BBO using lams

[alex b]

I recently bought a bunch of rough cut osage lams that are 40" long. I plan on making a few BBO's but have a question. Do i need to splice the lams in the middle? or can I just glue them to the bamboo back next to eachother and add the handle over them?

thanks
alex

[SEMO_HUNTER]

I would do a splice in the middle, then heat treat any reflex/deflex you may want into the Osage first, then glue the bamboo backing on.
Unless your just doing a mild reflex, then it wouldn't be necessary to preshape the osage.

It's cheap insurance so it doesn't bend in the handle on ya. I don't think the bamboo would have enough backbone to support the method you mentioned anyway?

There are some good splice alongs here, I just did a BBO myself with two billets spliced in the handle and it worked out great.
Do your best to get the boo backing as flat as possible and try to keep it even thickness from end to end because it will make tillering it much easier on down the road.

Eric Krewson did a BBO repair along where he sanded off the damaged boo backing and replaced it with a new one. You can use that for gluing the boo onto the osage lam when you get to that point, it's the one I used and it worked out perfectly.

  http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=125;t=005458;p=1

[rainman]

Don't have to heat treat Osage when using slats.  Get them to 1/2 inch thick and glue bamboo on to slat and in to the profile you want at the same time.  I would splice the Osage, if you want to make bendin while gluing easier, use 2 thinnner slats to get the thickness you want.  I like 3/8" osage and 1/8" Walnut under the bamboo.

[Sal]

These are the thin ones right? so you would be using about three or four of them to build up the belly.  No need to heat treat, but a splice is probably necessary.

A simple scarf splice will suffice, it'll be sandwiched between other woods in a stiff handle.  Just make sure you alternate the splices, like bricks on a wall, so you don't create weak spots.

[alex b]

Thanks for the replies.

I am not talking about slats or billets. I have laminations. I am going to use 4 lams a bow. (two in each limb.) okay so I am going to try splicing.

alex

[SEMO_HUNTER]

Well now your talking about a whole new barrel of monkeys. I thought you were making a longbow using an osage belly with a bamboo backing, gluing 2 pieces of wood together. I know absolutely nothing about using lams like are used in stacked bows. You'll need some advice from one of the full time bowyers here for that.

Are you making a longbow or a recurve? Are you going to use any glass over the limbs or all wood?
Maybe some pics of what your working with would give us a better idea of what you had in mind.
If you don't know how to post them you can email them to me and I'll post them for you.

[Bowjunkie]

Bevel them on 45's at their butts and glue them together at least a day in advance, ensuring each pair ends up as one long one glued together straight. The next day, sand off any excess glue then glue the thing up, staggering those joints by 1" or so. As long as the bow doesn't have a 'bend through' handle, you should be fine.