Bending lams

[ARTHUR Nicholas]

Any advice on bending lams around the hock on a recurve form with out braking them would be greatly appreciated  thanks

[kennym]

Hey Art!

Thinner and more lams or less hook! 

[Kirkll]

Very carefully 


Sorry… I couldn’t resist….

Seriously though… putting recurve limbs into a form is easiest when you use zip ties.

Here is an old video that I made that could be helpful. I was using some prototype heat strips in this old video that I have since quit using. I use stainless steel pressure strips/ heat strips now… note…. It’s ok to keep these zip ties in place after filling the air hose if you use a steel pressure strip. Never put these zip ties right on the glass.

https://youtu.be/uAMsgze0u7Y?si=_kR28p-GkL4K-zN4

[garyschuler]

Fred Anderson of Skookum Bows would use a separate form to prestress his glued up laminations, then he would glue the glass on using the original bow form. The forms were slightly different to prestress the laminations. Still if using a radical hook. This might work, but as others have stated - more and thinner lams if going all out with the hooks. Remember there is a point of no return where you have maxed out the design and nothing more is gained but failure by pushing a design past it’s limits. !!

[Kirkll]

Fred Anderson of Skookum Bows would use a separate form to prestress his glued up laminations, then he would glue the glass on using the original bow form. The forms were slightly different to prestress the laminations. Still if using a radical hook. This might work, but as others have stated - more and thinner lams if going all out with the hooks. Remember there is a point of no return where you have maxed out the design and nothing more is gained but failure by pushing a design past it’s limits. !!

Did you ever get into building recurves Gary?  I thought you were just a long bow guy?

When doing radius laminations what you'll find is that more lams will hold the shape better with less spring back than thicker lams... For example:  a Par stack at 240 could be done with two lams @.120, 3 lams at .080, or 4 lams at .060... (This is just an example not taking glass into account.)

The best lay up is 4 lams and it will hold the shape coming out of the form best, but 3 @ .080 would work fine too, just a little more spring back....  But .120 lams are really too thick for bow lams IMO. I never go thicker than .080 in any bow i build... With thicker lams you will find that using different core materials has a much bigger impact on the bows performance and longevity.

[garyschuler]

Kirk, ya I made a bunch of 62”-66” Recurves. I won the night shoot with one back at
the North Idaho shoot in the 90’s. They put a reflective dot about the size of a dime on the Target. They stood behind you and turned on a flashlight pointed at the target. You had about 3 seconds get ready, then they turned off the light and you shot from memory where the target was. I only missed one target out of 10
and won the Trophy. I was lucky or just good at shooting at night, I will leave it at that, Lol !!😆

[Kirkll]

Kirk, ya I made a bunch of 62”-66” Recurves. I won the night shoot with one back at
the North Idaho shoot in the 90’s. They put a reflective dot about the size of a dime on the Target. They stood behind you and turned on a flashlight pointed at the target. You had about 3 seconds get ready, then they turned off the light and you shot from memory where the target was. I only missed one target out of 10
and won the Trophy. I was lucky or just good at shooting at night, I will leave it at that, Lol !!😆

Cool!  I never saw any of your recurve bows before... Excellent!   

I really enjoyed those night shoots at those shoots up in Washington with the glow sticks. guessing yardage was a crap shoot with them using different sized glow sticks to throw you off. It was good sport though...

[garyschuler]

Yeah, Kirk they were lots of fun. I still have a few recurves buried around here somewhere. Probably 3-4 prototypes of mine.