use of saran wrap in form...

[Dick in Seattle]

Things progress.... Boyd brought over the oven today,and the glass and lams arrived.   I cleaned up the Hill side of my double form, which obviously hadn't been used in a long, long time but had been used frequently.   It is glass covered, and I smoothed it up quite well.   the one experience i have with doing this we just waxed the glass surface and then laid up the bow.   I've seen pix of the use of saran wrap on the form.   I've also talked with Boyd, who has lined a form with aluminum strip.   I'd appreciate some talking to about advantages, disadvantages of different approaches.  Using the saran wrap seems like an especially nice and easy approach... but... does the wrap cling to the lamination and if so, how hard is it to get off.

Dick in Seattle... who's looking at this huge oven in his tiny garage and wondering where on earth he's going to keep one when he builds his own.....

[Pluck Yew]

Dick, newbie here..I just glued up a wood laminated bow..(osage,cherry,hickory)..tied that sucker down with inner tube..used saran wrap to protect form..must say most of saran wrap came off easily..(98 percent) any that is left is going to be removed during the sanding process..you got more glue to worry about than saran wrap...

Shawn...

[Dick in Seattle]

Pluck Yew....    thanks for that input... hope there's more.  However, your bow interests me.     I have some red oak and hickory and have been thinking of an all wood bow - oak, hickory, oak.   I'd love to know what thickneses you used and what poundage you ended up with.   Not exactly on the theme here of saran wrap, but maybe you could email me direct and we could exchange a few posts and maybe a pix of it?  my email address is:

[email protected]

Dick in seattle

[Pluck Yew]

Hey Dick, message box is full!!!

Shawn...

[kennym]

Hey Dick, the saran wrap is a must,keeps the glue off the form and releases the bow from the form also,so you don't have to chisel it off! Like Shawn said it comes off the bow easily .
I saw a heat box somebody made that you just set over the form on the floor,probably could make it light enough to move easily.
Keep us posted on progress!!

[Dick in Seattle]

Thanks, Kenny... picking stuff up as I go, here.  I already decided I need a lighter box... and smaller.   Boyd's is a beauty, but it's 1/2" ply and 82" long.   I know that my preferred draw length on a longbow is 66", so if I went for 72 on the box, I'd be fine.  I also hope to copy a setup JD Berry had, but modified for my needs... I want my box to open on the end and set at the same height as my bench.  I want my form to be on a trolley, so that upon completing layup, I just roll it into the box, never having to pick it up.   Sounds good, but whether I'll be able to pull it off is a question...

Dick in Seattle

[Biff]

Dick- I just took my first one out of the oven a few days ago.Couple things I learned: Plain "Plastic wrap" from the dollar store was better then"Saran wrap" because the plastic wrap is easier to handle and dosen't "cling" to itself. I borrowed an oven from a guy that also built the Bingham longbow like mine, but he used the rubber band method, I used the firehose method. My form didn't fit his oven, so I had to cut a few inches off the form top.
Your idea of rolling your form into the oven is great, just measure what your bow and form together will be before you build the oven. Good luck, show us the set-up when you get it done! Biff

[imskippy]

What about building a "takedown " type oven. Use door hinges and pull the pins to take it down? Just a brain fart I had hopefully someone could use the idea. Kinda like those fold up boats you used to see advertised in the back of field and stream. SKippy

[Glenn Newell]

I have always used plastic wrap on my forms as well. I always apply masking tape on the glass laminations as well and I always mark my centre line on the back lamination before glueing up...Glenn...

[Dick in Seattle]

hey... more great input!   I'll definitely go with the plastic wrap... I hate handling saranwrap.   The take down oven is a stroke of genius!   Should be fairly easy with door hinges.   Now I regret throwing out a huge box of hinges when I sold the last of our apartment complexes... could use them now and they're expensive.  I have a nice space behind my workbench that would hold the pieces.

Let today get away from me... so I still haven't finished the current bow and in my mind, it's one of those "you have to finish this before you can let yourself start on that" things.

I'll be posting pix of that one when it has finish on it and you can be sure I'll post other pix as appropriate.

[Badlands]

Dick
a few things.
1st, when I built my shop I built the work bench so the oven would slide in right under the bench. It has worked well and saved a lot of space.
Like Glenn said use masking tape (preferably 3M as it comes off the easiest after being baked). That blue painters tape also works great but is more expensive and I had a hard time finding it wide enough for 1 3/4 inch glass.
next, when you wrap it in saran or plastic wrap, wrap it loosly so the sqeezed out glue has some place to go other than onto the belly or back of the limb. If you leave a little slack at the edges it will pool there where it is easy to sand off when sanding the profile of the limb.

Hope this helps you avoid some of the mistakes I made in the past.

Brad

[Dick in Seattle]

Brad.. I had the same idea about putting an oven under the bench.  Unfortunately, I built my bench 20 years ago and constructed it so heavily, with an under shelf, that it would be a nightmare to redo.   I think I'm going to pull my new grinding cabinet (on wheels...as everything in my shop) out from the wall, push the workbench down a foot, and see if it can't live back there.

[Glenn Newell]

Dick, you could make your oven upright and stand it against a wall like a cupboard. I am about to make myself a new oven soon and I am going to make mine upright, I am just going to screw a large eybolt in one end of the bow form and hang the bow form from the top. The upright oven will free up some wall and bench space. I was just going to use one spotlight in the bottom of the oven and get the oven up to the temperature using a paint stripper gun, which is what I do now, the gun circulates the heat in the oven as well....Glenn...

[imskippy]

Glenn, would that cause any issues with the glue running downhill? It sounds like a good space saver, just not sure if it would cause any structural issues with the glue lines. Considering the cure time it may not be an issue. Skippy

[razorback]

Imskippy.
I havn't done a glued up bow but have done plenty of woodworking. i would think that once the form is clamped up with whatever manner you use, there should  not be an issue with the glue going anywhere. Any extra glue will already be squeezed out.
Just my thought.

[Dick in Seattle]

Nice idea for storage, but for use, I would think that you would have to have a fan system in it or you'd end up with heat disparity between the top and bottom.  

We're going to pull the first bow out today!  Boyd's, not mine.  He's done it before so i get to watch one more effort before I do one on my own

[Glenn Newell]

I have glued up bows in the verticle positoion in the past and had no problems with the glue, I use the airhose system for glueing. I have always used a paint stripper gun or a heat gun to heat my bows up in the oven as well as light bulbs, the heat gun circulates the air in the oven and I always place the heat gun in the bottom of the oven...Glenn...