Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: hillbilly61 on January 25, 2010, 08:29:58 pm
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At what point do you add the grip. Does poplar make a good grip wood?
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Is the bow going to bend through the handle or is the handle going to be non-bending?
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if I am going to glue a handle riser onto a bow, like as in a board bow, I always do that BEFORE I do any bending on the bow. I have done quite a few of these and had a few handles pop off too. always make sure that your handle riser area that you are going to glue to is thicker than the bending portion of your limbs and it shouldn't be a problem... JMO Good luck on your bow! :) -josh
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I plan on the handle being non-bending
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in that case you should probably glue it on at the start, but i think it's fine if you do it during tillering. I have heard poplar makes a decent handle and also that it makes a bad one. if the bow is going to be on the lighter side than it should be fine but if its gonna be heavy you should get your hands on some hardwood for that. JMO
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On the board bows I've made, I started with a 3/4" board, which is way thicker than I will end up with. I glued on another section of 3/4 board for the handle. Then I carved out the fades, continuing the slope of the fades into the main board. The limbs then get taken down to 3/8 or 5/8 or whatever thickness, but slope up to 3/4" before the glue line of the handle. This way, the bow would be stiff in the middle even without the handle piece.
Where you would run into trouble is if the main board is thin enough to bend during the draw (might happen with 3/4" on a heavy bow), and you glue a thick, stiff riser onto it. You could deal with that by using a power lam of some sort, which is thin enough to bend and runs a few inches beyond the handle on either side, adding depth to the limbs and making them stiff through the handle section. Or maybe you could build the handle out of several thin laminations, each thin enough to bend.
Poplar should be fine in a stiff handled design, but it might need to be a hair thicker and wider than other woods.