Man did I screw up yesterday!
I was gluing up what was supposed to be a reverse handle hill style bow. Things were going well. Got everything laid up, bolted my form together, put the air to it and put it in the hot box. As I was cleaning the glue mess up, I saw the wooden blocks that I screw to the sides of my form to keep the lams from slipping when the hose is inflated just sitting on the workbench. OH CRAP!!!! I couldn't believe I forgot them. So I quickly pull the form back out of the hot box and sure enough the lams slid around and everything was off center. So I deflate the hose, take the top of the form off, and use a quick clamp to squeeze everything back into place (all the lams were still taped down to the bottom part of the form).
Then I noticed that my tin strip was underneath the plastic wrap instead of on top of it. I dang near glued my tin strip to the bow too!!!!!! So I pulled off the plastic wrap, pulled off the tin strip, and wiped off all the smooth-on that squeezed onto the tin strip. If you think smooth-on is messy when putting a bow in a form, taking a form apart with fresh smooth-on soaked plastic wrap is a whole new experience.
I get everything put back together in the appropriate way, like I've done dozens of times before, and hoped it would all be OK. Back in the hot box to cook.
When it came out, everything looked fine and I went on with my usual shaping. I got the limbs ground to shape and cut the string grooves. After the second set of string grooves, I pealed some of the masking tape back getting ready to glue on some tip overlays. Then I noticed that the glass at the end of the limb, beyond my string grooves, didn't look like it was glued to the bamboo lamination underneath. I put my fingernail under it to see for sure and with very little pressure, the glass started pealing away from the bamboo lam underneath.
AH CRAP!!!!!!!!!!! Well, it was screwed now and I was ticked off, so I pulled on it and it separated with no effort at all for about 10 inches or so down the limb.
The only thing I can think was that inflating the air hose, deflating it, pushing the lams back in place, and then inflating the hose again squeezed too much smooth on out and I didn't get a good bond.
I suppose I could try to grind off the glass that separated and add a new piece, but I now don't trust any of the other glue joints in this bow. I'll save it for a fire poker.
The only good thing was that I noticed the problem before I strung it for the first time. That could have resulted in a screw up that literally came back to bite me.
Topic: You'd think I never built a bow before.... (Read 3067 times)
