I'd like to build a no fiberglass laminated straight limbed longbow. Can I buy regular laminations such as you would use in making a fiberglass bow? Are there any suppliers you would recommend for wood? Finding staves for self bows that are 70 inches long and suitable for my skill level are proving very difficult to find. I do not have acess to any places to cut my own so I'm leaning towards wood laminated bows until I can find some suitable staves. I don't want to use red oak boardS anymore and want something else. I have a table saw small band saw table belt sander drill press and a lot of hand tools.I also have rasps files draw knives etc I'm just missing the wood. I think tri lam bows look interesting but open to other things as well.

If you want to start with a stave, contact Curt Brisky. He may have a stave that's 70 inches. Here's his website brisky-bows.com

As far as lamination goes, try Bingham. Their website is binghamprojects.com

I hope this works.

I'll check him out thank you

For that bow, a trilam, you don't want lams as thin as would be used in a glass bow. You may have to remove wood from the belly to adjust tiller and hit target weight, and you need the belly lam to be thick enough to allow that without cutting through into the glue line. There are grain/ring orientation concerns in trilam wood that aren't nearly as critical in lams destined for glass bows, and also concerns regarding how the lams will be joined at the center if they're not full length. I join trilam lams differently than I do glass bow lams. The backing piece, whether bamboo, maple, hickory, etc should be full length if possible.

Some of the guys who grind lams may be familiar with the specific needs and quality of lams for glassless bows, but I've found that many of them are not. If you were very specific with your wants and needs, they(lam suppliers) may be able to accommodate you. The only way to know is to ask.

I made one out of wooden Levelor window blind shutters I trimmed off the Sweeties' new 6 foot blinds.

AND it was Red Elm! Made a great little bow, 'The Blinder' which I showed on here. I did a lousy job on the fades and glue-up and snapped off the bottom limb after a years' shooting it. More skill on my part, and it would have been my favorite rent-a-kid bow. Didi over to a window blind company and beg some cut-off full- length shutter pieces, and sand the paint off to see what you got. The price is right!

TinHorn

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