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Author Topic: Del's MR Copy  (Read 34807 times)

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Offline Del the cat

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    • Derek Hutchison Native Wood Self Bows
Del's MR Copy
« on: January 21, 2012, 08:25:33 am »
This is made to approx dimensions of one of the shorter Mary Rose Bows. It's 90# at 28", but it's been taken to just over 29" (see the pic of it on the tiller)
74" ntn 76.5" overall.
I don't want to take it too far due to some serious knot filling work I've done on it. The Yew was cut from an English country estate by a tree surgeon November 2010.
I've been training up for about 2 weeks and can get it to full draw now, I hope to get a pic of me at full draw tomorrow


Below is the worst filled knot, a big squarish void, filled with yew dust/epoxy mix to provide a stable foundation to drill and peg with 4 pegs of Yew.

Below shows a similar knot on the other limb, these knots go from the centre of the belly out to the side, they never appeared on the back at all, lower right of the knot you can see a small pinch, this seems stable and doesn't worry me too much as it's on the belly. The great thing about this bow is the clean back, with just the one big pimple left proud, see last two pics.



The full build story is on my blog (google 'bowyers diary' to find it)
Del
« Last Edit: January 21, 2012, 10:05:18 am by Del the cat »
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Offline davkt

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Re: Del's MR Copy
« Reply #1 on: January 21, 2012, 11:02:19 am »
Good to hear you have managed to get a warbow out of English yew, most ELB bowyers I know say it isn't suitable.
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Offline gstoneberg

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Re: Del's MR Copy
« Reply #2 on: January 21, 2012, 11:24:20 am »
Beautiful Del.  I'm afraid either of those knots would have caused me to fold.  Clearly I have lots to learn about yew.  You are a master at it.   Been watching carefully before attempting the nice stave I have. :)

George
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Offline Del the cat

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Re: Del's MR Copy
« Reply #3 on: January 21, 2012, 12:14:18 pm »
Quote from: davkt on January 21, 2012, 11:02:19 am
Good to hear you have managed to get a warbow out of English yew, most ELB bowyers I know say it isn't suitable.
IMO, Those who say it isn't suitable have never tried it, or haven't the patience to find a good bit.
All my Yew longbows so far have been English Yew, (and there are a few on mywebsite, google 'Delsbows' to find it) although I may have a couple of Oregon billets coming my way later in the year so I'll have something for comparison.
Del
« Last Edit: January 21, 2012, 12:23:55 pm by Del the cat »
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Offline Del the cat

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Re: Del's MR Copy
« Reply #4 on: January 21, 2012, 12:20:43 pm »
Quote from: gstoneberg on January 21, 2012, 11:24:20 am
Beautiful Del.  I'm afraid either of those knots would have caused me to fold.  Clearly I have lots to learn about yew.  You are a master at it.   Been watching carefully before attempting the nice stave I have. :)

George
Cheers George, I must admit that it's ability to withstand some pretty awful knots does amaze me. I think if you treat it with care and respect it will be very forgiving.
I've learned to excavate any knots with even a trace of black around them and get backdown to clean timber. In fact I recon I could probably find a new career in dentisty now! ;)
I love the pinkish red blusk around the knots, I think the knots were branches which had been cut or broken off and had then grown over. It was quite a mystery at first as I could only see the clean circular bit of the knot on the belly. The rot was only exposed as I reduced the width.
Here's the pretty? side of the bow. It shows the two big knots and the slight set (it had a tad of deflex on the original stave)
There's a row of pin knots right on the edge of that lower limb too, look a bit like a row of stitches. Always tricky deciding, do I work down that edge a tad and loose 'em or leave 'em be?
Del
« Last Edit: January 21, 2012, 12:29:01 pm by Del the cat »
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Offline ErictheViking

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Re: Del's MR Copy
« Reply #5 on: January 21, 2012, 12:55:31 pm »
Nice save on those knots to get another sweet looking bow.  Beautiful full draw and really like the white horn knocks over the black.  I dont think there is a more visually appealing wood than yew. good looking bow Mr Cat.
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Offline Del the cat

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Re: Del's MR Copy
« Reply #6 on: January 21, 2012, 01:46:18 pm »
Craig was asking about the ring count on another thread, I've just found the off cut from the end of the stave and polished it up.
I've made two marks 1" appart for those with keen eysight who want to count. (Having got my best glasses and some decent light I think it's about 38 rpi, some rings are very fine and close).
The real point is that there is a band of tight rings near the centre of the stave, then they spread out wide just below the sapwood and then they go tight again in the sapwood (doesn't show as it's so white).
So the belly is tight and the back is tight, who cares about the bit in the middle? :)

Del
« Last Edit: January 21, 2012, 02:15:21 pm by Del the cat »
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Offline gstoneberg

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Re: Del's MR Copy
« Reply #7 on: January 21, 2012, 02:59:14 pm »
Lovely bow.  That tint around the knots reminds me of the juniper that grows here.  Very pretty stuff.

George
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St Paul, TX

mikekeswick

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Re: Del's MR Copy
« Reply #8 on: January 21, 2012, 03:15:31 pm »
Lovely bow Del. Well done on the knot saves. If definately makes sense to plug em and get a solid bow.
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Offline JW_Halverson

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Re: Del's MR Copy
« Reply #9 on: January 21, 2012, 03:26:37 pm »
I followed this bow on your blog waiting for the eventual "grenade" posting and I was sadly disappointed to see it survived nonetheless.   >:D

The appearance of the rotted out knot would have caused me to fold even faster then ol Texas Hold'em Gstoneberg, a sick man with a sick love of sicker wood.  Your trick of filling the void with sawdust in a binding matrix, then drilling and filling with yew plugs was very clever indeed.  For some reason the overlapping dowels in cross section remind me of bubbles.  I'm afraid I would chose a less than dignified name for this bow such as "Mr. Bubbles".

If you ever get stateside, I have a very nice bottle of Montepulciano d'Abruzzo waiting for you and Mrs. the Cat.

Your most obedient servant in the colonies,
John Halverson
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Offline Del the cat

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Re: Del's MR Copy
« Reply #10 on: January 21, 2012, 04:03:42 pm »
Grenade posting...  :laugh:
Hey JW, that's my dream of one day doing a big road trip right up through the states taking in some of the wonderous scenery and meetin' some of you great guys. I think mrs Cat would get all bowed out pretty quick tho' ::).
It saddens me slightly that some people over here don't set their sights higher than Disneyland >:(  when there are so many natural wonders to see.
Maybe one day...
Or if any of you guys get over here I'll stand you fish and chips and take you down to Portsmouth to the Mary Rose museum (loads of other good stuff down in 'pompey' (as it's know locally) too).
Cheers
Del
« Last Edit: January 21, 2012, 04:27:09 pm by Del the cat »
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Offline fishfinder401

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Re: Del's MR Copy
« Reply #11 on: January 21, 2012, 04:15:28 pm »
amazing bow, this makes me motivated to go work on mine ;D, and if you do take a road trip be sure to stop by and see me ;D
great bow
noel ;D
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Offline JW_Halverson

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Re: Del's MR Copy
« Reply #12 on: January 21, 2012, 04:29:19 pm »
I can just see Del and fishhead911 double-teaming a poor stave!  What a pair!
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Offline Del the cat

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Re: Del's MR Copy
« Reply #13 on: January 21, 2012, 04:36:57 pm »
Here's another pic, it's the excavated knot.
Note the piece of special Bowyer's carpet  ::) on the vice protecting the bow.
The tool for digging out the rot is an old needle file ground down to a chisel point, works like a dream... well like a very small chisel really ;)
You can see from the shape why it needed 4 plugs.

Del
« Last Edit: January 21, 2012, 04:40:04 pm by Del the cat »
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Offline Ian.

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Re: Del's MR Copy
« Reply #14 on: January 21, 2012, 05:11:48 pm »
Nicely done Del, I have to say I never go to the trouble to fill a knot just leave it a little bigger. But then I haven't used Englsih yew yet.
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