About wood to use on bow making

[edy5dms]

Hi every one this is my first post in this forum..

I'm currently a university student and residing in Sri Lanka and have been involved in archery for some time and now wish to move on to Bare bow instinctive type of shooting from the modern bows sinse I started to realize the true talent and the joy in bare bow instinctive shooting..

So I have decided to build a reflex-deflex type long bow via lamination technique. Since there is no bow making culture here in Sri Lanka we have to research a lot in to bow making and the main concern has become what type of wood to use for the bow.

So I would really appreciate if you guys could pitch in to explain the kind of properties you’re looking for in the wood which goes in the different parts of the bow, such as:
- What wood quality are you looking for the belly of the bow, for backing and also for the riser of the bow?
- What is a good thickness for a single lamination and the taper of the strip as in Rule of thumb?
- How many layers in lamination as in Rule of thumb?
- Also use of fiberglass backing
Pease pitch in as best as you can and any even a small suggestion is greatly appreciated.
Since I'm have to and plan to use local woods to build this bow I need this kind of information to find local woods that will fit the bill. We are planning to experiment with different woods but still to choose a set of them this kind of info is really needed due to our lack of bowyers knowledge.

This is probably the first bow of this kind In Sri Lanka so please give us a hand and help create history in Sri Lanka.

I kindly apologies for the long post, please bare with me.

Thanks in advance to all and greatly appreciate your help....Cheers

[Pat B]

Edy, For belly wood you want wood with high compression strengths. Many tropical woods have this quality. For backing you want High tensile strength. Bamboo is ideal for this but other tension strong woods work well also. For core wood you want wood that has good shear strengths so it will act as a good gluing medium between the back and belly.
   Your design, draw length and draw weight and the availability of appropriate local woods will determine the recipe, number of lams and their thickness.
   If you have a wood that is strong in tension and another that is good in compression, pair them up in a all wood backed bow. I use hickory for backings and a 1/8" thick piece is good for a backing strip. For bellies start with about 5/8" thick and reduce it until your tiller is correct and you have achieved the weight you are looking for. If you are using boards for belly wood you may have to add a handle riser and almost any wood will work for this because there are almost no(if any) stresses on the handle riser.     Pat

[onemississipp]

Edy,
  In a Fiberglass lam bow the wood lams are not as crittical as in a self or wood backed bow. The glass will be doing around 80% of the work.


I would say any wood with a sg between 65 and 85 would be great for lams.


Check here for videos and other info

 http://www.binghamprojects.com/starting.htm

[onemississipp]

Also do some searching in the POW and build-alongs for info, there is a lot there.

Check Kennym also...

 http://www.kennyscustomarchery.com/

[edy5dms]

Originally posted by Pat B:
Edy, For belly wood you want wood with high compression strengths. Many tropical woods have this quality. For backing you want High tensile strength. Bamboo is ideal for this but other tension strong woods work well also. For core wood you want wood that has good shear strengths so it will act as a good gluing medium between the back and belly.
   Your design, draw length and draw weight and the availability of appropriate local woods will determine the recipe, number of lams and their thickness.
   If you have a wood that is strong in tension and another that is good in compression, pair them up in a all wood backed bow. I use hickory for backings and a 1/8" thick piece is good for a backing strip. For bellies start with about 5/8" thick and reduce it until your tiller is correct and you have achieved the weight you are looking for. If you are using boards for belly wood you may have to add a handle riser and almost any wood will work for this because there are almost no(if any) stresses on the handle riser.     Pat

Hi pat,

Thanks a lot for your reply and your reply was so far the best in all the forums I have posted this question on. Thank you very much your info, cheers

[edy5dms]

Originally posted by onemississipp:
Also do some searching in the POW and build-alongs for info, there is a lot there.

Check Kennym also...

  http://www.kennyscustomarchery.com/  

Thanks a lot for the links as well as for the info on the Fiber-glass, was very usefull. Thanks again
Cheers