Effects of limb veneers on bow performance?

[J from Denmark]

A heavy wood veneer over a bamboo core, will be 1 fps slower then a limb with pure bamboo core.

We just tested this with two all else identical BW limbs. We used a shootingmachine.

Normally bw limbs are excatly the same fps if the core material is the same, but this 1 fps is no more then pure bamboo cores could vary too so I would not wory about loosing performance.

Btw, yes veneers are thin, but on the outermost part of the limb ( where it matters ) the veneers are actually as thick as the boo on lower poundage bows ! ( <55#

[Tom Anderson]

Originally posted by J from Denmark:
...A heavy wood veneer over a bamboo core, will be 1 fps slower then a limb with pure bamboo core...

That sure isn't enough to be concerned about...at least on my bows.

[Longbowz]

Granted the difference may be small, but some wood lam's do make a difference.  Many who have shot bamboo or yew limbs note the smoothness and quickness the material provides.

[stmpthmpr]

Originally posted by 7eyes:
"everything matters"

BINGO!!

[stmpthmpr]

Originally posted by J from Denmark:
...A heavy wood veneer over a bamboo core, will be 1 fps slower then a limb with pure bamboo core...

What matters to me are the characteristics of a bow which cannot be measured. Speed often says something about limb design/efficiency, but not structural integrity, stability, smoothness of draw and stacking.

Veneers/parallels may be thin, generally speaking, but I contend that it is often the combination of the smallest of details that add up to the biggest differences.

To say that veneers dont matter is to imply that core material and limb design are the only factors that give each individual bow it's own character. This is not the case.

I recently read a thread here where numerous posters related stories of their bows blowing apart. What causes delamination? Did they all leave their bows in a hot vehicle? Is the glue joint the only problem?

More often than not, a glue/epoxy joint is stronger than the wood that surrounds it. It only makes sense that if you laminate glass, hardwood, and soft wood together, if the limb fails it will be at the soft wood lamination. The stress will likely have the greatest effect on the weakest of the materials.

It was said that veneers and lams are different. HOW? "lam" is short for lamination. If a veneer is laminated to other laminations, isnt it then by definition, a "lam"?

Are veneers ALWAYS parallels? NO. So if a veneer is a taper which is generally used as a core lam, wouldnt it be called a veneer if used cosmetically under glass?

It was said to keep the veneers thin. Why is that? Is it only the core wood that plays a role in weight distribution along the limb and the resulting draw weight? I think not. Let me rephrase that... I know it is not.

There are a great many factors that go into building a bow with the greatest number and highest level of desirable characteristics. Materials, lam thicknesses, limb design, fade out design, limb tip weight, riser material and weight, and the attention to every little detail throughout the process of pulling it all together.

There is only one case where I would say that as a rule, one must keep the "veneers' thin. Thats if they happen to be a soft wood. In this case, if the lam is too thick to be fully impregnated with the glue of choice it is a failure waiting to happen.

Thats one case where the difference DOES matter to me. Doesnt matter how purdy a bow is if it can no longer be shot.

If one chooses to generalize, why not be specific! LOL! When building a recurve, one might refer to his under glass lams as veneers. Because of the width of the limb, he can reach desired draw weight with paper thin veneers. When building a longbow the outermost lams may now be called parallels because he is using lams near or even equal to the thickness of the core wood. There is no hard and fast rule on what combinations of tapers and parralels one must use to reach the desired weight and limb characteristics. Differentiating between "veneer" and "lam" is just symantics.

[NightHawk]

so stumpthumper lets see your work.