Speed Up Your Weight Reduction And Tillering Process.

[greybeard]

Some time back I purchased a small 4" x 6" belt/disc sander [Aldi Taurus] to carry out small sanding jobs.

Although the quality of the machine may be dubious I found it is great for sanding the stave after band sawing the belly, bringing the limbs down to thickness and tillering the bow.

The 40 grit belt certainly removes timber and final tillering is done with finer grit papers on sanding sticks.

It also makes short work of tapering pole bamboo for bow backings.

Taurus Belt-Disc Sander.JPG (105.97 KiB) Viewed 1570 times

I had to modify the dust extraction ports to allow for efficient removal of the sanding dust.

Daryl.

[cmoore]

But without a doubt Daryl you've learned to use it with a fine touch & an exceptional degree of accuracy....I use an angle grinder with a 40 grit flappy paddle sanding disc! ...you may call me crazy, but you'd only be stating the truth

[Dennis La Varenne]

Yep Daryl,

They certainly work alright. I have had and still have an old Chinese version of this kind of linisher. I think I bought it over 20 years ago and never thought it would last. Keeping the belt centred is an art, but once done, it can rip the bywood off pretty well. I have some full length bamboo that Craig Ekin of Howard Hill Archery and Jim Boswell of Rudderbows sent me for backing on projects and it never occurred to me to flatten it like you describe. Whatever was I thinking of ?????

[greybeard]

...I use an angle grinder with a 40 grit flappy paddle sanding disc!

Cam, I am pretty hopeless when it comes to using a sanding disc on an angle grinder.

I have some full length bamboo ......for backing on projects and it never occurred to me to flatten it like you describe. Whatever was I thinking of ?????

Dennis, Initially I rip the bulk of the inner of the bamboo off using an electric planer, mark out the plan of the bow [slightly oversize] on the outer surface of the bamboo and cut to shape.

Using callipers at six inch spacing's I reduce the bamboo to the required thickness and taper on the belt sander. Also I check the bamboo for a symmetrical curve on the tiller board before gluing it to the stave.

Daryl.