I've made a bunch of bamboo backed bows of various sorts and never used a powerlam once. Some of my bows have been short and/or with draw weights up to 70# and never had a handle delaminate. No 'pedastals' either.
What I do different than most is use a toothing plane blade dragged by hand like a scraper on both gluing surfaces, parallel with the bow's length until the grooves are the full depth of the teeth. Then just use Smooth On epoxy and set a shop light near it for warmth. The grooves ensure, in spite of clamping pressure, there's plenty of glue equally dispersed through the entire joint.
Also, I suspect my bow's cross section in that area might have a little something to do with it. The bellies of the limbs are radiused, and the handle is bulbous, so the fadeouts don't fade or end straight across the width of the limb like a flatter bellied limb and flatter fades do. Instead they fade out in thickness and width simultaneously over some length and the shape blends the parts in such a way that its about impossible to distinguish them, especially if they're of the same wood, or dyed or aged. But the point is, structurally, I think perhaps the stresses are dissipated differently, in more directions, so, more gradually, less chance of popping... if that makes any sense.
Topic: BBI Lefty. (Read 1167 times)
