Bamboo backed black walnut and yew

[Keenan]

Wow Gordon, I knew you had something grand up your sleave. Incredible bow as expected from you. I love the color combo and I know your not completely satisfied so just bring it over to our Central Oregon gathering and I'll fix it for you.   You'll never have to look at that terrible thing again.  Just love looking at your bows Gordon ,they are always a treat.   Keenan

[tom sawyer]

Nice contrast in colors, and walnut being fairly low density ought to make it ideal for a center lam.  Looks like a good result to me, you certainly aren't pulling all the reflex out of those outer limbs at full draw though.

[snedeker]

Nice.  That is an impressive draw weight for walnut and yew at that width I would think.

Dave

[DanaM]

Looks nice Gordon

[OldBow]

I think the posters of laminates for April are saying "Ah Nuts - Gordon Submitted a Bow"
Actually, there are five really fine bows in this category for April.
Great Bow Gordon. We'll look at next for when we vote.

[DCM]

Beautiful bow as usual Gordon.

I've made a bunch of r/d bows and to be honest I find the ones that lay 1 an or so of string follow rested are all around as good or better than the ones retaining 1 or 2 of reflex.  You still have great string angle and depending upon how much actual set from crushing, versus how much induced initially, the bows can be as fast as some of the more radical ones.  For some reason those deflexed bows which stand like a V at brace make a ton of early weight.  I bet it's quiet, and fast with the lower sg cores.

But I know what you mean, when you start out on a project and don't finsih with what you had in your mind's eye.

Nice bow.

[tom sawyer]

Interesting observation about string angle at brace and its effect on early draw weight.  You'd expect that the lower the angle between string and tip, the more tension on the string.  But I would almost think it'd make the draw even easier by increasing the lever action.

I do favor a straight-limb profile at brace on those R/D bows.

[Dano]

A fine first attempt Gordon. I wish my third attempt looked that good.

[Hillbilly]

Sweet looking bow, Gordon.

[Gordon]

Marius, it does shoot rather nicely. But, to be honest, 60# is at the upper end of my comfort range. But I wanted a weapon that was suitable for elk hunting.

Manny, if I decide to make some money doing this you will be one of the first persons I call for help.

Thank you Pappy and Greg.

I’m not sure on the tiller. I think Lennie has a point about preferring a straight profile at brace. That said, I was worried if I let it bend further, more reflex would pull out. So I just tillered it my usual way by reducing the limb thickness evenly from the fades to about 4” off the tips. It seemed to work okay.

Bernie, I would have loved to meet your mother-in-law. It sounds like she was a real hoot! …and very wise

Thank you Drew and Jesse.

Frank, for the riser I put a yew power-lam between the core and the backing. I don’t know if it really added anything to the bow, but it looks cool.

I do have your address Nathan and am looking forward to doing some fishing in your area. Don’t be surprised if I turn up on your doorstep!

Thank you Joel and Pete.

Thank you Pat, but some folks would surely have noticed. And I know I can do better now that I have a little experience under my belt.
Keenan, I will bring it to the Central Coast gathering. The guys in my group can’t wait for that. Will any of your folks be there earlier in the week?

Lennie, I’ve seen both straight and slightly reflexed profiles at full draw. Being new to this, I’m not really sure which is best. I was at John Strunk’s shop the other day and I noticed he keeps the reflexed areas a bit thicker on his r/d bows. He said he does that to keep the reflex from pulling out. I thought that might put undue stress on the inner limbs, but his unbraced profiles looked fine. So much to learn…

Thank you Dave. Do you think the bow might have benefited from wider limbs? I was worried that if I made the limbs too wide the backing would overpower the belly.

Thank you Yooper.

Don, it seems that the entries for the laminate category are getting better each month. At this rate it won’t be long before it is as competitive as the self-bow category.

Thank you David. I did have a result in mind, but I’ve learned that the wood sometimes has its own ideas and it is best not to fight it too much.

Thank you Dano and Hillbilly.

[Rich Saffold]

Gordon, I'm with what David (DCM) said 100%, and I intentionally have most of my bows which leave my hands look like the tiller on your bow..It is hard visually to accept initially, but when judging by shot quality it changes things ..

Of course it's a beauty , and a great mix of woods to look at..

One little trick I do on tri-lams is to first glue the belly and core up into an r/d profile, and when its dried then I glue on the belly, but I amplify the arc a bit more perhaps getting the tips into reflex on this glue up..I have got my highest speeds with this trick, but also the sweetest shooting bows.

Rich-

[koan]

Great bow Gordon!....Brian

[Gordon]

One little trick I do on tri-lams is to first glue the belly and core up into an r/d profile, and when its dried then I glue on the belly,

Did you mean to say that you glue the backing and the core first? I'm a little confused by your description - would you mind clarifying?

Thank you Brian.

[Ryano]

Thats a pretty bow Gordon. One of the fastest long bows I ever made has the same unstrung profile as that bow. 

[BryanB]

Gordon-
Great looking bow.  I'm glad it turned out so nice.
Bryan