HBI - Finished

[Pat B]

Just tiller it like you would tiller any other bow. Get the limbs bending a bit more before you try a low brace. The right limb has a slight hinge about 10" out from the fade so be careful there. If you find the limbs are getting too thin you can reduce the width to reduce weight with little tiller change if any.

[Blob]

I think that the hinge is an illusion of the background but I may be wrong.  Here is a view with the limbs reversed.



Oh the hazards of posting pictures at work...lol  Should be better now.

[Blob]

Currently 55@20"  gettin closer!

Disclaimer - the cardboard is crooked

[killir duck]

That looks pretty doggone good, I think you may need just a tad bit more bend in the inner third of the right limb

[Blob]

I have ran into a couple snags...the handle keeps popping off.  It has happened twice now.  The first time it was glued with TBIII, and the second was with Gorilla 5min Epoxy (it was the only epoxy that I had on hand).  My question is...Should I try one more time with a better epoxy, or should I attempt to make it a bendy handle, or try a different wood for a handle?  I suspect that my handle section is too short which is causing the problem.  Both times I thoroughly degreased both the ipe and the rosewood. 

Here is a photo of what I am working with.

[DarkSoul]

Hm, that's a pity. Apparantly you didn't leave enough thickness in the ipé itself to make it a stiff handle without the rosewood. Although the ipé does have additional thickness in the handle compared to the limbs, it's not enough. The clean ipé and rosewood also indicate a bad glue application or improper surface preparation. Both woods are notiously difficult to glue, so it makes sense.
I'd say you need to rough up the ipé surface with 60 grit sandpaper. Then wipe down with acetone to degrease. Instead of using one block of rosewood for the handle, glue down several thin laminations of about 1/8" thick. Also rough up the rosewood and degrease it as well. Then continue with the titebond 3 for the glue up. That is plenty strong enough.

[Blob]

So IF I decided to keep this as a bendy handle, should I thin the current handle area to match the limbs or should I keep it as is.

Also, would I still be able to shape the handle the way that I was planning?  Mild bulbous style similar to the osage one in this post: http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,31390.msg415541.html#msg415541  Or would I need to leave it full width all the way through?

[Blaflair2]

U can build it up with cork, shape the cork and finish to your liking. It'll be the bulbua handle but still bend

[rossfactor]

"I'd say you need to rough up the ipé surface with 60 grit sandpaper. Then wipe down with acetone to degrease. Instead of using one block of rosewood for the handle, glue down several thin laminations of about 1/8" thick. Also rough up the rosewood and degrease it as well. Then continue with the titebond 3 for the glue up. That is plenty strong enough."

+1

Gabe

[Blob]

Thanks for all the reply's guys.  I have decided that I'm going to cork it up for now.  If that doesn't work for some reason I'll try again with the rosewood. 

The tiller still needs just a bit of work on the upper limb in the photo.  I did throw a couple test arrows when the pic was taken.  It feels great, ZERO hand shock, and super quiet.

[Blob]

It's all finished.  55# @ 26".

and I realized that I didn't get any pics of the laminated cork handle...lol

[TimothyR]

Very nice looking bow.

[bow101]

Looking good Blob. 

[PEARL DRUMS]

Good looking bow.

[IdahoMatt]

That one looks like a shooter.