Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: bow101 on June 21, 2013, 11:57:41 pm
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Thinking of making a Tri lam for my next project. I have some yew, and gonna buy either Red/White oak or Maple. Should I use use the yew as the center lam.....??? The yew I have is like Rock hard...... :o :o :o
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I would go with a backing piece of maple and two lams of yew... which will give kind of the classic yew look... with the maple looking like the yew's sapwood.
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The yew is strong in compression so it would be a good belly wood. Dances has a good suggestion but you could also do a maple backed yew without doing a tri-lam.
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I would go with the tri lam. Tri lam bows take on such a nice deflex/reflex profile. So much sexier than just two sections glued together. Here is an Osage, Osage, and Boo tri lam I am working on now. I flipped the tips with heat on both Osage lams before glue up.
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Thanks for the info guys. Ok this is what I'm looking at now, today I was cutting some lam material. Old scrap lying around.
Belly = Yew
Core= White oak X2
Back= Douglas fir
Total 4 lams, have to use 4 to get the thickness, its what I have......... ::) will that work......?
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Just do the opposite of what Roy tells you and you'll be fine, I think he's finally hit the senile stage in his life >:D
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white oak is almost unbreakable, I wouldn't sandwich it, you can do what you want but if it was me i'd go maple yew and try and get a sap wood look, if you want to do a tri lam put some epe, walnut or even osage in the middle and get some nice color, go to all that effort ya might as well get a shooter that is pretty
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I'm not familiar with Douglas fir for a backing, I'm thinking no.
Hey Ducker Boy, ya just made the thumpin list son:)
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I'm not familiar with Douglas fir for a backing, I'm thinking no.
Hey Ducker Boy, ya just made the thumpin list son:)
There is Pro bow builder on another site and he swears by it. He made a few takedown bows using DF, which is my plan as well.
Any whooo my question was again; use Yew on the Belly as Pat B recommended.?
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Yes on yew belly, take pictures and keep us posted.
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I would go with the tri lam. Tri lam bows take on such a nice deflex/reflex profile. So much sexier than just two sections glued together. Here is an Osage, Osage, and Boo tri lam I am working on now. I flipped the tips with heat on both Osage lams before glue up.
Roy,
Just curious whats the unstrung profile look like? Picts?
Thanks,
Greg
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Here ya go TH.......
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I've used yew as both mid-lam and belly wood in tri-lams. If you use yew as your core, make it thin... 1/4" or less. I also would NOT use fir as a backing. The white oak or maple will be much better.
I really like maple backed yew. It's probably one of my favourites. I've had good success with it, even with warbows up to 115#.
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I've heard of people using the bottom sides of fir branches for the compression (belly) of the bow with birch backs. Seems like a good lightweight combo to me, might be something to think about.
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The guy is full of crap......Douglas fir is worthless for backing, and not much use in belly wood either. Doug fir heartwood "can" make a bow, but there are way to many choices here on the west coast to mess with fir. Old growth will make good arrows, not bows. Exceptions would be under glass. :) Still don't see a point. :)
If you have yew, and oak .....yew would be the belly, oak the back in my opinion. ;)
VMB
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Tri Lam finished on the tree..
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Here ya go TH.......
Thanks much, I am going to try on a solid piece of hickory this winter. Gotta make a jig and it might take a bit of heat work but it's worth a try. I like the profile and seems like it would be fast if done correctly.
Greg
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The guy is full of crap......Douglas fir is worthless for backing, and not much use in belly wood either. Doug fir heartwood "can" make a bow, but there are way to many choices here on the west coast to mess with fir. Old growth will make good arrows, not bows. Exceptions would be under glass. :) Still don't see a point. :)
If you have yew, and oak .....yew would be the belly, oak the back in my opinion. ;)
VMB
I don't know who this guy is or anything and I am not gonna say anything bad about him or his experience, but the fir I have used (in 2 x 4 lumber form and all) definitely doesn't strike me as a tension strong wood? It seems brittle if anything. But of course, I have never used it as a backing, so I honestly don't know. I have been using some hard maple lately though I picked up for super cheap, it has worked just great. I am loving it, nice tight grain, nice and bendy and tension strong, and also light in weight compared to hickory or bamboo. That has got to be my favorite part. I haven't been able to break a bow made with it yet.
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Yes, hard maple makes great backing, as does white oak, ash, and of course hickory. There may be a species of fir out there that will make a good backing (I have never heard of it) But douglas fir....not even in the same league. :)
VMB
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all ya got to do is check out my bows to know how much I like hard maple, like vmb said it's great stuff
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The guy is full of crap......Douglas fir is worthless for backing, and not much use in belly wood either. Doug fir heartwood "can" make a bow, but there are way to many choices here on the west coast to mess with fir. Old growth will make good arrows, not bows. Exceptions would be under glass. :) Still don't see a point. :)
If you have yew, and oak .....yew would be the belly, oak the back in my opinion. ;)
VMB
I don't know who this guy is or anything and I am not gonna say anything bad about him or his experience, but the fir I have used (in 2 x 4 lumber form and all) definitely doesn't strike me as a tension strong wood? It seems brittle if anything. But of course, I have never used it as a backing, so I honestly don't know. I have been using some hard maple lately though I picked up for super cheap, it has worked just great. I am loving it, nice tight grain, nice and bendy and tension strong, and also light in weight compared to hickory or bamboo. That has got to be my favorite part. I haven't been able to break a bow made with it yet.
Ok so I goofed up; the Douglas fir is used under [Glass]. So forget I even mentioned it..
Like bubby said, sticking with oak and maple is best bet, easy to get and cheap. I did a test glue up with the Yew yesterday, went out to the garage and pulled the limb she snapped easier than bending a toothpick. So the yew is out of the question, to dry and very brittle, only good for handles and tip overlays, I'll pick-up some maple.
"Roy that bow looks really nice. "