First Laminated Recurve

[DavidV]

I've started a recurve in my High school shop class using these plans
 http://www.vintageprojects.com/archery/recurve-bow-plans.pdf

I know I'll have questions later so I'll ask them all on this thread. The first question I have is how to shape the limbs as I'd rather not ruin the bandsaw blade. I saw someone rough it out on a table saw and I read somewhere else that the limbs can be ground down with a disk sander. Can someone tell me how this could be done?

[MoeM]

Cool just glued and roughed out a bow with same form. I`ll try to share some pics tomorrow...

[heartlandbowyer]

IMO stay away from the table saw the glass will splinter or worse you'll be missing meat and bone. I use the band saw to cut close to my layout lines then a belt sander to finish up to my line. The more limb length you are sanding at a a time the harder it is to screw up. A lot of guys use the 12 inch disc but they can really hog some material off, take your time is the biggest thing. You can pick up a band saw blade (14tpi) for under 20 bucks, and that cheaper than a new set of lams.

Good Luck,
Cory

[wood carver 2]

David,if you're thinking of using the tablesaw without a fence to rough out your bow, be careful. I've been working with wood all my life and I rarely ever use the tablesaw that way. Even a small saw can do a lot of damage to you or the bow in a hurry.    
If you really must do it that way, keep the blade as low as possible, and keep your hands way back. Someting like a bow can start chattering when you cut it that way and that could cause the blade to bite into it and maybe throw it back at you. Don't ask how I know that.
Like I said many years experience. I have used hand saws to rough out bows before and it doesn't take much longer than a tablesaw, and poses no hazards.
Work safe, fingers don't grow back.
Dave.

[jess stuart]

David, welcome to bow building.  The first bow I ever built was the one in those plans 1983 I think.  Made a good shooter.  I never allow my bandsaw blade to touch fiberglass, I grind my limbs to shape with a edge sander.  Did the first one with a rasps, files and a hacksaw didn't have a bandsaw at the time.  It can be done without all the big and expensive tools just takes more work and time.

[kennym]

Welcome David!

I use a 6" disc sander to get close to the line on layout, then a belt sander to clean up the rest. Takes about 10 minutes with 40 grit on the disc, then about the same on the belt with 100 or so grit.

[MoeM]

As I promised some pics so far I just wanted to upload- but I can´t find the button for?! I didn`t want to use a seperate uploader I`d like to link you to another board where I already shared my progress;
   Vintage Recurve  
It`60" long, both corelams about 0.12"thick taper with .001 (hope I got units right) run bellyside of riser covered by 0.04" black glass.
I put some redheart on walnut for the riser to give it some pop on that widow styled grip.
Next step is to built up riser on belly to allow some semi deep pistol grip.

[Platypus]

Don't use a table saw free-hand.  Period.

I used to make furniture, and the shop was an old roller rink with 30' ceilings.  When I was hired, the foreman gave me a quick safety tour, and there was one thing I will never forget:

Above the table saw, embedded in the ceiling (30 feet up), was a chunk of 12/4 hard maple, about five inches wide and, I was told, about two feet long.  You could only see the last two or three inches sticking out.  I was told it was from the piece pinching the blade and kicking back the board.  

Table saws are just not designed for free-hand use.  Use a band saw or scroll saw.  It's not worth a bow blank, or a finger, a face, or a skull.

[DavidV]

Thanks for the help, I'll use a disc sander then. I glued up my plywood form today and by next week I'll have all of my lumber.

[DavidV]

Update:

I got my maple lumber for laminations, black .040 fiberglass, red 1/8" phenolic for an I-beam, and a beautiful piece of leopardwood for the riser. I picked up all of it at Rosewood Archery, which isn't too far from me. I sanded all the lams to .100 and hopefully it'll come out around 50#. Just need to wait for the smooth-on to get here.

[David Flanrey]

David,
You are off and running.  My advice is before glue up do a dry run on the lay up of the bow and after glue up go very slowly.  Don't make rash decisions.  Don't ask me how I figured these two things out.    

Post pics.  There are alot of guys here that will help you out.

[DavidV]

Okay, got it glued up today after some complications. I had some of my lams warp overnight when I clamped them to the powerlam and riser so I had to cut those off and grind new ones. Then as I ran into trouble gettng the .1" maple laminations into the form and had one try to splinter on me. Ended up gluing everything together last minute and it SHOULD be okay. Used about every clamp in the shop (Sliding bar clamps come in handy) and there's epoxy all over the place, lol.

[DavidV]

Oh, and I won't be able to check it for a week because of Spring Break and MEPS.

[Dan Bonner]

Wow! I have roughed out the last 40 or so bows freehand on my table saw with no problems. I use 6.5" I think or 7.5" (have to look) thin kerf diablo blades. It is important that they are fresh and pretty sharp so they won't chatter. Slices the glass like butter. Just make sure you wear glasses and hold on the other end of the limb. I did a ton of bows with the belt sander. Took 3 times as long, was less accurate and I got tired of getting glass particles all over me and the shop. I still use the belt sander to  rough tiller but I cut to the lines with the saw. A little scary hearing the horror stories but my experience has been very positive. I guess I have never even considered the risk. I think I'll stick with it. Hope I don't have to change my TG handle to "lefty"

Bonner