Glass/Maple Build Along Experiment

[WILL CAROTHERS]

I Just bought some glass cloth and West System Epoxy. I've Always wanted to do a build along, so here it goes. I had a leftover piece of bad grained, hard maple.  I floor tillered the board, and started the glue up.
 

[WILL CAROTHERS]

The Maple is 72 inches long by 1.5 inches. The limbs are floor tillered and are ~.5 inches thick. The glue up went well, and the instructions say that every hour or so, you can put another coat on to fill the weave and make it completely clear. This epoxy is the same used on cedar strip canoes, so expect to get good results (Customer service also said that these products had been used by one of the big name bowyers, didnt say who)
 

[WILL CAROTHERS]

[milehi101]

I have used the west system on several bows with great success.  I have also used the 207 hardener on canoes as well as bows.  I have also used their 206 hardener with wood and do not see much difference in the finish. I liked to use the 2 inch 4 oz tape instead of having to cut the glass cloth into strips.  I am sure if you talked to West systems they told you you need a U V protective finish put on over the cloth

[WILL CAROTHERS]

They did, and thats the tape i used

[statikpunk]

I did this with a kids bow I made for my nephew. I didn't use west systems, I used glass cloth and epoxy resin from home depot.  but I was well pleased with it and have played with the idea of using it on my next bow.
did either of you use more than one layer of cloth on your backs?  or is one enough for a full size hunting weight bow?

here is a pic of my nephew with his bow
 
 james  by  statikpunk , on Flickr

[milehi101]

I have used 2 layers of glass tape on the back of bows that were lighter than I wanted I have also used the tape on the belly and back of the bow with good results.  I think one of the important things is to use a slow dry hardener so it drys slow and has time to penetrate into the wood.

[WILL CAROTHERS]

Im not sure, but im using 1 layer to be sure that the belly isn't overpowered, but i did it on a test stip of pine, and with one layer, it didnt break until it was past a 90 degree angle, so i think one layer is sufficient.

[statikpunk]

thanks guys..for the kids bow I just wanted to keep it from breaking and being a hazard, so it worked out great. Im really gonn ahve to try it for myself too

[WILL CAROTHERS]

When u do it, try to get a wood thats really good in compression, since the glass is really tension strong and can possibly overower it. Im sure that ipe would work, as well as hard maple, sherry might do well, but only if its well tillered