glass laminted bow

[breazyears]

I'm going to take a crack at a glass laminated bow...maybe crack isn't a good word to use. Anyway. Was wondering if ipe would be a decent wood for the core. I am having a hard time finding bamboo that is longer than three feet. Or maybe I could splice two pieces of boo together to get the length I need??? I will also have to splice the laminates together, so their will be three splices on the same center if I was to go that route. would that be a bad idea, or should I just go with the ipe?
 Any help would be great.

[Trux Turning]

You won't have any problems by splicing your lams together. If your glass is spliced on the back of the bow- just put an overlay over it and you will be good.

[Bowjunkie]

I do three splices in mine all the time. I cut them on 45 degree angles on the miter saw, gouge them with the toothing plane, and glue them together with Smooth On... staggering the joints by 1/2" or so.

Butt splicing bamboo shouldn't be a problem.

And yes, ipe would work in a laminated bow. Pretty much any wood that will make a bow without glass will make a bow with it. Though I  usually prefer less dense wood in between the glass.

[KenH]

Only 12% of the strength of a bow comes from the wood, while 88% comes from the glass.  Almost anything stronger than Balsa or Aspen will work for a wood/glass composite.