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Main Boards => The Bowyer's Bench => Topic started by: Cody Roiter on March 12, 2009, 11:01:00 PM

Title: IPE can you makes bows with it
Post by: Cody Roiter on March 12, 2009, 11:01:00 PM: Hello Guys, I picked up some lam of IPE today and would like to know how good of a bow it makes and what kind of glue for putting backing on as I know there is a lot of oil in the wood..

Any help would be great and any pics of your IPE bows as well....

Cody
Title: Re: IPE can you makes bows with it
Post by: Pat B on March 12, 2009, 11:14:00 PM: Ipe is excellent bow wood. Makes great boo or hickory backed bows and some even make selfbows with ipe. I don't have any pics but keep them somewhat narrow.
Title: Re: IPE can you makes bows with it
Post by: elkslayer on March 12, 2009, 11:44:00 PM: Ipe is awsome bow wood but one warning it is toxic when sanding or cutting.
Title: Re: IPE can you makes bows with it
Post by: Chuck Hoopes on March 12, 2009, 11:49:00 PM: Lots of people make some great bows w/ipe. I have read and seen some on posts here and other sights that are great shooters. Saw one that was 70" 3/4"wide and 3/4" thick w/bendy handle--shot a 500g arrow 190ft/sec.(Made by justin synder--posted at primitive archers site.) Others I have seen are shorter i.e.60"-- the one thing they have in common is that they are all narrow bows--around 1" at fades. I just kind of trashed one I was working on today-70" 1 1/8" wide, hick backed. I was looking for 50#, but suddenly developed a hinge while tillering, and by the time I got things worked out, Iam down to about 38#-- Getting this wood to bend goes slowly and than suddenly bad things can happen. Iam pretty much a rookie to this bow making, and this is only my 3rd. attempt w/ipe. First one, hick backed,50#, but pretty sluggish. Second one was silk backed--blew up while tillering. So you can see Iam no expert, but I can tell you that ipe has great potential if you know what you are doing. High compression strength, makes for narrow, fast shooting bows. Clean oils off w/acetone before gluing backing. Good luck, - Iam definitely going to keep trying--I'll get a good one eventually.
Title: Re: IPE can you makes bows with it
Post by: ChristopherO on March 13, 2009, 09:35:00 AM: Chuck,
Don't trash it just yet. Try piking the tips to bring up draw weight. It may be a shooter still.
Title: Re: IPE can you makes bows with it
Post by: Pat B on March 13, 2009, 10:13:00 AM: Christopher, My thoughts exactly!!!
Title: Re: IPE can you makes bows with it
Post by: razorback on March 13, 2009, 12:28:00 PM: Christopher, what is "piking the tips", exactly.
Title: Re: IPE can you makes bows with it
Post by: Pat B on March 13, 2009, 12:39:00 PM: Piking is reducing the length of the bow from both tips. As the length is reduced the draw weight goes up maybe 3# to 5# per inch.