does a belt sander have to be as long as the bow limb to sand the whole thing as one unit?  i have a craftsmen sander but it is not very long.  is it still possible to make a bow?  i have a small beltsander, viabrating sander, bandsaw, and a table saw, and a drill press.  is it possible to make a bow with these tools?  the only thing im worried about is the small sander.  thanks for any help!

I've built bows with a small table belt sander - no problems.


Cary

You drag your work across the belt sander. If it is 12" or 48" long it will work equally well. actually you can only keep track of a small section of the limb at a time so you wouldn't want a sanding surface as long as your limb. You could be working on the fade out area and grind off the tip because you couldn't watch both areas at the same time.

I actualy used a hand held belt sander for my first bow. I turned it up side down and held it in a vice. It worked, but I bought a bigger sander for the next one.

With your small belt sander I would recommend that you get the sears table top spindle sander. A few years ago it cost $110. We just finished a riser for my friend and the majority of the work was with the osc. spindle sander.
Ron