Some help for an aspiring bow maker

[wolfpackhowl]

Hello there fellow Archers.
For the past five or so years, I've been fascinated with archery, and have been trying to build myself a takedown bow, but since I'm paid minimum wage and can't afford to buy one...plus I enjoy building things. I started off using the cheap flattened PVC pipe methods that are famous on Youtube, but due to me being a perfectionist and wanting my bow to have a certain aesthetic look to it as well as function, and the fickle nature of PVC, that method has not yet produced a functioning takedown bow that is to my liking. So over the last month or so, I've been researching bow building and I figured where better to ask for advice than from fellow archers.

My main concern is the limbs, as my risers hold up pretty well the way that I'm building them.

So for one, Laminated wood. I'm still new to bow building so please don't take my ignorance in the terminology used the wrong way. In my research, I've come across Tapered lams and Parallel lams, I know tapered lams have a .002 or .001 taper per inch, but are parallel lams just the straight cut wood with the same thickness throughout?

Youtube has the "how it's made" longbow video on it, and the narrator says that all the lams are tapered, what are the differences in a bow's performance when using all tapered lams as opposed to a mix of tapered and parallel lams?

As for the wood itself, I know that woods from hardware store's like Lowes and Home Depot aren't ideal because they are kiln died, would I get a better wood if I went to a lumber yard? And what about the wood selection? do all hardwoods perform the same, or do other's yield better results? I was hoping to either use Cherry or Hickory for my bow limbs.

As for cutting the wood. I've seen online that people cut the wood first, then grind in the taper with a drum sander. Is there a reason behind the cutting then sanding, or could I cut the lams with the taper in it and get the same result?

Lam thickness. The "How It's Made" video said that the 3 cherry lams were cut to under 1/4 inch and the bow drew 45# at 28", but another youtuber built a similar bow with 1/8 inch tapered lams and got around the same draw weight. I'd like to assume that the 1/8 inch taper is closer to the truth than the 1/4 inch...I guess I'd like to know which is closer to the truth, 1/4 or 1/8?

I guess when It's all summed up, I'd like to build 24-26 inch takedown bow limbs from either Hickory or cherry, with.05" fiberglass laminations, and what would be the best lamination combination of parallel or tapered limbs to reach a 45# at 28" draw weight, and maybe some advice for making a 25-30# at 28" draw so I can make one for my girlfriend somewhere down the road.

Thank you all for your time and advice.

[Mike Most]

Welcome to the gang, I know you are going to like it here. I will give you a few answers to your questions and then let some of the others expand as their experience dictates.

1. Yes Parallel laminations have the same thickness through out their length.

2.If the bow were the same thickness through out its length, It would not bend in that graceful arc you expect to see in a good old "D"Shaped bow. Hence the taper provides some of that bending.

3.Red oak from the box stores work for board bows, otherwise hickory or osage are two I see here alot.

4.cutting doesnt provide the type of glue surface needed for archery (IMO) tapering with a saw wastes most of the wood in the saw kerf. most of the pros here use sleds with a built in taper for a professional result running them through a drum sander with a heavy grit sandpaper.

5.limb stack including fiberglass, for a longbow of sorts can measure .385 at the fades, you have two pieces of glass, a couple of parallels and maybe one set of tapered lams.

Keep reading, and if you haven't done it check out  www.binghamprojects.com  for the info they provide in limb stacks for their various bows.  Good luck again welcome.

[talkingcabbage]

The best advise I can give you for starting out is get in contact with Kenny M here on the site.  He's a top notch guy.  He deals in the lams and glass and can get you set up right.

As for limb stack, that's all going to depend on design.  I'm not sure if you're looking for a takedown recurve or longbow.  Binghams has draw weight charts for limb stack thicknesses for their designs.  Kenny will be able to give you some advise in that regard as well.  But if you're looking for a recurve, for instance, a .212 stack with 2" wide limbs will get you about 45#.  That would be glass/parallel/taper/glass, as an example.  Longbows typically have one or two more parallel laminations.  

For woods, kiln dried vs. air dried really doesn't matter in fiberglass laminated bows.  If you want clear glass, get some pretty wood to put under it.  If you're doing black or brown glass, it doesn't matter.  

Cutting or sanding - if you're making the lams yourself, do both.  Cutting by itself won't yield accurate enough lams.  This is why I mentioned getting them from Kenny.  It's extremely important that all your lams are perfect.  Even .001" out of spec will screw up your bow in the end and cause you to have extra tillering or worse, twisted limbs that you can't fix.  Especially for your first bow, start with good materials from someone who has experiece, and go from there.

Sorry I answered your questions out of order, but I hope it helps.  Keep asking questions though!  There's a lot of experienced guys on here that are more than willing to help as much as they can.  Welcome to the addiction!

[wolfpackhowl]

Thank you both very much. The general shape of the bow that I'm basing mine off is inspired by the original bow from the CW series Arrow

 http://catholicphilly.com/media-files/2012/12/Green-Arrow-20121206cnsbr13020.jpg

 http://www.gannett-cdn.com/media/USATODAY/GenericImages/2012/10/09/arrow-bow-4_3_r560.jpg?f061b7ce9937c38b702e6f308816ac2a14e2a4ec..

I originally thought it was a short recurve bow, but after watching the series it's more like a short longbow (if that makes sense)

I've actually been visiting Binghamprojects for the past few days and they are by far the most fairly priced for the fiberglass laminations, so I was planning on buying them there.

I'll Definitely take both of your advice when I begin this project. Thank you both very much