How do you make laminations?

[LittleBen]

I know this has been talked about before but I'm hoping some of you will chime in.

I'm getting to the point I need to start thinking about cutting more laminations. I'm building mainly tri-lam wood bows, and some backed wood bows, so I don't need to make super thin veneers. Most of my lams are between .150 and .200, they are 36", and I usually taper them all. Herein lies the problem.

I was previously fortunate enough to convince Canopyboy to cut a ton of lams for me on his table saw. We used a very simple taper sled and the lams came out surprisingly accurate. I would just rough them up with a sanding block, and go right to glue up. No grinding necessary.

So I'm wondering what you all do. I have a shop made lam grinder but it's slow to use and labor intensive. So if I cut them on the bandsaw I'm gonna have to grind them and that takes a ton of time. I'd like to cut a bunch at once ... And I don't really wanna grind 100 lams.

The other choice is the tablesaw .... I'd have to build some type of fancy sled to hold the boards because I'm not as brace as Dave ... and also the kerf of the blade results in a lot of waste. Even a thin kerf is like .090.

So for those of you who cut them on the bandsaw, what do you think the total waste is between resawing and grinding? It would probably make sense to use a woodslicer or some other really thin bandsaw blade. I'm confident I can get the waste down to or just under .100 using the table saw.

What types of blades are you guys using for Ipe (both tablesaw and bandsaw)? I'm concern d that cutting Ipe is going to dull a carbon steel bandsaw blade in about 5 seconds.

I'm tending to lean towards the table saw for that reason and cause I don't wanna spend the big money on a carbide bandsaw blade right now.

I recall someone saying lams can be tapered/thicknesses on a planer ... so maybe bandsaw them out and run them through the planer on a taper sled? Could do maybe 6 lams at a time that way.

[Wolftrail]

Personally I would use a belt sander that way the lams are prepped for glue up using a course belt. And Bob's your Uncle.  
     

You may want to look at this.   http://bowyersdiary.blogspot.ca/2017/09/improved-taper-sled-and-thicknesser.html

[Roy from Pa]

I cut them out 1.75" wide by 1/4" thick on bandsaw with a 6 tpi 1/2" blade, blade is 1/16th thick. Run them through the drum sander to even them up at 3/16th thick and even up the edges too.. Then Kenny M made me tapered lam patterns. I place a pattern on a 3" wide oak board and lay the lam on top of it. Keep running them through the drum sander till I get them tapered.

Here is Dave tapering a lam.

 

[jsweka]

Wow Roy!  You let an engineer touch you're tools.    

[Roy from Pa]

Yes, and it was the hardest thing I ever did. LOL

[JamesV]

I saw all my lams on band saw with a 3 tpi X 1/2 blade. Then run them through planer to even them up and get to the desired thickness. My lams are all 6' long and tapered from both ends on my planer using an adjustable sled.  

James

[kennym]

Roy, make yourself a 2" wide taper about a quarter inch thick with your sled and use it between your fence and blade(run them thru right together) on bandsaw to make a rough taper blank. Saves a bunch of grinding.....    

[Bowjunkie]

Ben, whether I'm prepping lams or veneers for a glass bow, trilam, or cores for a simple backed bow, I do it all the same way...

Square, parallel, and true the pieces as needed on the table saw, jointer, and/or planer.

Go to the bandsaw and slice them to slightly oversized dimensions with the resaw fence. I've used several others, but my bandsaw generally wears an aggressive 3/4 x 4 tpi blade and I haven't found a reason to change it while working on the above pieces if everything is as it should be. Wood and blade perfectly square and bearing roller guides adjusted properly in the saw, feed angle, feed rate and pressure consistent... loss is minimized enough for my own use. I'm not trying to squeak one extra lam out of a big board to sell, so it doesn't seem prudent of me to buy $100 + blades.

From there I go to the Delta thickness sander with my homemade adjustable aluminum lam sled and grind everything in pairs. It's accurate as can be and just kicks butt. Love that thing. From there, we're ready to glue up.

I've often thought about doing this for folks on request. I'd rather do this than make bows for money. If you'd like me to grind a bunch for ya, maybe we could work something out. If not and you just need info, that's cool too. Ask away.

[Roy from Pa]

Good idear Kenny.

[Bvas]

I'm tool poor. So I make mine the old fashioned way........I email kenny my wish list, and a few days later there is a box of perfectly sized lams at my house  

[Bowjunkie]

I used to farm em out too, but found them at least as pleasurable and rewarding to do myself as anything else.

[monterey]

Yeah, Brad, I just "made" some the exact same way.  

[canopyboy]

Originally posted by Roy from Pa:

   

Ahh, the memories. Which reminds me, I still have some yew lams for you, Old Timer. I just haven't been up your way. Maybe it's time for the good old USPS.

Ben, since you and I ripped those lams, I started using a bandsaw and drum sander. I'll have to go back and look, but I don't think my waste is all that much better than the tablesaw. But they come out more precise, already roughed up, and it IS a bit safer.

[Roy from Pa]

I thought you moved to China or something. Cool on the yew lams, thanks..

Mr. McKenzie and I been pm-ing about cutting lams on a band saw. Fugger if I cut a 1/2" thick board on the bandsaw with a taper pattern up against the fence, I'll get 2 tapered lams with one cut. Then clean them up with the drum sander...

[LittleBen]

Thanks guys. I think I'm gonna take the safe route here and cut them on the bandsaw and then drum sand to spec.
 I'm also going to try tapering/cleaning up lams with the planer. Will report back when I get a chance.

[canopyboy]

Planet works fine if your cutters are sharp and you have favorable grain. Still need to rough them up though.

[Roy from Pa]

I would be worried about the planer ripping out small chunks?

[Mad Max]

I use a Grizzly 14" band saw and a Grizzly Baby drum sander.
I bought some lam sleds from Kenny and I have been making them myself .

[Roy from Pa]

Didn't happen wif out pichers...

[Bowjunkie]

You can't always tell what the grain is doing by looking at it... grain being different that growth rings. I sent some osage through the planer two days ago that looked perfectly quartersawn, but it still tore out a little where the actual grain was running out. Sometimes spinning the piece end for end allows it to cut without tearing out. The drum sander does an equally fine job regardless of grain direction.

I sometimes use the planer to true things up as a board, or sometimes as an oversized lam, but leave enough thickness to cut and/or grind below any damage caused by the planer, with the drum sander.