The Iowan Path

[Went tam]

Just did an experiment on steaming out a compression mark on the back of a scrap bow limb.  The process is a small hot iron and a scrap of linen dampened with distilled water.  seems to have done a good job on removing about 85% of the indentation.  Now the big question, do you think its a safe thing to do on a new bow if it was to suffer a dent in the building process?

[JW_Halverson]

Time to test on your scrap piece.  A dent that has sharp edges like the one you have might have very low survival rate, but if the edges were more gradually compressed it may have a higher survival coefficient.

[iowabow]

The news from Iowa.
Our Sat of work/fun day went as planned.  Tim and I cut about 1/3 of the trees off the dam which was a lot of work. Annette made an amazing  breakfast and lunch of lasagna. Then Matt Edwards, his daughter Maddie, Evan and his friend from 5 hours north came down to build bows. We got Matts bow heat treated and Maddie shot  targets almost all afternoon Evan and his friend chased rings on two staves. They are hard working lads. Looking forward to seeing you guys on our next gathering.
 Pictured below lasanga that Craig wanted lol.

[Went tam]

I stress tested the practice steam dent repair, put the limb piece in a bench vice and flexed it a bunch....a whole bunch....then really started to put a huge amount of pressure on it.  I watched where it bent and moved the limb down in the vice where the majority of the flex was taking place right on the steamed area.  It took alto of force, but when the limb finally snapped it was in a larger area well below the repair.

[iowabow]

Looks like your good to go

[iowabow]

Tim, Del and his son came over and helped with clearing trees from the dam this afternoon. We only have about 15 to go now

[burn em up chuck]

hey guys just wanted to say good work on the passing it on, very very cool

                                                                     chuck

[TRACY]

Nice little thread John! I've enjoyed reading the first seven pages. You guys are having fun!


Tracy

[Pappy]

OK John,what's going on in Iowa this weekend ? Looks like yall are piling up a bunch of fire wood,or maybe bow staves.
 Pappy

[iowabow]

Well the "master plan" is to accomplish multiple task with one group of trees. The top of the cedars poles, 5-8 inches dia x 6-8 feet, are going to a fence project that Tim is working on at home and the bottom 15 feet to a shelter/cabin project near the campground. The larger oaks will be chainsaw milled for siding and benches and work tables. The walnut cut into boards. The osage for staves and the bitter nut cut with the chainsaw mill making 4 or more staves and two nice 12 boards. There will also be many boards cut from a couple oak logs that can be used in board and batten construction. Del and his son will use the limbs to build furniture that he sells. 
Now this weekend starting at 1pm today we cut the remaining trees from the dam and Saturday morning we lumberjack the logs to the top of the dam. The cedars will be moved to an open field and placed on scrap logs to dry till mid summer then move to the building location. The dimensional lumber logs will remain on the dam where they will be sawn into lumber, stripped of their bark and ends waxed/painted.

[iowabow]

hey guys just wanted to say good work on the passing it on, very very cool

                                                                     chuck

Thanks it has been a lot of fun.

[iowabow]

Nice little thread John! I've enjoyed reading the first seven pages. You guys are having fun!


Tracy

This is a great group of guys!

[hedgeapple]

Just letting you know I'm reading this post.  It looks like you guys are having a lot of productive fun.  Way to pass it on.

[Parnell]

Looking forward to seeing the photos of all that work!  Have a great time.

[iowabow]

Well we did not cut on Friday due to high wind but Paul came out on Sat. We had a lot of fun figuring out how to move logs up a steep slope. The log dolly was the trick. If you balance the log on the dolly it is really easy to pull logs up the hill.  First picture is of the quad loaded down with equipment.  The rest are how we managed the task. And yes the quad is pulling logs up the dam while on the ice. The snow has multiple layers of ice and snow that creates great traction. Lots of fun and it was a crazy day of pulling logs like that.