ipe board suggestions?

[bubby]

the narrowest I usually go is 1" at the pass, look Graham I'm not telling you not to do it, its' your bow, I'd just like to see you employ the K.I.S.S. system for awhile till you get some bows under your belt and maybe less fire wood, most of my bows don't even have rest's and I don't worry about paradox

[ionicmuffin]

Ok, I'm causing agitation, so what I'll do is just go with the basic bow like people have been saying...sorry sometimes I really do push peoples buttons. By the way, what does K.I.S.S. mean?

[bubby]

keep it simple stupid, not pushing any buttons, you just want to do more advanced bows than your ready for, jmho

[DarkSoul]

Actually, a powerlam of maybe 3/16" thickness and 18" long is a method I prefer to keep the handles of my BBIs from popping off, while still adding the necessary stiffness. The powerlam allows you to narrow the handle a bit, while you can still easily create a bendy handle. The debate on how narrow to make a handle, is something I don't need to comment on. That's mainly a matter of taste. But if you prefer to make the handle narrower than 1¼", the powerlam is the way to go. It's actually not that difficult to make, as long as you have a beltsander. The powerlam allows you to use an ipé belly or a uniform thickness of about ½", without the need to leave it much thicker in the handle.

[bubby]

darksoul is correct, but they can be tricky if you haven't done a lot of glue ups, getting the feathered edge is the easy part of a power lam, getting a good glue line is another matter

[ionicmuffin]

I think I know how to get a good glue line(but i know I've been wrong before) a trick I learned was to take the pieces you are going to laminate and see how well they fit before glue up(dry clamp method) then if everything seems to mate well you can go ahead and glue up and should run into little or no problems. I've done this with a layered handle riser I made for the board bow trade(still working on that) The glue lines on it are as perfect as I've seen(not being prideful, just no glue seen at all, just the board on board.)

[bubby]

it's a little different putting a power lam between the boo and the epe, just saying

[ionicmuffin]

true i guess, anybody wanna do a build along

[bubby]

do some research graham i'm shure someone already has

[ionicmuffin]

true, ill check that out. Ill report back when i find out.

[bubby]

cool, like I said i'm not telling you not to do anything, I just want you to get a shooter

[ionicmuffin]

Yeah, well ive just got through looking at some build along's, so far it looks like putting a powerlam needs a large enough clamping force on and around the powerlam to keep it tight against the bamboo and ipe. Looks like the powerlams are generally 1/4 an inch or even 3/8 thick at the middle, I wouldn't need too much just enough to get the handle to stiffen, then reduce the sides till its bending well again. When my bamboo gets here ill bring my materials over to a guys house(my dads partner in law) He has so many tools and knows how to use them and told me if i need help or tools i can ask him. Ill be using his bandsaw for resaw on the ipe strip i need. He also has belt sanders and other tools, so hopefully i can get all the work i need for tapers and thickness done at his workshop.

[bubby]

be carefull not to dent the boo, I suggest the you use tube strips, if you go to a bike shop and ask nice for there old tubes you'll prolly get them for free

[ionicmuffin]

oh no worries, ill scrap my old bikes tubes, and maybe even my sisters bikes tires because shes like too big for the bike, although i guess i should take a trip down to the shop so i don't ruin like some good tubes.

[DarkSoul]

Have you seen this build along? It should have been posted on Tradgang originally, but I can't find it now. You don't understand any of the language (although Google Translate might help), but the large number of pictures makes it self explanatory.

You don't need a ton of clamping pressure if the powerlam is of appropriate thickness and with a good tapering to a feather edge. I just use bike inner tubes myself, with success. The powerlam needs to be thinner than 3/8". I prefer around 3/16", but 1/4" is fine as well. Make sure the taper is very gradual and even.