what is a tri-lam bow

[Blacktail]

i have seen you guys talking about tri lam bows...so i have some questions...what is a tri lam bow...where can i get wood for it...and what kind of wood should be used...i want to learn some thing new in bow making...thanks john

[fishfinder401]

a tri lam is just a bow with three laminations of wood, for example, a hickory back, with osage core and ipe belly, the back and belly do the most work and thus are more important, but that doesn't mean you can skimp on the core
noel

[Blacktail]

o.k. thanks  SO,what are some of the thickness for the lams...and can a person buy lams...i only have a band saw...thanks again..john

[fishfinder401]

im not really, sure, i have never personally made one, but i know you can buy the lams, i am going to do a few hickory backed ipes first
check 3 rivers and rudderbows
noel

[adb]

Most of my backing strips and mid-lams are 1/4" thick. I don't taper them, they're parallel thickness. I usually make the belly wood thickness 1", do the glue-up, then taper the limbs from the center to 1/2" width and 1/2" thickness. Depending on final desired length, these dimensions will give me up to 100#s weight.
I posted a pic of the tip of a tri-lam I made a while back, so you can see the lam thicknesses.

[Blacktail]

thanks adb,i was wondering if a person could use parallel thickness...i guess i will have to find some woood...john

[Ian.]

You tend to have to taper laminations; if you have a 4mm back and 8mm core and you worked the tip to say 13mm you would be down to 1mm on the belly you need to make sure that the laminations run the entire length of the bow and are even like adb's bow. So you do need to taper them to some degree.

[adb]

I make my backing lams and mid lams the same thickness. I found it didn't work (for the reasons you mentioned) to make the mid lam thicker.