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[Fred Arnold]

I've never built a triple laminated bow so am not sure what to expect. Can I ask what the purpose of a 13" handle section is? I don't believe I've ever seen one and to be honest it sounds awful long and awkward to me.

[PEARL DRUMS]

Fred that length handle/riser section is very common, depending on how he glues it up. It will be baby butt smooth in the hand. Long risers always are, when cooked right.

[ty_in_ND]

I'm not going to post any pictures from other sites since I don't have permission from the authors of those posts, but if you do some searching, you can find full draw pictures of the style of bow I'm going to make.  They have longer handle sections that don't look out of place on the bow.

[ty_in_ND]

Pearl Drums, here's the form I'm using. The center post is 3 3/4" tall, the two mid-limb posts are 2 3/4", and the two outer posts are 6". I plan on resting the spot where the center of the handle will be on the center of the middle post and having the two short posts at middle of the limbs.  I will then shape the handle piece to match the bend where the handle will go after it's all glued together.

[PEARL DRUMS]

Looks just like my ol' buddy Roy's set up. He uses a 13 or 14" riser as well. It all blends together and makes for nice fades. If you have made a few lam bows you know how important it is to start with a loooong riser and not a short riser. You start too short and before you know it the fades are too short and the core bends abruptly into the handle. I had to rebuild an ipe/hickory bow because I started too short, around 10".

[Fred Arnold]

Thanks for the info. I'm going to watch this one closely. Might have to try something similar. I'm about to attempt my first BBO and then I'll give the trilams a go.

[ty_in_ND]

Looks just like my ol' buddy Roy's set up. He uses a 13 or 14" riser as well. It all blends together and makes for nice fades. If you have made a few lam bows you know how important it is to start with a loooong riser and not a short riser. You start too short and before you know it the fades are too short and the core bends abruptly into the handle. I had to rebuild an ipe/hickory bow because I started too short, around 10".

Thanks for the tip on the riser! I'll be cutting out a piece of figured maple from a board I have, so I'll be sure to make it a wee bit longer. As far as where I got the inspiration for this bow, let's just say the only thing that's missing is a can of Coors Light. 

[Fred Arnold]

  Budweiser should work.

[ty_in_ND]

Well, I have the bamboo tapered.  Here's the before and after:



I started to flip the tips of the osage, but I didn't have enough clamps at work to git-r-done (I'll get them flipped tomorrow morning).  And unless I hear otherwise, I will go ahead with my plan to taper the walnut as I stated earlier.

[jandersson]

Good evening!
Here's my to far gone update.
Plan A walnut bow: Had to cut it down and make it a bendy handle. The sideways curve on one limb was to much, couldn't get the string to line up through the handle. I tried to steam it out but ended up getting a stress fracture so cut down it was. Now 'm fighting the wonky left limb in tillering. What do you guys think? I wanted to get a good profile on it before pulling any further.
Also started a plan B in case the shit hits the fan with the walnut. It's a R/D trilam, maple/cherry/maple. Core tapered with my scraper, the table saw jig did not work at all. I got a riser to glue on here in a day or two, just gotta get a better fit.
 

[jandersson]

ty_in_ND:
Where're you gonna put your riser, smack in the center? That's where I'm leaning to but then I was thinking I might have to cut the lower limb an inch or so. Would be interesting to hear our thoughts and what you're gonna do.

[ajooter]

Lookin good ty...enjoying all the pictures and following along.

Glad to see your still at it Janderson.

[Loope]

Tracking number says the bow was delivered 9:31, left on front porch. Someone has a Loope bow.

[mwosborn]

Struck out again - porch empty.

[ty_in_ND]

Well, here are some more pics!

Here's how I went about adding the taper to the core lam.  First, I made marks to divide the working part of the core into 4 sections.



I extend those lines to the sides.  Then I mark the thickness I want at those lines.  Since I'm going from 3/16" to 1/16", I make a marks at 5/32, 1/8, 3/32, and 1/16.



I then get close to those lines using the spindle sander, trying to make an even roughed out taper between the lines.  After I get close, I finish the rest of the taper by clamping the lam to a table and trimming it with a hand plane.



Here's the end result:



And here's what the flipped osage looks like:



I'm getting close to glue-up time.  I'll probably do it Friday after work.  Jandersson, I laid the bow out so the handle/riser section is offset from the center of the bow (the middle of the handle section is 1/2" from the middle of the 68" length).  I'm not sure about moving the handle section around if you didn't plan on it being offset.