First time for everything

[Flem]

60yr old virgin. Don't know if you guy's inspired or cursed me, but this is my first Tri-lam ELB.
Bue is mostly to blame for my affliction. His thread about the ELB's got in my pinhead. So here it is, no glass, no grass. Maple, Purpleheart and Cherry. Don't know if it's going to work, but if it blows I got more wood to play with.

In the bag

Using my favorite epoxy. Love this stuff, it cures in 1hr at 200 degrees.

[Roy from Pa]

Happy for you:)

 

[Bvas]

Attaboy flem

I feel your pain. Hanging around here has got me thinking about trying an all wood d/r. Like you, I wanna try no glass no grass.

[Buemaker]

Looking good. If I may suggest something. I guess Cherry is the belly wood.
For a 45 pound bow at 28 inch draw, let it be 72 inches between nocks.
Width at center 1 1/8-1 1/4 inch. For a starter let a 24 inch center section have that width and then taper to 1/2 inch where the horns start.
I would not make a round belly, but rather a shallow oval or semi flat with rounded corners. I think it is a better chance that the Cherry will take the compression that way. Towards the horns it will of course be rounded.

[Buemaker]

To drill the horns I have found this usefull. Grind a spade bit and grind the edges slightly slanted so the leading edge cut. The bit can be used as a template to make the wood fit in the hole. I first make a leading hole with a small round bit.
Don’t mean to highjack your thread, so I will shut up now and let you get on with it.

[Flem]

Bue, I was hoping you would volunteer some advice. I'm going to need it for the next stage.
If you ever shut up, it will be a loss for all of us!
Cherry is indeed the belly. I was thinking about a squished D, profile. Did not want to tax the Cherry too much. I've got 74" to play with, made a lucky guess there. I figured It is going to be a crap shoot to hit weight, so I glued a 3/4" thick belly on there to work with.

[Stagmitis]

Curious why you didnt use Unibond or smooth-on? I have used laminating epoxies for glass/carbon laminate layups only. 

[Roy from Pa]

Clem gets his epoxy at the dollar store:)

[monterey]

Looks like a Food Saver has multiple uses!

[Flem]

Curious why you didnt use Unibond or smooth-on? I have used laminating epoxies for glass/carbon laminate layups only. 

I did use Smooth-on, just not EA-40. Epoxamite is a excellent adhesive and it has better elongation than EA-40. Plus it spreads easier and sets way faster. I pretty much only use EA-40 for a laminating gel coat.

[Flem]

Clem gets his epoxy at the dollar store:)

I wish! Funny though, it works out to exactly $1.00 per oz with shipping.

Looks like a Food Saver has multiple uses!

I don't have a food saver, but these cut to length vac seal tubes are awesome! Finally found a cheap/strong plastic that can take 200+ degrees

[Stagmitis]

Thanks flem I remember looking at Epoxamite a long time ago but cant remember why I shied way from it. You use it for glass bows as well?

[Flem]

I do use it for glass. As a matter of fact I make my glass with it. Another nice thing about Epoxamite, their are 3 hardeners, so depending on the lay-up you can choose how much pot life you need. I use the slow hardener for glass bow lay-ups. I should get paid from Smooth-on for how much I like this stuff

[BMorv]

Looks good  .  I was going to suggest leaving it long to accommodate the cherry, but glad Bue chimed in with a more detailed response.
Looking forward to seeing it bend.   

[Flem]

It's starting to look like a Bow. Slowly getting some flex. I know the Cherry is an iffy proposition, but I just couldn't help myself. I thought about tapering the Purpleheart and should have, but I thought hell with it, get it glued up!. Kind of forgot how nice it is to work with hand tools. Really get a good feel for your creation when it slowly come to shape with spokeshaves and rasps.

[Mo_coon-catcher]

I’m curious to see how this one will turn out as cherry is known to fret. It aughta be very pretty, and shoot well.

Kyle

[Flem]

Bad news Kyle, But no need to fret about it. She blew up after I had her all tillered up nice. I had her bent over backwards, just a wee bit and that was all she wrote.

[Overspined]

Man that sucks. Switch to ash on the belly    are you sure epoxamite is the best lam material for flexing bow laminations?  I use epoxamite for take down sockets and it’s awesome, but I’d stick to some of the popular laminating epoxies made for bowyers...just my opinion. Hmm. Maybe I’ll have to play... I love purple heart, but man that stuff is not fun to cut on the bandsaw. I just made some laminations out of it, high price hickory..

[Wolftrail]

Nothing like a broken bow to make the day miserable.   Your J-saw is just like mine.

[Forwardhandle]

That sucks it was preety !