Wood to wood adhesion.
Best glue for laminating bows.
I use smooth on for gluing up fiberglass laminated bows as well as bamboo or hickory backed bows.
I also use it for gluing on tip overlays and back of the handle overlays.
Regular glues which i find useful are hide glue liquid hide glue titebond aliphatic resin franklin white glue and titebond ii in declining order of usefulness and importance to the bowyer.
As the laminates pieces dry they remain in the shape provided by the mold.
A laminated bow offers more options as far as wood combinations and design goes.
Use bow building glue that can handle the stresses of a bow s limbs.
But before a persons gets to the point that the benefits of laminating are outweighing the extra troubles a laminated bow creates you have to do some serious experimenting and to expect some failed bows.
For laminate bows the glue and laminate strips are secured in a mold of sorts which applies a bend to the limbs.
Ea 40 clear epoxy adhesive is transparent after curing.
Let me explain my rankings.
Gluing your bow laminations or bow backing is a critical part of the bow building process.
Some excellent glues for gluing laminations are smooth on cyber giegy and epon versamid.
Some epoxies like loctite 5 minute epoxy are too brittle for bows but smooth on is perfect.
4 oz kit includes enough for 2 bows or 2 glue up joints i g.
The laminated block is then milled to shape revealing the intricate design.
All of these glues work well for fiberglass to wood adhesion.
Trilam one 2oz part a resin one 2oz part b hardner specially formulated 2 part glue for laminating bamboo various woods linen silk and other natural materials as well as fibreglass with the strength you need.
My personal favorite is smooth on but other bowyers may have opposing opinions based on their experiences.
When laminating curved wood woodworkers need an adhesive that won t stretch or pull away at the edges.
This is possible because each laminated strip becomes attached to each other via the epoxy thus they remain bent.
You don t want to use any kind of brittle glue on a bow.
Catalyzed glues which top my list include urac 185 resorcinol and smooth on ea40.