, and they look very nice. Any performance advantages?

Also with a board I would think it easier to back beings that its flat...... any advice would be great. Would like to hear from the crowd before ordering my material. Oh...... one more thing. What kind of epoxy works best with boo? Have always used titebondIII for board bows.

Thank You

[Pat B]

For a boo backed(any wood backing) bow it is easier to use boards like you said because they are already flat. With a stave or billets you will have to flatten the back to accept the boo backing. Are the boards 3/4"  thick?  If so you can add a riser without worrying about it popping off when you draw the bow..

[SEMO_HUNTER]

Pat is spot on with his advice. Staves can be a bugger to get perfectly flat to accept a boo backing. It almost takes a creative flare with a belt sander/drum sander to get it perfect. Which has never happened for me yet, there are always some imperfections in the wood when I do a boo backing. That's where the Urac takes over and fills those small voids. If you have a choice to use an osage board, I'd say go for it.

[trentcur]

Ok osage board it is.......... what do you recommend for the epoxy? Never glued boo....

[Cuban Missile]

If your going to be using boards how would you want the grain orientation?   What should be avoided?  I have some hickory boards lying around that have pin nots in them.  I wasn't sure if I should use them or not.  I've never used hickory before.

[PEARL DRUMS]

URAC 185 epoxy is great on boo/wood combos.

[trentcur]

great I will order. Ok and I was thinking going ith the american flatbow/pyramid design...... keeping the limbs parellel at 1 1/4" to 10"outside the fades then taper to the 3/8". any of you worked with boo and find that any perticular design works better than the other?

[Pat B]

What length bow and what draw length?  Osage like a slightly radiused belly too.
  Make your tips 1/2" for now and reduce them later. You can make slight alignment adjustmernts by removing wood from one side of the tip or the other. Also don't shape your handle until later for the same alignment reason plus you can clamp the bulky handle area without effecting the ultimate handle after it is shaped.

[trentcur]

Im aiming for 66" long and a 50@28. Radiused belly.......... is this similar to trapping the edges? thanks

[trentcur]

also given the option to buy "pre flattened and tempered bamboo" is it worth the extra $ (x2)? thanks

[Pat B]

If you don't have the tools to do it it is!  Who are you getting your boo from?
 A radiused belly has a crown to it unlike a flat belly. I guess it does sort of resemble a trapped cross section. Osage is strong enough in compression it can take the stresses along the belly that a radiused bally creates.

[Stiks-n-Strings]

Trent,

 I just finished up a hill style boo backed trilam that came out fantastic. I'll be posting some pics and specs in another thread.

 Any who, I used preplaned boo. I did have to taper it on the belt sander but not a big deal. Pat is right about the belly. I did a slight radiused belly on mine. From fade tip to fade tip is 14". I also built mine 66" 1 1/8 at the fade straight taper to 1/2" on the tips and did as Pat recommended and thinned them down after everything else was good. I glued it up with Urac and used innertube bands to clamp it. I glued in 1.5" of reflex and it settled in with about 1" of string follow which is what I was after.

 If you have any questions shoot me a PM

[trentcur]

stiks i will be looking at those pics...... i remember you posting that you wre gna start this bow. cant wait to see it.

I am getting my boo from pine hallow as well as my osage board and urac....... any better place(s)? thanks

[Roy from Pa]

Trent, you have a joiner or a good sander? You can flatten the boo out in no time. Your gonna need a band saw also. Toothing plane comes in handy too. URAC is the best for wood to wood/boo.

[Eric Krewson]

If you order boards find out if they are edge grain or plain cut. You can have pins with plain sawed, not so with edge grain because they compromise the strength of your bow depending on where they lay in the board. They will lay side to side in an edge grain board instead of back to belly like plain sawed.

[SEMO_HUNTER]

Urac is some good stuff and fairly cheap, at least a heck of alot cheaper than smooth on and a few others.
Like Roybert said, Urac for wood to wood and wood to bamboo. Hope you got a nice warm place to glue up this time of year, Urac needs to be warm in order to cure properly.

[PEARL DRUMS]

If you dont have a hot box to cure glue in you can buy a double halogen work light for very little money. If you place it 12-14" from the joint it will get an easy 90-100 degrees of ambient heat. It will cure your URAC in a few hours. You may have to slide it up and down the lenght of your bow a few times to be sure it all receives heat.

[Eric Krewson]

I made this handy dandy glue-up table for my bamboo backed bows.

 

When the weather is cold I make a tent out of a yard sale comforter with a couple drop lights for heat. No problem getting to 90 degrees under my tent.

 

[Roy from Pa]

Or you could build a hot box for less than $50.00.

 

[trentcur]

thank you for all the great advice. I do have a sander and a planer..........

That blanket/lamp design is sweet..... just dont let her catch fire;) Ill try that!!

thak you all! When I get my material and get started Ill post pics as I go so that I can recieve some more good advice.

Thanks

Trent