Bow limb veneers. How to?

[Matt Moline]

Ok team. I have a quesiton....

What is the best way to make your limb veneers? I am looking to make a coco and Koa split limb veneer. But am wondering how in the world I can get to the thickness of .003 or .001!

I currently make my bamboo lambs on a drill press jig with a rotating sander head. But looking to make really thin veneers for solid glue ups. My biggest fear is that it will tear or rap around the sanding drum and break.

Much help would be appreciated.

[Crooked Stic]

First off .003 or.001 is way too thin. If you get them down to .010 you would be doing good.I usaly make mine .020-.030. I use a drum sander with a parallel sled.

[Matt Moline]

Opps! I see that I didn't move my decimal points over enough. I meant  .020-.030.  What do you use to secure it? tape sandpaper?

[fujimo]

mine , i make on a drum sander- so this may help or not- but i just run them thru- little at a time towards the end- so that it is not taking too much bite out of the wood, then it wont force the lams back on the sled. and bust them!

[talkingcabbage]

I will use double sided tape for the really thin ones, but I make sure to stick the tape on my shirt first on the side that will hold the lam.  This makes it so it's not too sticky where you'll break the lam getting it off, but just sticky enough to hold it flat on the sled.  Hope that made sense.

[D]

Good idea on the sticking it to your shirt first Joe.  I use two sided fiber outdoor carpet tape.  Get it at walmart and I've seen it at Lowes. It sticks really well.

[kennym]

When you get to .020, start stalking the thickness, by about .002 or so each time.

Most sanders will take another .002 off without changing setting on sander.....

I can do down to about .010 without any tape or stuff to hold the lam.

[LittleBen]

What's the benefit of going so thin on the veneers?

is it weight? strength?

seems liek the difference in mass between .030 and .010 is so marginal it wouldn't be worth the effort. All you're doing is replacing .020" of cocobolo with bamboo or something ... can't be much weight.

[kennym]

If you can get em thin, you save some of the expensive wood for another bow, aboo is really cheap compared to coco or bocote....

Plus it makes your bow feel faster!  :D

[Matt Moline]

The main reason I asked is because I read somewhere that if you are able to take it down to .010 you are about the thickness of paper.  In my reading I saw that they said that the glue would actually penetrate the through the veneer better which makes for a stronger bond.  Making for a stronger limb.

Is there any truth to this? Or should I just stick with a veneer around .030?

Thanks for the answers guys!

[Trux Turning]

Mine are usually .020-.025 and at that thickness I get glue penetration through the veneer. .010 veneers also get good glue penetration- they are just more fragile to handle during the glue up.

[bornofmud]

At .024, my veneers have glue penetration.  I honestly wouldn't want to work with anything much thinner than .024, extremely delicate on highly figured woods already, couldn't imagine .010 staying together very well with some of the veneers I have.

[Matt Moline]

Got it! Thanks again guys.

[bamboo]

get them too thin--and the hydraulic pressure of clamping can split them

[MCNSC]

What type sanding drum works best for grinding lams?
And what grit works best?

[kennym]

Actually a widebelt works best, but are a bit more $ I think.

I have settled on 40  or 50 grit as my pick...

[Matt Moline]

Good question on the drum sander.  Im actually going to make a drum sander bases on the design of Jim Thorne this weekend. Just got a new motor and am really looking forward to the challenge. You can see the instructions here.

 http://www.buildyourownbow.com/build-alongs/how-to-make-a-simple-thickness-sander-build-along/

From what I have heard, anyone who has built it just loves it.  Think I should do a build a long on this.