Heavyweight Hickory, purpleheart, hickory tri-lam??

[icu812]

Good afternoon gents,

I have 2.5" by 72"  quartersawn hickory and purpleheart boards with excellent grain orientation that have been whispering sweet nothings into my ear. The only problem is that I dont have ready access to premium belly woods at the moment. I really want to make a heavyweight (80-120#) tri lam of 1/8th hickory, 1/4th purpleheart,  1/2 hickory.. but figured I'd ask the panel of experts first.

Would this combination have any chance of success provided the belly lam was heat tempered?  Iv seen a Hickory, PH, white oak ELB 100#@32 on here and it lit the fire for a domestic-bellied heavyweight. All advice is greatly appreciated. The grain is really straight and iv been saving them, so id hate to see them go to waste due to compression failure of the white wood belly.

[WillS]

I know nothing about lams, but I can't see why it wouldn't work.  You can get heavy self-warbows of hickory, so it can clearly do the job.  I guess if you keep the belly nice and flat you should be fine.

Hopefully TooManyKnots will spot this and help out - he's a genius when it comes to heavy lams.

Good luck, either way!

[adb]

With 72" lams, you're going to end up with 70" NTN. A bit short to make >100# @30-32" IMHO. Also, hickory is a good backing material, but it really sucks as belly wood, especially in a highly crowned and stacked design like an ELB or warbow. If you are going to heat treat, be careful you don't get it too hot. Most wood glues will readily separate with heat. I think TB3 lets go at 150 degrees.

[medicinewheel]

... it lit the fire for a domestic-bellied heavyweight....

Seems there are much better domestic woods in your country for belly lams; i.e. hornbeam. I personally would not put hickory on a belly if the bow was two inches wide if I had a choice!

[toomanyknots]

hickory is a good backing material, but it really sucks as belly wood

I use it all the time as a belly wood, it doesn't really suck, it works just fine. I don't get excessive set. Only one bow, 125# at 32" and only like 73" NTN, has ever chrysaled on me, ever. This just isn't true, and at the least is a generalization.

EDIT: I will say my hickory bellied lam bows do better for me as 2 lam bows typically. Like hick/boo/maple backed hick, etc. (maple backings are awesome  ) But we are talking 1/4" to 1/2" set difference. If you throw a tough backing like boo and a tough core like ipe it can over power the belly IF you don't taper the tips properly. Like if you have more ipe than hickory towards the tips, or really anywhere on the bow. But you should taper them anyway, so this shouldn't be an issue. It's not the best but my favorite bows, and fastest shooting bows ALL are hickory bellied. Straight smoking any of my ipe or osage bellied bows (with my osage bows coming in close second though.)

[toomanyknots]

I know nothing about lams, but I can't see why it wouldn't work.  You can get heavy self-warbows of hickory, so it can clearly do the job.  I guess if you keep the belly nice and flat you should be fine.

Hopefully TooManyKnots will spot this and help out - he's a genius when it comes to heavy lams.

Good luck, either way!

Ha! Thats a good joke Will! Almost snorted beer on my computer screen,  . Someone calling me a genius at anything, that's a first,  . You know who I miss though which was a real pro at these bows was Jaro, he hasn't posted here or paleoplanet for years.

[adb]

OK... fair enough. I'll amend my comment. Any bows I've made, using hickory as belly wood (especially high crowned ELBs) have sucked. Excessive set being the biggest culprit. IMO, it just works better as a tension wood, and there are so many better choices for belly wood. Each his own.

[WillS]

Ha! Thats a good joke Will! Almost snorted beer on my computer screen,  . Someone calling me a genius at anything, that's a first,  . You know who I miss though which was a real pro at these bows was Jaro, he hasn't posted here or paleoplanet for years.

Dude, without blowing smoke, you're the guy I consider to be properly talented at these things on here.  I'd take advice/info from you and a select few others  on lam warbows over most anybody.

Jaro still posts on Facebook and in the ewbs forums.  He came down to the latest ewbs shoot a few weeks ago to help Mark Stretton with his venison spitroast....! super nice guy despite being shattered from traveling for days.  Him and Thimo were amazing to read from on PP.

[icu812]

I went with it. I didn't end up doing traditional "warbow" dimensions or design but hope no one minds if I share the info anyway. 3/16 Hick, 1/4 PH, 1/2 hick (belly lam became less than 3/8 after tiller). It worked out great as far as I can tell.  Pretty effortless build (if there was such a thing). Gonna shoot the snot out of it for a month and try to harvest a whitetail with it this Sept.

Its a pyramid. 1.75" fades to 3/8 nocks. Approx 0.75" thick throughout limb. 4" long by 1.25" wide bendy handle with 2" fades. Came out to 90#@28". Took just under 1" set immediately after shooting in. It launches 'em like rockets.  Just got the finish done last night so I'll post pics tonight if I get some time. Thanks for the advice everyone!