Christmas tree bow build along: in progress

[sleek]

I would love to see pics of it braced....and broke.

[Weylin]

Look, SS. Part of me is feeling uncomfortable with the amount of grief that you are attracting but another part of me thinks that you are asking for it in many ways. My motto is that I never say anything on the internet that i wouldn't say to someone's face and because I can't see people's reactions on the internet I usually err on the side of politeness. I want to be clear that you are not getting a hard time because you are young, because you are inexperienced nor because of the wood you have access to. If anything you have received tolerance because of your age. We are all excited to see youngsters get into bowmaking and want o help them as much as we can. There are several fine young men on this site some of whom are just learning and some that are making bows among the best of us. The reason that you are getting a hard time is because you are not heeding any advice from your elders, you are stubbornly forging ahead on a project that is beyond foolish and honestly quite dangerous and then when the bow breaks you don't have the good grace to even acknowledge the wisdom that you spurned earlier but instead lie to protect your ego and shift the blame to an inanimate object. We all break bows but when we do we frown for a minute, laugh about it if we can and then do our best to figure out exactly what happened so we can learn from it and then post hilarious exploding full draw pictures for our friends to guffaw at. Just give some thought to the manner in which you are interacting with all of us and decide if you might be able to approach in from a different angle. You may not be able to change peoples opinions about you right away but we are by nature a friendly and forgiving lot so I'm sure you can redeem yourself if you pull it together a bit. Good luck on your next bow. 

[autologus]

The plain and simple of the whole process is you got some valuable experience along the way (provided you listened to the ones on here giving you advice) and we got some amusing entertainment.  Either way no cats got hurt in the making of this yule tide explosion (Del would appreciate that).

Grady

[Squirrelslayer]

ok i know it may seem that im trying to pass the blame around but maybe the bow was going to break anyway and just happend to break where the door got it. anyway before i made that video i made another one before it, i thought i accidently deleted this one but turns out it was saved in my files so here it is, i have learnt from my mistakes and am just waiting for that maple to dry i got another maple log today which is stright and if i throw away the billets with the knots i may be able to get a bow from it. heres the vid. SS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Bl_OLbrlnU

[ionicmuffin]

when a wood like pine is to be used for a bow the bow will have to be massively wide. and the piece has to be knotless. In the TBB1 they talk about a pine bow thats like 4 inches wide or something. and i would imagine it was knotless. if you have knots it may not be a problem depending on the wood. I think beginners do best to stay away from knots until they can tiller without much thought to it, i know my first stave bow with the help of a good bowyer still blew, and its due to the fact that we tried with a stave that had rotten knots inside that area. Sometimes it just doesnt work out well at all. you have to consider what your putting the wood under, there will be a large amount of stress on the wood anyway and the knots add even more stress. so for a weak wood like pine, a knot riddled stave would have to be near 6 inches across or more to make it work, in essence, a wood that is weak even without knots will be a terrible bow wood with that many knots.

[Squirrelslayer]

yep now ive cut off the broken limb where the fade ends and the handle starts i have a simalar peice of wood im going to join them together in a V splice i don't intend on turning it into a bow, but i want to practice splicing two staves together so that whaen my maple is dry i will have had some practice. SS

[WillS]

Can't you post a picture of the break?  Lots of people want to see where/how it failed.

[Onebowonder]

<snip>...im going to join them together in a V splice i don't intend on turning it into a bow, but i want to practice splicing two staves together so that whaen my maple is dry i will have had some practice. SS

...now that was the smartest thing I've read that you've written!

OneBow

[sleek]

Shall I stir the pot? Naw, I will just kick it over.... If your gonna go through all that trouble of splicing ( good idea ) may as well make a 30 lb bow to practice tillering while you are at it, and still have a shooting bow. I bet you can do it. Especially with only 30 lbs. You know you wanna make a bow of it. Just pretend that it is going to break every time you pull it, keeping people and such away from in front and behind you. Oh, and wear safety glasses!

[Squirrelslayer]

Can't you post a picture of the break?  Lots of people want to see where/how it failed.

once i cut the end i tossed it on the fire. i didn't want the reminder. it's kind of a thing i do when i break my bows, unless i can't use it to help me in anyway so thats why im not burning the un broken limb. sorrry i hadn't really thought of taking any videos or pics. will do next time though, if there is a next time. SS

[k-hat]

Might i recommend a z splice or a w splice (i think some call it a fishtail)?  Lots more surface area for the glue to hold.  I've only done a W and it's holding nicely even if it's not perfect (not that you shouldn't try for a perfect fit, but the W leaves a little more room for error).

[Squirrelslayer]

some nice ideas there K-hat but im also thinking of using takedown sleves that way i can make a takedown bow. which brings me onto my next question. anyone know a place were i can get some good takedown sleves for under $/£10 im thinking of using them because it will be portable and if one does break i can replace it more easy. what do you guys think?

[k-hat]

Use the 10 to buy you a decent board from a lumber store (or a wheelbarrow handle from the hardware store as long as its ash or equivalent) and build a real bow.  Don't people build stuff in the UK?  There's gotta be some lumber somewhere over there... oak, maple, etc.  I know oak grows over across teh water.  Buy a handsaw and cut down a sapling of a decent wood, debark it, seal the ends and dry it over the next few weeks in stages and make a bow from it.  Or, while your maple's drying, use your bowyering time to read TBB's and study this site.

SS you have the opposite problem I had...  I wanted to research everything to death and was so scared of screwing up i wouldn't touch the wood i bought, when what i needed to do was get after it.  Chill out and slow your roll, and do some learning while you're waiting.  Course i'm sure most of this has already been said somewhere. 

[sleek]

Haha, poor kid, and here I am encouraging him.... make it a light weight bow, 30 lbs, and use pvc pipe for the splice. You can even heat treat it to shape...

[ionicmuffin]

i agree with k-hat get a wheelbarrow handle, heres the one i found and i didnt have to do much sorting through the pile at all.
http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,37755.0.html
it cost about 10$ so around 6-8lbs for you?