2025 Bow Swap Progress Thread

[4 point]

Risers ready for finishing. Little fine tuning left on the limbs

[Watsonjay]

Risers ready for finishing. Little fine tuning left on the limbs

looking really nice!! What did you use for the white accent lines?  I bought some light hickory to use for accent lines but I don't think it looks that light. Maybe just because it isnt next to darker wood??

[4 point]

I used maple and wenge

[4 point]

Getting close, might try to get a couple more pounds off and I'm gonna call it good.

[kennym]

Looks great Travis!

[Watsonjay]

Got DayBreaker's new riser cut. Now to glue in maple or hickory accent lines.

[Watsonjay]

She's talking an ea40 bath now with maple accent strips

[Watsonjay]

Progress

[Watsonjay]

Crazy how much whiter maple looks after you glue it in with other woods

[Kirkll]

Crazy how much whiter maple looks after you glue it in with other woods

Actually it will tone down a bit after you finish it. Also using thinner accent strips doesn't make it jump out so much. I like to run them about .030 myself.

These have 2 accent strips at .030

[Watsonjay]

I see that, it still looks good. I used a single 050.

[Watsonjay]

Risers ready for finishing. Little fine tuning left on the limbs

I really like how you shaped under the left side of the shelf

[Watsonjay]

Another setback. Did a dry run on glue up and both the back and belly lams snapped where I spliced them. .120 and .090. Guess I will have to make 4 lams i stead of 2.

[Jon Lipovac]

Another setback. Did a dry run on glue up and both the back and belly lams snapped where I spliced them. .120 and .090. Guess I will have to make 4 lams i stead of 2.

I don't have much exerience in once piece bows except the one that I have done. But, IMO, that seems like a pretty tight radius to curve a .090 lam let alone a .120 lam around regardless if it is spliced or not.

For those of you that do this regularly, would it make sense to have a 12"-16" section through the middle? Meaning, 2 splices instead of 1 so the splices end up on the belly/back ramps instead of the apex of the riser? I believe you might get away with something like that if you still wanted to use 2 core lams vs 4.

What do you guys think?

[dbeaver]

Interesting way of looking at it Jon.  If you make accurate measurements so that you can still measure your stack height accurately before removing enough from the butt to do the double splices, should work just fine.

More thin lams will bend easier and arguments have been made that will also be stronger because a composite of laminations inherently strengthen the base material.  BUT there's the counter argument of more glue equals more weight which could dog down performamce.   Another place where each bow design will probably optimize slightly different.

[Watsonjay]

It has been suggested that I make my scarf joint longer. Shallower angle. I guess this will give more of a glueing surface and make the two ends thinner and more flexible??? My interpretation of it. We will see, I'll try today.

[Watsonjay]

That hasn't worked either. Glue keeps popping. I may try pre-heating the bamboo clamping it into the form and let it cool in shape then glue it up??

[Noah70]

Which of the lams is going over the back, the 90 or the 120?  I'll presume its a taper?  If so, prior to making the splice you might try running the butt of each lam through the drum sander on your parallel sled, just enough that you're taking the butt down a bit , but stop before you get down onto the fade.  If its an .002 taper, then even 5" will get the butt slimmer by .010, maybe enough ?  What glue are you using?  CA?  Remember that any glue requires a full cure, and even CA benefits from curing overnight.

[Watsonjay]

That is a good idea. Shave it down almost to the fades. I already did the cold forming though. I will do that in the belly though. Yes I had 090 with 002 taper on back. I was using medium CA with acceleratior and then cured a bit more with heat gun. Not super hot.

[Noah70]

A piece of advice? - never use accelerator! Use patience instead. If you let that glue cure without trying to speed it up, it will be stronger than the wood.