South-African needing advice on Meranti vs Bamboo in glass bow

[Oosie]

Good day,

I am a long time lurker and have read just about every build-along on the Bench. I learned a lot and after making a lot of unsuccessful board-bows and a few successful ones, I now want to try my hand at making a laminated Longbow.

I have a few questions though:

1. I am having difficulty finding bamboo that would work for my core. Could I replace it with strips of Meranti? How, if any, would it impact the bow's speed vs draw weight?

2. Any active South African Bowyer's on these forums that would be able to help me source local fibreglass strips? (Hellishly expensive when ordering from USA with shipping and customs added.)

3. Are there free blueprints available for risers etc.? If so, where would I find them?

Thanks for everything that I have learned from your builds. I must say: There are a few bows here that make my knees weak...

[PZee]

Hi Oosie,

I'm in Gauteng. Drop me a pm.

Thanks

Pete

[LittleBen]

Hey Oosie,

I'm not in SA and I have never used meranti, but it's also called luaun if I remember correctly. It's pretty lightweight, hopefully someone has experience. Do you have any other woods available?

Here is a link to some plans for two R/D longbows courtesy of Kenny M:    http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=125;t=011684;p=1  

I think bear paw archery in Europe (Germany I think) sells glass and what not. Might be more affordable, not very familiar with shipping/custome in Africa.

Lastly, if glass is too expensive, you could always build a laminated wood bow. They're not as foolproof, and you have to tiller them like any other wood bow, but the sky is the limit in terms of designs, and performance can be very good.   http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=125;t=011981;p=1

 http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=125;t=013844

[KenH]

If it's between two pieces of 'glass, the kind of wood isn't terribly important as it only supplies 12% of the strength of the bow.  I wouldn't use Balsa or Aspen, but Meranti should be just fine.  The overall stack thickness -- glass plus wood -- is what determines the draw weight.  

I think it was Ben Hunt who said the only purpose of the wood laminations in a wood-glass bow, is to hold the two pieces of glass a specific distance apart.

[JamesV]

Add Cypress to the list of woods that are too weak for glass bows.

James

[JamesV]

Ossie............

Could an individual send you some glass and avoid the customs charges?

James

Hey Oosie, I suggest you go to this sight and find some woods that are available to you that have similar qualities to hard maple...  Then ask some of the other bowyers if they are familiar with those woods and how they would work for cores....

 http://www.wood-database.com/

   Good Luck...

[Oosie]

Originally posted by JamesV:
Ossie............

Could an individual send you some glass and avoid the customs charges?

James

I am not certain James; haven't looked into that possibility yet.

Our biggest problem here in Sunny South-Africa is the Rand-Dollar exchange rate. It's currently at around R15-$1.
Secondly the shipping even if someone were to send it my way as a gift would still be quite expensive.

If a company brings in a container's worth of a product, the shipping gets shared between every item and it ends up very cheap.
Buying one or two things I would end up paying at least as much as the retail value for shipping.

It would of course be a whole different ballgame if said individual were to mount those pieces of glass on the outside of some wood laminations and add a handle to it...   :p

[Martin Schutte]

Hi Oosie there are a couple of Bowyers in SA that can help with fibreglass. They are Johnny Snyman from Knysna and Derek Noorseman they have supplies for sale and you can even contact Pierre De Wet from Cupido bows maybe he can help with some supplies, Jaco wessels immigrated to Estonia and lives in Tartu so no joy there. The bamboo for the core is actually bamboo flooring that is available locally in SA

Keep Well Martin

[Oosie]

Originally posted by Martin Schutte:
Hi Oosie there are a couple of Bowyers in SA that can help with fibreglass. They are Johnny Snyman from Knysna and Derek Noorseman they have supplies for sale and you can even contact Pierre De Wet from Cupido bows maybe he can help with some supplies, Jaco wessels immigrated to Estonia and lives in Tartu so no joy there. The bamboo for the core is actually bamboo flooring that is available locally in SA

Keep Well Martin

Martin,

Could you provide some contact details for the abovementioned bowyers? Maybe PM me?

I am aware of the bamboo flooring, thanks. I have some Meranti already on hand that is why I asked.

[Martin Schutte]

Hi Oosie you can just google their names they are very well known here here is a couple of web addresses

 http://norsemenarchery.co.za/

 http://heartwoodbowsonline.com/wordpress/

I hope this help

Martin (Sorry for the late reply its one of those weeks)