I'm finally gonna buy a grizzly drum sander and I have a few ?'s

[Roy from Pa]

I'm thinking I might have to bring the thumping list back out of retirement and add a can of whoop ass notation behint some ole boys name..

[BigJim]

Just my two cents...but can't help myself. I wouldn't waste my time on sleds longer than 40"s. this will give you more than enough room for a 36" taper and a thin block at the end to hold them in place while they run.

I know that there are still people out there that think they are doing something special by running full length tapers or veneers, but I couldn't imagine anyone who knew what they were doing going that route.
I have never heard of a bow failing due to a lamination splice.
Wood is more available in 33"-36" pieces and in many species you will never find it longer than that. Everything will ship cheaper when shorter too.
Show me a reason why a one piece lamination is better than a two and i'll prove to you your wrong.
I'm just learning how to do this though so I might have missed something.

I can't advise yey or ney on the baby drum. I have some Griz equipment that works outstanding and I have some that wasn't worth a boat anchor.

I would say stay away from grits smoother than 80 unless you plan on staining veneers and they should be run at 120..probably. 60 will do for laminations and riser blocks and pretty much anything else except glass.

Instead of buying accessories, group that money and purchase the best sander you can afford...or almost afford    you will be happier.

Remember though, I was just throwing my two cents in there so this is just free advice and worth what you paid for it.
good luck, BigJIm

[canopyboy]

Another reason to use spliced lams instead of one piece: Wood varies along its length. A bookmatched pair of lams splice together will give you a more naturally balanced set of limbs top and bottom than a single piece lamination running almost 6' long.

[LittleBen]

I have to agree on the spliced lams.

I splice all of the lams on my bows and never had any problem. Since I, building all wood bows, my lams are thicker than most any lams for glass bows, and I also splice my backing strips together. The spliced section gets bent drastically around the back of the riser without problems. A thin overlay hides it all and adds more than enough strength.

I can't even imagine the hassle of trying to accurately taper a 6' lam, and Jim is right. You're not buying king wood or ebony in a 72" board unless you sell one of you kidneys.

My taper sled is a piece of oak that I had for a while and I knew was stabilized to my local humidity. I ground it to a taper I wanted and used. If it warps, I make a new one in 5min. Doesn't take any longer to make a sled really than it does to make a lam.

[Roy from Pa]

Yup on 3' lams...

[Bowjunkie]

No hassle whatsoever to grind a full length tapered lam on a 40" sled. I do it all the time for tri-lams and such. For glass bows I usually use 36" long stock.

[Roy from Pa]

I've ran full length belly lams before on a 36" sled. It's easy like bowjunkie said. By the time the sled comes out of the sander, the lam is approaching the end of the riser and the lam drops down and doesn't get sanded. You have to be ready to hold up on the out feed end of the lam is all.

[Roy from Pa]

Not gonna tell ya what happens if you're not ready..

[Pheonixarcher]

Thanks everyone! Guess I won't worry about the full length sleds. I'm currently only building take downs at the moment, but hope to build a one piece form soon.

Well, thanks to Roy, he scared me that the baby drum might come off sale soon, so I ordered it. Then Kenny tells me they are going to go on sale for even less than I just paid! Just can't win for losing with you two! Lol

[Roy from Pa]

Ah what's Kenny know anyhow?

[Crooked Stic]

Tim Finley I been using mine for blanking out TD limbs and running one piece longbows thru it for squaring it up. Don't think I have had any crooked limbs yet. ???