home made composite

[greybark]

Hey Gatehouse , The integraty of that ply is so varied that it would be unstable . Your concept is a valid one in that Plywood in special sheets is in common use in bow manufacting . Most common is Birch and Maple and is called "Action Wood" and is appreciated by Boyers for its stabilaty and used in risers and limbs .. The Sheet is rather unique in that it consists of many small veneers and the 4x8x 2in thick can run into Thousands of dollars ....
Cheers

[new hunter]

Anyone still interested , buddy at work bought a crossbow and is going for his PAL as well .
As for myself , I still love primitive weapons , but I gave my old long bow to an anti who has slowly been coming around , and I will be replacing it with another long bow which I will be carving out of vine maple , once the limb has cured enough .

[Gateholio]

Hey Gatehouse , The integraty of that ply is so varied that it would be unstable . Your concept is a valid one in that Plywood in special sheets is in common use in bow manufacting . Most common is Birch and Maple and is called "Action Wood" and is appreciated by Boyers for its stabilaty and used in risers and limbs .. The Sheet is rather unique in that it consists of many small veneers and the 4x8x 2in thick can run into Thousands of dollars ....
Cheers

.Interesting...Can you tell us more? Good quality plywood is very strong, but it's strength is usually in it's application of a flat surface. I take it that when repeatedly flexed it will break down?

[wildcatter]

Just a shot in the dark, would kevlar be better than fibreglass?

[greybark]

.Interesting...Can you tell us more? Good quality plywood is very strong, but it's strength is usually in it's application of a flat surface. I take it that when repeatedly flexed it will break down?

Hey GH , lately so called plywood are also made with Bamboo and is called Actionboo , a lamination of 60 thousand thick and 2in wide x 4 ft can fetch $25 .
Go on Binghams Bow Supply for number of plys per inch . Note no air or glue voids ....
Cheers

[greybark]

If you can get your hands on Pacific Yew (not uncommon around Whistler) it is very good and traditional wood species for bows.

I would check out the legalality of cutting Yew Trees .........
Cheers

[rollingrock]

Hey Rollingrock, those are very sweet looking bows . I like how the Bowyer uses highly figured Bacote and Cocobola in the risers . I beleive the limb veneers in the last pic are Cocobolo and give great character to the beautiful lines of the bow .
PM sent .
Cheers

Someone knows the secret!

All these bows are backed with bamboo. You will see something more interesting down the road.

[new hunter]

Laminate bows use the same Idea as ply wood , exept without alternating the direction of grain .wereas ply wood has one sheet with grain running left to right , glued onto grain running up and down repeated , laminate bow material has all the grain in each layer running in the same direction ( up and down ).
The construction of a laminate ( or composite ) bow is usually to to three layers of different materials .
The face or backing is made of a material that has both long continuos uninterupted grain ( to resist splitting under tension ) , and also must resist stretching .
An apropriate wood would be bamboo , but people often use leathers or raw hide or even linen . Other woods ( other than bamboo ) would need to have the grain chased to prevent splitting .
Surface closest to the arch (opposite to the backing ) should be a hard wood that resist compression , such as Iron wood , maple , Ipe , even horn or antler can be used .
the two opposing forces , resisted tension on the outside , resisted compression on the inside creates a far more effective spring than force than a regular one peice of wood bow (also known as self backed ) .
technically a laminate bow is like a ply wood , but only as much as a laminate rifle stock is ply wood .
in the case of a three material laminate bow , the middle wood simply acts as a buffer between the back and inside material .
the easiest way to make a bow is to simply dry out a limb or tree branch , leave the bark on one side and do all your carving on one side , leaving the bark on the side of the bow that will be the face ( actually called the back , go figure ) .
once the bow is getting close to completion , peel ( do not cut or carve ) the bark away being sure not to cut into the wood grain below the bark , then finish tillering ( carving so that both upper and lower limbs flex equally at all points ).

[Jerry Potts]

Howard Hill laminated his bows out of bamboo, with fibreglass facing and backing.The glass looked like common fibreglass cloth wetted out.