short ipe bow?

[sound maker]

    Hi!! I'm new here but have been reading here alot. At this time I need some advice from some wise people.
 So a friend of mine was able to give me a 2 feet 11 1/2 inch, 1 1/2 inch thick and wide piece of ipe. Not sure if my skills is up to the task but if your not breaking, your not learning.  So I'm planning on cutting it so I have 2 pieces that are 3/4 inches thick and splice it together so I have a total of 5 feet 11 inches long. Going to back it with either bamboo or hickory (don't know yet, have to get it first  ) with a riser. Got to have a comfortable grip. 
   
    My question being is what kind of splice should I use, and what style should I use for this??
  (I have a ipe bamboo back long bow already  )  Would a pyramid style work or no?

[PEARL DRUMS]

I would back it with hickory because it durable, reliable, easy to find and easy to use. I would make the bow 1 1/8 wide and straight taper to 1/2" tips. Use a fishtail splice or a z splice with a 8-10" handle section.

[sound maker]

Should that fishtail be 4" or 6" for the 10 handle and the rest is for the pyramid bow right?
Should the hickory be 1/8" thick  and I live in washington so this will shoot well with the wet weather right?
or should I get some vertical bamboo flooring (I believe I can get that easier then the hickory) with the same thinkness??  I don't have a great deal of knowleage so I'm asking before I make a mistake that is simple common sense.

[Justin Snyder]

How wide is the piece? You have plenty of thickness and length. You wont have 5'11" because you will loose at least 3 inches to the splice overlap. I would use a Z splice and back that sucker with bamboo just like you were thinking. In my opinion there is no substitute for bamboo when backing Ipe. If you glue a little deflex into the handle when you glue the splice, then glue in some reflex when you back it. You have the fixins for an awesome bow on your hands.

[PatM]

A long v splice is sufficient with a good glue joint and glue. A single strip of backing and a handle piece glued on will give the simpler splice plenty of back up strength.
 It can be trickier to crowd the multiple cuts of the typical splces in a narrow handle.

[sound maker]

Justin Snyder: It's 1 1/2" wide.

PatM: how long on that v splice??

 And that deflex would be only a slight bend when I joint them together or more?? and the reflex comes from gluing the bamboo afterwords or do I need to do something before hand??

sorry if I'm asking simple question but my though process and understanding doesn't always follow logic.

[randman]

Just a wild guess Sound maker, are you on Puget Sound somewhere? I have not used hickory yet (got a nice board stashed away) but from what I've read about it's tendency to absorb humidity and moisture and become sluggish, a better choice might be bamboo (not an expert myself, just an apprentice here too). There's a bamboo place in Seattle that has bamboo strips 1" wide and planed flat on the back that are perfect for such a thing. Bought a few strips there to back a ipe board I have but have not used them yet. Course if you are in Eastern Wa., go with the hick. No moisture problems there.

[Justin Snyder]

1 1/2" is pretty wide. I would narrow it down to 1 1/8". Yes the deflex would be maybe 1-1 1/2" overall. Then thin the limbs down to 3/16" thick and narrow the tips down before you reflex. You are not going to need more than that to hit 60#. After you thin the limbs down you would glue in the reflex. Push the tips up so the overall reflex is 1" past the handle. You will loose some as you unclamp after the glue is dry, and as you tiller. If you wind up with the tips and handle even, but the limbs show a deflex reflex profile you are still good.

I maintain that the best backing for Ipe is bamboo. Ipe is super strong in compression, and boo is super strong in tension. Nothing really compares to them, and nothing really compares to the combo. I live in the desert where it is almost always dry, but I prefer boo over hickory backing on Ipe or osage.

[sound maker]

randman: How you know that . Yes I am in that puget sound area but I do campouts with a group here (royal rangers) and with another group within them thats more frontiers men and going to be another bowyer for the group. (theres not many and everyone know you can't stop the addiction of wooden bows  ) I'm going to try and get a good hickory bow made sometime soon and thats going to a friend whos in a dry area  .

Justin Snyder: So I should get the bow outlined and thinned before I add the backing and riser or get it all glued together with the deflex & reflex and then thin?

I agree that Ipe backed with bamboo is great. My long bow is that way and while I started with it in a class a number of years ago and only recently got close to finishing (mine was the hardest to work in the group  and I still got some minor touches to do ) it gets 77# at I think 26" and shoots great.  I still need to get some help to get the draw length (its 28") and weight for it ( been sick with one thing or another so I haven't really gotten it yet). Going to get my friend to do the pull to that and get the weight for it.

[Justin Snyder]

Justin Snyder: So I should get the bow outlined and thinned before I add the backing and riser or get it all glued together with the deflex & reflex and then thin?

Glue the splice first, which means you can do the riser first also. Outline and and trim the outsides of the bow limbs and thin the limbs after gluing the handle to make sure your tips are lined up. Thin before gluing on the backing, but leave enough to remove during tiller. Then add the backing, the reflex is glued in while adding the backing.

[randman]

Sound Maker, I live in Seattle and am interested in getting together with other bowyers (who are close) to compare notes and stuff. Maybe do an occasional build night like Sadiejane does. Sounds (no pun intended) like fun.  I feel sort of isolated as the only other bowyers I know are on this forum (and Paleoplanet). Us addicted guys got to stick together you know   PM me if you are interested.

[sound maker]

 So since I have been looking around and I really don't want to order online to get vertical bamboo (they never have them in stock but haven't tryed a lumberyard yet I been meaning to for a while now ) and decide to look in the bow section here on the forums and happen onto the backpack challenge . Then I had a though ( the beginning of an idea) What if I go ahead with the 3/4" thickness and then instead of doing the splicing and 5' plus some inches bow just go and back it with some 3' bamboo flooring and make a bow from that!!!    The question being is if I did that can I get a working bow that over 20# or no? (kind of want it to be more but I don't know if I can get that  )   I've seen the sinewed back bow Justin Snyder made and was maybe I can do this even though mine is going to be about a half inch longer but without the sinew or hickory (I think if I did that it might end in tears but this way I got a chance at 2 bows  ) this way I can carry the bow in my bag at campouts (for some reason people always pick up my bow at camp and see how it is don't mind really but they keep doing it when I'm not there and if it breaks I'm going to be sad. ) 

[Justin Snyder]

I would rather have a good chance of one good bow than a low chance of 2 sub par bows. That bow (scrappy little bow) is not what I would call a dream shooter. I think anything short of 4 feet struggles for accuracy. If you want a bow to carry in your bag, try a takedown.