Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: nlester on January 21, 2015, 09:16:02 pm
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I have some osage billets. Do you have to match billets up, or could you take any two pieces and splice them together? Also, where could I find a template for the splice pattern? Thanks for any info.
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I'm only chiming in so I can watch this thread. I've not done a billet splice yet. Patrick
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Yes, it's better to match your billets as the come out of the log......sister billets. You flip one around and then splice them together. Whenever I'm splitting billets out of a log, I number the pairs so I can keep them together. The reason is so that the wood in each limb will match as well as possible. That will make a better bow and be easier to tiller. If you have a bunch of mismatched billets, I would certainly try to match the grain and thickness of the growth rings up the best I could.
Volume I, Chapter 9 of the Traditional Bowyers Bible is about splicing. Several patterns are shown and explained. I like the Z-splice because the splice is identical for both billets. Keep a good, sharp band saw blade and cut them as accurately as you possibly can. I also make sure I have a flat cut on the belly side of the billet that is parallel to the back. This will help you keep the billet flat on the band saw table and assist with a more accurate cut.
Good luck and have fun. You can utilize pieces of wood and splice them in the handle that would otherwise be worthless for a bow.
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My latest bow was a spliced yew made of two random pieces. It was a bit of a PITA to tiller but not that bad. It looks a little funny with different heartwood colors and sapwood thicknesses.
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Depends on species of wood....better to have sister billets, but not a must.
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I had two hickory billets. One was tight growth the other wide rings. Each limb took different amounts of set. Very annoying.
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Has anyone tried the square (box) splice?
I had a hard time making a Z without a band saw...
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In a prefect world a matched set ,but either will work just fine. :)
Pappy
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I have the sisters to the billets I'm working on, but they're not very nice IMO. It looked better to take to pretty nice billets and put them together. We'll see how they turn out. I'm going to try the z-splice I reckon.
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Do a practice splice or two. I do my layout lines with a knife point.....more accurate than a pencil. Cut just to the line and you can do some clean up with a fine rasp and bench chisel.
I found an epoxy from a boat building supplier called West System - G/flex. It has some gap filling capabilities and has proven to work really well for splicing bow handles. Others may chime in with glues that they have used that work well too. Good luck and have fun.
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That was another thing I was going to ask about......glue. What are some of the glues that you use when splicing handles??
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epoxi
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I have done plenty both ways, I cant tell which is which now. But its always sexy to say you used sister billets. Makes it sound like a better bow, even if it isn't.
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Smooth-on EA40, expensive up-front but easy to use and very economical to use, don't mix up too much, it goes A LOT farther than you think.
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I ended up using a 2-part epoxy and a z-splice. Hopefully all goes well.
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Be sure to post pictures for us, we're the visual type around here ;)
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Z. Is my favorite. There is a viewable PDFs of tbb 1 that shows it. If you can't stack the pieces and cut them at once make a template and trace it.
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(http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w217/tennjed9/IMG_0062.jpg) (http://s177.photobucket.com/user/tennjed9/media/IMG_0062.jpg.html)
(http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w217/tennjed9/IMG_0063.jpg) (http://s177.photobucket.com/user/tennjed9/media/IMG_0063.jpg.html)
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(http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w217/tennjed9/IMG_0066.jpg) (http://s177.photobucket.com/user/tennjed9/media/IMG_0066.jpg.html)
(http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w217/tennjed9/IMG_0067.jpg) (http://s177.photobucket.com/user/tennjed9/media/IMG_0067.jpg.html)
I'm hopeful that I can make billets into a bow!
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Splice looks good as far as i can see. Should work. I need to borrow that tractor. Do you mind? O:)
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Sure, just come on over ;)
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The easiest way to lay out a splice is to draw it on paper and glue the drawing on your billets, in the picture it is a limb replacement.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v181/ekrewson/bow%20making/limbreplacement3.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/ekrewson/media/bow%20making/limbreplacement3.jpg.html)