Hello all!
I am a long time lurker and reader of Tradgang threads but this will be my first post. I love building things with my hands and I fought off the urge to build strings, arrows, and quivers for as long as I could before giving in and well I finally gave in to my urge to make my own bows. I purchased a Bingham longbow form kit back in the fall but things have been crazy and I hadn't been able to get around to building the form yet. I just finished my second read through of Stephen Graf's book on making ASL's and I'm gonna follow his plans in the back of the book for my first one (on a straight form). I will be reaching out to Kenny for lams, glass, and riser wood as soon as I figure out all the details. Once I get back from my work trip later this month I'm going to start construction and I had a few questions for y'all that I haven't been able to find answers to elsewhere.
1) I am planning to model my handles after more of a traditional longbow grip like the JD Berry heritage (no shelf 3/4" wide and 2" deep). Do I need to consider using G10 or micarta if I were to make a heavier bow in this style or is wood such as bocote strong enough given the handle design?
2) Graf recommends two lamination of .195" for a 51 lb @ 28" bow, however, elsewhere in the book he recommends more laminations. I've read conflicting information on more vs less lams. Specifically regarding ASLs is there an upper limit to thickness for a single lam or is it just trial and error at each goal bow weight for how many lams I should be using?
3) When joining laminations together I was planning to sand each butt at a 45 degree angle and use superglue to join them. During the glue up should I trim the laminations on each end to stagger the joints or is that step unnecessary when making ASls?
Also any advice anyone has for a new bowyer would be appreciated as I am sure I have no idea what I'm in store for. I have already accepted that it will never be just one build and I've been spending my work days daydreaming of my future creations, don't tell my boss
![knothead :knothead:](https://www.tradgang.com/tgsmf/Smileys/tg/knothead.gif)
. Thank you in advance, the wealth of information on this site has already aided me greatly during my trad journey!