Reverse Handle laminated wood bow

[Stick Bender]

A couple things I have picked up about making these bows is they put a lot of presure in the fades and lowers & riser area  so that junction needs to be as flaw less as you can get it but a problem I think your going to run into with your design with a shorter riser is to have some length in your handle your going to have fairly steep ramps , some things you can get away with glass that just won't fly with a all wood bow but that's just my observation if I where going to make your bow I would do a carry threw riser like the one in the pic but obviously with out the deflex that way I could get a long smooth fade and use a one peace back lam ,with wood the fades work more because you don't have the glass supporting the ramps so I would think the longer transition the better & if you mark the last 2" of the fade at the 2" Mark make it .140 & the 1" Mark .065 and the end like paper and follow the smooth transition up towards the center you would be good as far as easy transition fade but just my thoughts, as far as the form what are you looking to know ?  I just saw your question about seeing every thing I actually use zip ties threw holes drilled in the form over the presure strip so it locks every thing in place so no worries about seeing threw the mule tape & air up incrementally but I can still see center marks on the riser & lams threw the openings in the tape ,if you make the form to your lam width you should have no issues !

[buddyb]

Thanks everyone for your input I hope to start on this in a few weeks, I have to finish our kitchen island first.

If anyone thinks of something else please let me know.

[Stick Bender]

Keep in mind Im just speculating on your design in a all wood FH bow but made enough of these in glass to know where the weak points are in the design and even weaker in all wood in the pic is a bow I was exspermenting with thoughts of doing one like yours the riser is a typical 14" ASL design it works great for a all wood bow but if I where to reverse the handle & add a belly lam it would probably be to steep but could easely change the ramp angle to a smother transition and still have a decent handle length releving some of the transition pressure, that bow had a taper rate of about .005 , if I used less taper & reversed the handle in my mind I would run the risk of it popping or delam if it had a belly lam ! Just for food for thought !

[buddyb]

Stick Bender what glue did you use on those two and what wood did you use, it looks like there's bamboo on the one side.

I'll admit I'm a little apprehensive about my design but if I don't try it I'll never know for sure. If it doesn't work I'm making one just like it but not reversed and the belly lam won't come up over the riser. I'll glue all the laminations together then add the riser on top of the stack.

[Stick Bender]

 I used smooth-on all my bows , Im not thinking your design wont work Im just throwing some thoughts that are minor changes that would help with less stress , go for it Bro like a friend of mine says there is only one way to find out 

[buddyb]

Stick Bender do you have an idea of how long of a piece of mule tape I'll need? I see there is a place on ebay that I can buy it.

[Stick Bender]

I bought a 300 ft spool of 5/8 and Im glad I did I found if I almost put the hose in a cacoon of the stuff it gives a nicer glue up I didnt  use the whole spool but maybe 2/3 , I did one glue up with less and the hose put more presure on the edges & I ended up with slightly concave limbs it was a bear to tiller and drop weight but ended up being my personal fastest bow to date go figure ! on the following glue up I used more tape and more in the riser area and the limbs turned out perfect & dead flat , that form you showed that guy used artificial sinew to strap his lams to the form with no presure strip
I was to afraid to try it for fear of hinging in the tie down areas and hose indents in the belly ! Also with the form & your new design you could make your form say 1 3/8 wide just incase your design is to narrow at 1 1/4 you can always side tiller to your desired dimension but hard to add wood back on 

[buddyb]

Thanks.

I'm going to start out with my bow being 1 1/2" wide and will narrow it down to final dimensions.

Have you tried putting a thin piece of wood about 1/4 inch narrower than your form to help offset getting the concave in your limbs?

[Stick Bender]

  no because its a non issue now I could have gone with a thicker presure strip to but the exstra tape solved the issue !