65" bamboo/maple/osage tri-lam R/D longbow

[silent sniper]

I wanted to show off my first attempt at making a Tri-lam bow. The bow is 65" NTN and draws 55# @ 28".

I glued up a combination of a bamboo back, white oak power lam, double tapered maple core, and a slightly tapered osage belly lam. I used a thickness sander and a pair of Kenny's taper sleds to sand the maple and osage laminations. I then spliced the maple and osage laminations together before gluing the bow up. The handle is made up of thin laminated strips of hickory with a few pieces of jatoba on top for a mix of color. The limb tip overlays are Ipe.

The top limb is 1/2" longer then the bottom.

The bow was glued up with a couple inches of reflex and deflex. The finished bow lost around 1/2 of the reflex and ended up holding 1" rested reflex and only takes 1/4" set while shooting.

  Tillering was a bit difficult and I really took my time to ensure I did it correctly. Both limbs have an even tiller for my 3 under release. The bow draws smoothly and shoot well.

The bamboo back was stained with leather dye to create a natural camo. I then stained the rest of the bow with black walnut dye to darken up the osage and make the grain stand out more.

The bow is scribed with the phrase " Aim Small, Miss Small"; which was a phrase my grandpa liked to use.
The Cross on the bow reminds me of everything I have to be thankful for.

Two coats of amber shellac were used to seal up the bow before I applied 6 coats of water based spar.

The bow was finished off with a leather grip and arrow rest and a nice little piece of beavertail leather on the shelf.

After shooting the bow 75-100 times I decided to Chrony it. Drawing 55# at 28", I managed to attain 175 fps with 565 grain arrows and 170 fps with a 601 grain arrow; making this the fastest bow I have built so far.

The bow was a fun challenge to build and is a joy to shoot. If anyone has any suggestions on ways I can improve please do not hesitant to tell me! I definitely see more Tri-Lams in my future!

Photo credit to my wife for taking pictures for me.

Enjoy,SS

bamboo back, unbraced and braced
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[BMorv]

That's a sweet bow man.  I posted on the other site, but forgot to mention that's my favorite tri lam combo.  Great bow!

[wood carver 2]

Nice bow! 
Dave.

[kennym]

Excellent job!! Very impressive!!

[Bvas]

First bow? Or first trilam?

Either way, I’d say you nailed it. Nice looking stick with nice numbers on the chrony.

[Possum Head]

Very nice and quick too! Do you use a form like with glass lam bows and Smooth on epoxy? Reason I asked it seems like it would be hard to pull together the concave belly portion at the upper and lower riser using rubber bands like I’ve seen used in some glue ups. Congrats

[silent sniper]

Thanks for the nice words everyone!

Excellent job!! Very impressive!!

Kenny, Your taper sleds were a HUGE help in building this bow. The sleds will be a huge asset in all my future laminate bows.

First bow? Or first trilam?

Either way, I’d say you nailed it. Nice looking stick with nice numbers on the chrony.

Bvas, this is my first tri-lam and my 8th bow overall. I have done a few board bows and simple backed bows but this is my first attempt at a truly complicated build.

Very nice and quick too! Do you use a form like with glass lam bows and Smooth on epoxy? Reason I asked it seems like it would be hard to pull together the concave belly portion at the upper and lower riser using rubber bands like I’ve seen used in some glue ups. Congrats

Possum, I used a board with dowel rod pegs and rubber bands for my form with various wooden shims to make the shape of the bow during glue-up.  I also use C clamps to clamp the bow to the form and tighten it down to adjust the shape as well. I used Unibond 800 for this bow which worked very well, but at some point I will probably give the epoxy a try to see how it compares.

Thanks,
SS

[twitchstick]

Well done!

[Buemaker]

Looking good, nice bend on that one.

[4runr]

Very, very nice looking bow!!!

[Wolftrail]

Great job, very organic looking stick I like it.