sanding overlays????????

[warden415]

Just wondered what some of you are useing to sand and feather overlays? Whether it is tip overlays or an overlay on the riser. I usually feather them to a thin edge with an oscillating spindle sander before they go on the bow. Then I just hand sand them where they meet the fiberglass once on the bow. I get pretty good results but I see some bows where the overlays are paper thin, they appear to be done with some sort of power sander to get that thin. Mine are usually square also. I notice some are beautifully round also once they are finished. Any advice appreciated. Steve

[Shakes.602]

Sweat & Elbow Grease!     and get to Sanding!  

[warden415]

ttt

[EASTERNARCHER]

yup, me too!

[ethan]

Wish I had a better answer for you, but by hand is what I have found to work the best.

[SOS]

I asked the question on the rounding of the tip overlays before and someone commented that they started with a layer of clear glass, giving room to shape the wood or colored overlay material to the rounded shape without cutting into the glass on the limbs.  Maybe someone with some more know how will confirm.

[ChuckC]

Steve.  literally the more you do the better you will get.  I like to start with a rounded overlay and thin it down as much as I can before I glue it, but you still have to sand.  

I have gotten real good at shaping with a file.  Have you ever used one as a draw file ?  Instead of pushing the length thru the target, you hold the file with both hands, one on tip one on tang, hold it sideways to the target piece and lay the file on, in the center of the file, then push and pull so the target piece crosses the narrow (width, not thickness) part of the file, not the length.  Take it easy and you can learn to really control it to the Nth degree.  

Then of course sand it.  Sand right on into the glass when you feather it in, you won't hurt it if you take it easy.
ChuckC

[OconeeDan]

you can also make a round sanding block with a big piece of dowell, say 1" in diameter and even larger .  Easy to hang onto and lots of control.  Use very coarse sandpaper till you get almost there, then go finer.  That will save a lot of time.
The more you can thin and shape before glueup, the less you have to sand later.  I also mask off and that keeps excess glue off.  Again, less to sand later.
Dan

[Bodork]

To make them look round, sand the sides more than the middle. Be careful. Use a fine file or a sanding block. If you use your fingers and sandpaper, the sides will be uneven. You can do some fine tweaking without the block, just take it slow.

[StanM]

How big of a deal is it if you get into the glass a little bit if you are going for a rounded end?

[V-Archer]

This is how I do it.

V-Archer    



And the result looks like this:

[Tom Leemans]

I do alot of cow horn tip overlays. I sand a sharp, yet steep angle on one end, so it'll be easier to blend. If you sand it too thin, it may be too flexible during glue up. Anyway, a utility knife blade is great for scraping off tool marks and one of my favorite final shaping tools is one of those foam emery boards for fingernails that has 4 different grits on it.