Staining limb veneers?

[VTer]

Are there any precautions to take after staining veneers before glue up with smooth on under clear glass obviously? Types of stain to use? I'm looking to stain some tiger maple.

[Crooked Stic]

Denatured alcohol with color. I have used Trans tint with good results. All the alcohol based leather dyes will work. Nothing oil based. I used water based stain once. Just have to be sure it dries good in the hot box.

[Smguinnip]

Gonna hijack here a little bit, but something I’ve been concerned about is warping. Seems like wetting down a thin veneer with dyes would cause warping. Does this happen, and if so, how do you mitigate it?

[Kirkll]

Gonna hijack here a little bit, but something I’ve been concerned about is warping. Seems like wetting down a thin veneer with dyes would cause warping. Does this happen, and if so, how do you mitigate it?

If your veneers are less than .030 you may get a bit of twist in them drying out, but it wont cause a problem.

Personally i hate water base stain. I have a tough time getting it even....the denatured alcohol with a touch of compatible alcohol based color is the best.

[Crooked Stic]

Here is you some stain Kirk

[Richard Korte]

I use Transtint dyes in denatured alcohol and never had a problem.....BUT...here’s a trick! I cut the laminations I’m going to dye fairly thick and run them through my drum sander using 40 grit paper...both sides. Then I change the sandpaper to 100 grit run the side through that I’m going to dye. Then I go to 180 grit and run the dye side through twice....now it’s ready to dye. After dyeing, I let the lams dry completely, then finish sanding the un-dyed side with 60 grit to the desired thickness. Never had a problem with warping or bubbling using this trick.      Richard

[Kirkll]

Here is you some stain Kirk

That looks just like a deposit my dog left in the yard after eating too much Zuchini.    

[Crooked Stic]

I would say ur dog is weird if he eat zucchini 

[Noah70]

I like the look of those bushings Stic, may I ask what you are using?

[Crooked Stic]

Those are the bottom side of a Shrew Samani. They are pressed in from the top and relie on the countersink part of the bushing to center the Limb. It works if all the milling is done right.

[Kirkll]

Once upon a time I used brass bushings in my limbs with a single location pin. But what I found was that while drilling and tapping the riser for the threaded insert, there was too much variation from one riser to the next. Even using a milling machine, between tap drift, and the + or - tolerances of the threaded inserts themselves, I was constantly fighting alignment and location pin fit.
 
I went on to experiment with lateral limb adjustment hardware mounted in the riser and slotting the location pin hole on the limbs. That was a sucsess, but expensive to have the hardware machined.

Then I had issues with customers messing with the alignment adjustment and causing limb twist issues. It was a great idea, and saved a lot of tip notch adjustment putting the bows together and getting things tracking straight, but having unqualified archers messing with it isn’t something you can control, so I gave up on using it.  I’ve actually still got quite a few sets of that lateral limb adjustment hardware. I should get some photos and sell those things to bowyers that want to play with it.

I finally figured out the best system was using two location pins. One above and below the limb bolt spaced at 2.5” apart, and I slot the outer pin hole in the limb about .040, and use an over sized hole in the limb for the limb bolt, and no bushings. Using this system, the limbs typically  fit perfectly 1st time with no messing around filing the bolt hole,  and mount on the riser damn close to straight every time too….

Kirk

[Crooked Stic]

Kirk perzactly right about the two pin line up system. Those particular limbs in the pic tracked good but the riser to limbfit was not. So it's back in Germany getting fixed,

[Tim Finley]

I use trans tint mixed with denatured alcohol I get it from Klingspore, I've used green ,walnut and a couple other colors . The walnut looks really good on birdseye maple.

[Kirkll]

Kirk perzactly right about the two pin line up system. Those particular limbs in the pic tracked good but the riser to limbfit was not. So it's back in Germany getting fixed,

I think that’s the first time I’ve ever seen location pins mounted in the limb before.

[derekdiruz]

Greg,

I have used Alcohol based stain with success on 4-5 bows. From General finishes, in a red can, at my local store.

[Noah70]

Thanks for the insight and advice, Stic and Kirk !  Much appreciated! 
I use 2 pins as well, but I don’t drill them until the riser and limbs are exactly the same width, then with the bolt in place I clamp riser and limbs onto the 100% flat  table saw, and drill the pin holes through from the top of the limb, and cover over with a cap later.  Works great!

[Kirkll]

Thanks for the insight and advice, Stic and Kirk !  Much appreciated! 
I use 2 pins as well, but I don’t drill them until the riser and limbs are exactly the same width, then with the bolt in place I clamp riser and limbs onto the 100% flat  table saw, and drill the pin holes through from the top of the limb, and cover over with a cap later.  Works great!

That system of drilling through the limbs after it’s straight for location pins  works excellent until you want to build an extra set of limbs for the same riser. Then all bets are off….