Lam grinding sled

[Cambow]

I have been buying Lams or paying someone else to grind them for me for years. I finally purchased a drum sander so I could do my own. Any suggestions on a good base that won't slip etc?

I was plannig on having a thick piece of action wood made with the taper and then gluing sanding belt strip to it to prevent slipping. I have buit around 150 bows... But have never ground a single lam myself. Any and all suggestions would be much appreciated.

The machine I bought is a Jet 16-32... I'm going to pick tin up in two days... So just trying to get ready to give it a try.

Thanks - Cam

[Dick in Seattle]

what'd you get?   I have both the Griz Baby Drum and the Jet.  Prefer the Griz;  the Jet is backup.   Some of us do the parallels direct on on the machine bed and do fine.   Last couple of years, I've used a taper sled I made myself with the drum sanderwhen i first got it... (.0015)) not perfect but works fine if you pay attention and rotate it.  Now I've gotten a set of the machined aluminum sleds through that deal Kirk put together a few months ago.  My project for this week is to use them to tune the machine (3 years use) and make a new taper sled that's more accurate.

I believe Kirk is putting together another order for these.   Spendy but...      Alternatives are: 1:   instead of buying lams, contact Kenny and he will sell you a sled;  2: just go ahead and make one...   4 1/2" wide chunk of clear hard maple 40" long.   Determine taper you want:  .001 , .0015 or .002 x 40".  grind a piece of wood that thick and prop up the board, then run it through your drum sander till you get a full length bite.  Now it's a sled!

Good luck!

[legends1]

Check with Kirk at Bigfoot bows.He has the sleds for sale.Check them out on his website.

[jess stuart]

The sled form Kirk are the way to go.  They grind great lams, one of the best things I have ever bought since I began grinding my own lams.

[Woodchucker2]

I am a new member to the tradgang and am excited about learning some stufff about bows.  I have never haravested deer any other way except with a recurve.  I bought a Kaibab (Shakespear)a in early 70s and practtiaced a lot and became a pretty good shooter.  God that was forty years ago.  So anyway I come back to something that I really like.  I have purchased 30 old recurve bows in the last year and i can not part with a one.  I have one that I really like.  A Ben Pearson Palomino.  With eight wood laminations on the Riser that go  both ways.  

The bow would twist out and throw the string.  Anyway the thin fiberglass lamination on the lower limb cracked and it just peeled most of it off.  On the side of the bow that faces me.  I really want to restore this beautiful old bow.

I have not idea where to get laminations.  or how to go about the process of regluing.   I have read some old articles and I know that a heat process was once used.

I would like to purchase somee lams from someone in the gang and maybe get a little help on how to go about the repair.  Thanks  Woodchucker2, aka Don Horne