Building a bow

[smj]

Sounds like a great plan! By the way, I just wrote off for price quote from a new source for bamboo. This guys says if you pick up 4 at a time, he will sell them for $50, pre-thinned, plus shipping. That's $12.50 each plus shipping. (There is still some work to do, but you don't need a jointer to work them down.) I'll post the results soon as I hear back! Don't know if he sells fired bamboo or not yet. To me, that's not a bad price - so long as it is real...

Geee - maybe I should post the page numbers when I give a reference...

[easternhunter]

Doing a dry fit right now...pics in the morning. Some tempted to glue 'er up...LOL.

Gonna try two different profiles as in pics above, buit I'm leaning on the latter.

[BT]

That sounds like a good idea smj

[smj]

So, the little ipe/bamboo bow that I just could not give up on is done. Here are a few pics of what it looks like... Tru-Oil, and TransTint (Honey Amber #6001) on the bamboo - suspended in alcohol so's not to get the boo wet with water. Rub it out after it drys with steel wool, heavy between the nodes to get just a hint of fade (although, the fade part does not show at all in the pics).

The belly -


The back -



Front of the grip -


The shelf -


The tip - (I made these small on purpose)

[easternhunter]

SO, HERE'S THE PICS FROM LAST NITE'S DRY-FITS.....

Laminating the hickory backing with induced reflex.

Flat limb with 3" reflex from midlimb out(thinned the belly abit with scraperfor better flex)

My personal favourite...3/4" deflex with 3.5" reflex from midlimb out...stiff last 6" to tips.
Whatcha all think is the way to go??
BTW....just found out the S.G. of Jatoba is about .90....anybody know what IPE might be?

[smj]

I like the look of this one - (The second photo, I think...)

"My personal favourite...3/4" deflex with 3.5" reflex from midlimb out...stiff last 6" to tips."

[easternhunter]

SMJ...buddy of mine wants to know how much you sell your bows for......he's impressed!

[smj]

The following is from the web site:
www.bearcreeklumber.com/species/ipe_jatoba.html

Characteristics Of Ipe
Density(oven-dry): 66 pcf
Specific Gravity (oven dry): 0.85
Durability: Most durable species, resistant to rot, termitesdecay and fungi. natural Durability Class: 1
Finishing: Does not take finishes well, treatent unnecessary.
Flame spread rating:
10 min.: 0
30 min.: 5
Smoke development values (10 min.): 3
Fuel contribution: (10 min.): 0
NFPA Class: A
UBC Class: 1
Smoke developed classification: 98
K value(12% mc):
R value: in. of thickness
Stability: Very stable, shrinkage greeen to oven dry tangential: 8,0% - radial: 6,6%
Workability: Difficult to work with hand tools, blunting efffect on cutting edges, hard to nail.


Jatoba -
Density(oven-dry): 57 lb/ft3
Specific Gravity (oven dry): 0.71 lbs/cu.ft.
Durability: Very durable species
Finishing: Paints and stains well.
Flame spread rating: N/A
Smoke developed classification: N/A
Stifness: 2422 per 1000/psi
Bending strength : 21020 psi(Dry)
Stability:Very stable and not subject to dimensional changes once dried.
Workability: Difficult to saw and plane, easy to finish and glue.


The line about ipe not taking a finish well is true. The first coat seems to sit on the wood and just be sticky, rather than dry up hard. I steel-wool the first coat off after a couple days, then it seems to dry and you can put what ever you want on it. Anyone have a better system? Please share!

As for selling a bow, I probably won't be taking new requests until after September! Maybe he should wait and see what this next one of yours looks like...

[easternhunter]

CATASTROPHIC FAILURE THIS MORNING....lAST NITE i GLUED UP THE BACKING TO BELLY WOOD, PRESSED IT INTO REFLEX AND CLAMPED IT WITH EVERY USABLE CLAMP I HAD..(30-35)
LOOKED GOOD...I WAS VERY PLEASED, BUT A BIT CONCERNED THAT I TOOK TOO LONG TO GET 'ER CLAMPED UP TIGHT.

THIS MORNING, I TOOK IT OUT OF THE CLAMPS AFTER A FULL 12 HOURS, AFTER INSPECTION DISCOVERED A SMALL AREA OF BACKING HAD LIFTED...OF COURSE I SAID A FEW SPECIAL WORDS, BUT FIGURED I'D ADD SOME GLUE AFTER WORK AND RE-CLAMP...JUST BEFORE LEAVING FOR WORK, I WENT TO CHECK AGAIN, AND DISCOVERED ALOST AN ENTIRE LIMB HAD DE-LAMINATED ALL THE WAY TO THE GRIP! NOW THE AIR WENT BLUE BIG TIME!
AFTER LOOKING AT IT, I THOUGHT I COULD LIFT THE BACKING COMPLETELY TO THE THE CENTER AND SHOOT GLUE INTO THE VOID AND CLAMP......WELL I ENDED UP PRYING OFF THE ENTIRE BACKING WITHOUT ALOT OF TROUBLE!!!*&^%*$$$*%*%$....
AFTER THE CLOUDS PARTED, I DECIDED TO CLEAN UP THE BACKING AND I'LL TRY IT AGAIN TOMORROW NITE....I EVEN CLEANED MY SURFACES WITH ACETONE BEFORE GLUE-UP, SO THE ONLY THING I CAN THINK OF IS I WAS TOO SLOW AND OVER-EXTENDED THE WORKABLE TIME OF THE URAC. ANY SUGGESTIONS WOULD BE HELPFUL. I READ SOMEWHERE THAT JATOBA "GLUES WELL"....SO AT LEAST I SAVED THE BOW IF IT IS IN PIECES STILL.
lol, AFTER HEARING MY STORIES OF DE-LAMS, I DOUBT HE'S GONNA WANT ONE OF MINE....

[smj]

Wow! I can imagine that the air is still a bit blue in that room...

Did you get the mix right for the URAC 185? The insturctions say 1:13. What was the temperature in the room, cooler temps extend the work time and can slow the set time a lot. I usually leave the bow clamped for 24 hours at nearly 80 degrees F. I know that they say 12 hours is enough, I go for a little over-kill on time. Did the acetone have time to dry all the way off the limb before glue up??? When the limbs came apart, did the glue seem wet, or hard as a rock but not sticking to the wood? Did both surfaces release, or just one, or did the two glue surfaces not stick to eachother? Need a few details, but we can probably figure out what happened! You will have to clean things up well. If the glue originally placed had an issue, you will not want to try to glue to it a second time!