Tapered Lam Suppliers in Canada?

[mmattockx]

I need a couple tapered lams to get started on my thickness sander sleds. I contacted Kenny about a set and his price was very reasonable, but shipping to Canada is a killer. I am looking for one 0.001" and one 0.002" lam, 36"-38" long x 2.5" (or 3") wide. Material is not really important, just a decent hardwood for use on a sled.

Does anybody know a supplier of tapered lams in Canada? If anybody here wants to sell me a set, PM me and we can work out the details.


Thanks,
Mark

[oldandslow]

Did you ever find any suppliers?

[mmattockx]

Did you ever find any suppliers?

Nope. One guy with a website didn't understand what I wanted when I asked him about a 0.001" taper lam, thought it was tapered by 0.001" over the 36" length. Another took several months to respond to my email and then couldn't help anyway. Never found anybody else.

I am ordering a FHLB kit from Kenny and will get him to throw one of his tapered sleds into the box when he ships it. It won't affect shipping any and I can do it right then.


Mark

[oldandslow]

are you making that order soon?

[Flem]

You can make one by loading the bottom of a 40"X whatever plank with built up layers of 1" tape in 1" increments, laid perpendicular to the length, increasing the number of layers in each increment until the desired taper is achieved. Run that thru your drum sander on a MDF or other flat plank. Bingo.
I believe it was Bue who shared this technique for making a sled.

[fujimo]

have you tried chekmate bows on vancouver island.
then there is caribow

i have kennys sleds, but dont have access to edge grain hardwood boards.
we are on the north west coast of canada, on an island 100 km off the coast, and its all softwoods here!

[mmattockx]

are you making that order soon?

In the next week or so. We are just sorting out the details of the components and shipping costs.

You can make one by loading the bottom of a 40"X whatever plank with built up layers of 1" tape in 1" increments, laid perpendicular to the length, increasing the number of layers in each increment until the desired taper is achieved. Run that thru your drum sander on a MDF or other flat plank. Bingo.
I believe it was Bue who shared this technique for making a sled.

Interesting idea. I made a taper on my tablesaw using a sled and then fine tuned it with my belt sander but it still isn't that great overall. I have used this home made taper to do the lams for my first lam bow, but it won't be accurate enough for fibreglass bows.

I am still going to order the sled from Kenny but I will keep this idea in mind for other tapers I may need along the way.

have you tried chekmate bows on vancouver island.
then there is caribow

i have kennys sleds, but dont have access to edge grain hardwood boards.
we are on the north west coast of canada, on an island 100 km off the coast, and its all softwoods here!

I haven't tried anybody else. At this point it is easier and cheaper to get it from Kenny with my FHLB kit. It is all softwoods almost everywhere in the western half of Canada. We have no decent hardwoods to speak of, but enough softwood to build houses for the whole planet.

I have found some decent maple at a local hardwood supplier. The guy normally does fancy decks and the like but he also stocks a bit of other woods for hobbyists like maple, purple heart and cherry. He is a small operator, working out of a yard and a couple seacans for storage of the hardwoods and I am really glad to have found him as there is almost nothing else decent locally.


Mark

[oldandslow]

If you get to calgary check out black forest wood products . They have a good selection  of exotic hardwood. But...no bamboo or ipe.

[mmattockx]

If you get to calgary check out black forest wood products . They have a good selection  of exotic hardwood. But...no bamboo or ipe.

Their prices are quite high and the pieces I have seen are all small hobbyist sizes. They might be OK for riser blocks, though. They do have a good selection of the more exotic woods that are hard to find elsewhere here.

You can get Ipe from Kayu Canada. They mostly stock in Vancouver but do have a small selection in Calgary and will sell individual boards at pretty reasonable prices. I will definitely be buying Ipe from them once I have done a few lam bows and figured out some of the tricks and kinks of them. No point in using Ipe until I have the process sorted out somewhat.

I have no idea on bamboo yet, but I will need to find a supplier at some point.


Mark

[oldandslow]

Black forest is spendy no doubt.
However they do have good selection of purple
Heart, walnut of varied species, wenge, jatoba, and
Many others in full lengths. Ash, cherry, red and white oak, varieties of maple all in full lengths.

Thanks for the heads up on Kayu. Dont know them.

[mmattockx]

Black forest is spendy no doubt.
However they do have good selection of purple
Heart, walnut of varied species, wenge, jatoba, and
Many others in full lengths. Ash, cherry, red and white oak, varieties of maple all in full lengths.

Good to know they do have full length boards available, all their advertising I have seen is for small pieces. I will have to make a visit there at some point for some fancy wood.


Mark

[Amcl]

Mmattockx where are you located? I just acquired a pair of .001 and .002 tapers. I could copy it and send it to you. I'm near Edmonton. Let me know. 👍

[mmattockx]

Mmattockx where are you located? I just acquired a pair of .001 and .002 tapers. I could copy it and send it to you. I'm near Edmonton. Let me know. 👍

I am in Didsbury, watching it snow like mad at the moment. That's a generous offer and I would have taken it a couple months back when I started this odyssey but I am OK for now with my home made taper and I will be getting a sled from Kenny shortly.


Mark

[Meleon]

I know this is old but I've purchased tapered lams for Rodney Wright in the past. Great to deal with.

https://www.wrightarchery.com/index.html