Our first three Kenny M. bows!

[NealT]

My buddies and I are building three 58" R/D bows following Kenny M. plans and design. These are our first bow builds. Have we computed our stacks correctly?

Bow No.1 Target wt. of 50# should have total butt of 0.310" and total .003 taper. Proposed 2- 0.04 UL glass, 2- 0.030 veneers and 2- 0.085 Actionboo tapers one at .oo2 and one at .001.

Bows No.2&3 target wt. of 60# should have total butt of 0.32" and a total .oo3 taper. One will use veneer and Actionboo the other will use all Actionwood. Proposed 2- 0.050 UL glass, 2-0.030 veneer/angle cut Actionwood parallel, 2- 0.080 Actionboo/Actionwood tapers one at .002 and the other at .oo1.

[quail]

You might consider increasing the thickness on your "back" lamination and decreasing the thickness on your "belly" lamination. I have found that anything much over .060 does not like to bend up the "belly ramp". For bow number "1" I would look at making the .002 taper about .105 and place it on the "back" side. That would leave you with a .001 taper at .060 for the "belly" side. For bows "2 and 3" you could make your back and belly lams .100 and .060 respectively. As far as total stack thickness, hopefully Kenny M will chime in later on this with some real advice! I am in the final stages of a 62" Kenny bow and I love it! Great design. You are doing right by doing your homework ahead. I will hopefully have some pics on here before long. Started finishing today!

[kennym]

Chuck gives some good info. #1 sounds good, the other 2 with the .050 glass may come in 5# or a bit more heavy. Glass is stiffer per thousandth than wood or grass lams.

I usually try to keep the belly lam at .060 , the .002 no more than .130 and take up the slack on veneers.

Good luck , have fun , and remember there are 2 mistakes on the plans. Yours truly didn't proofread close nuff before printing!

First one is the limb layout should be centered on blank, it shows off to one side. Just make sure center of bow at riser, and limb at nocks is in a strait line. If not move BOTH nocks over enuff ( same amount on both)to line up with center of bow before laying out limbs.

# 2 you are aware of, it is on the amount to change stack for the shorter bows. Should be .015" on the 58/60 and without looking says .15

Have fun!!

[NealT]

Chuck and Kenny, I thank both of you so much for the comments.  Y'all have probably saved be a lot of trouble.  Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience. I hope to post some pics later.
Neal

[kennym]

Don't forget to do a dry run ( without glue) and see how it all fits together and if the glue lines are tight!  

[quail]

Ditto Kenny's "dry run" advice. It has saved my bacon more than once. I have also been burned when  I tried to cheat and skipped that step!