Australian Eucalypt bow

[Hamish]

Hey Ryder, I don't about the suburbs of Darwin, but the NT should have some really nice bow timbers. I would focus on the dense acacias like gidgee, lancewood, brigalow, dead finish etc. I have made some good bows from NT lancewood, spliced at the handle.

Bows have been made from Aust bloodwood, wide limbed 2" +, paddle bows, and pyramid bows. I'm not a fan of eucalypts myself for bows, I find them a bit too temperamental, weaker in tension and compression than its density would suggest. That being said I have seen some nice ones made from various eucalpyts

[ryder]

Thanks  looks like i have lots of woods to try now!

Also have acquired some kangaroo sinew. Looking forwards to experimenting with it on another, shorter, bloodwood stave.

So today I used steam to straighten the limb of the stave that was about 15 deg twisted after splitting the log. Out of interest, I weighed the stave before and after steaming, as it was the first time I've ever steamed wood I was curious to see how much extra moisture it added to the stave.

Before steaming it weighed 1868 grams. Afterward it weighed 1865 grams. That seems to imply it lost a small amount of water content during steaming, instead of gaining it?!? Seems very counter intuitive...

[ajooter]

Steaming does remove moisture in fact.

[ryder]

Wow, would never have thought that!

[ryder]

Drying of stave has been slowing down a lot, losing only about 5 grams of water a day. Planned to finish the back and sides, get it bending a couple of inches with a floor tiller and set it aside to finish drying for another week. Haven't quite got that far though.

The back is pretty much done, its very smooth. Still a few small visible patches of VERY thin sapwood here and there to scrape off, though they are so thin you can see the heartwood through them.

The grain of this wood seems to have all sorts of crazy interlocking fibers everywhere, I think keeping a consistent width of the back without violating fibers would be pretty much impossible. Also, I'm a bit concerned about the sides, even using a spoke shave they had a tendency to have a few tear outs  They aren't very deep, but are still concerning me. I was thinking it may be a good idea to drop NTN length from 69 inches to say 65? and have my first attempt at using sinew? Could help with the grain on the back too maybe.

I would be happy enough to just give it a crack as is and see what happens, I do have 2 more (partially dry) staves to hand, but I really want this bow to work. Sucks not being able to shoot at the moment. Interested in any opinions.

[Parnell]

Super interesting post and welcome to PA.  I don't have much to add but wondered if you had Casuarina in the area.  It's not the greatest wood but I've made succesful bows from it.  We call is Australian Pine here in the states.  Good look with your quest!

[cadet]

I'd be sceptical about camaldulensis/redgum; the sheoaks/allocasuarina/casuarina are something I'm yet to play with, but there are a few stands I might thin out, as I've heard it may work; ironbarks are good; I've used white cypress/murray pine/callitris with some success - from bunnings fence pickets of all thing - but getting straight, knot free timber is the trick; some of the wattles are said to be good too; I've heard of brigalow and mulga making decent - if hard and heavy - bows

Jump on ozbow.  It's not high-traffic, but there are some very experienced and knowledgeable bowyers there.

I can quite comfortably promise you that there are some superb yew forests in Australia (and NZ for that matter - probably more of it in NZ come to think of it) and quite a few bowyers out there making some really nice warbows out of it. 

"Superb Yew forests"?  Here?  Really?  And quite a few bowyers building from it?  First I've heard... Maybe in NZ?  Maybe in prime drop bear habitat or something...?

[WillS]

"Superb Yew forests"?  Here?  Really?  And quite a few bowyers building from it?  First I've heard... Maybe in NZ?  Maybe in prime drop bear habitat or something...?

Trust me

[cadet]

Feel free to throw a dog a bone and furnish further details ; my better half is a heritage horticulturalist. She's got a pretty good idea about where most of SE Aust's bigger, older yews are, and there aren't a lot she knows of.

[Hamish]

 Interlocked grain timber will tear out like that if you use a regular spokeshave, or plane. There are high angled planes and spokeshaves, 55-60 degree bed angles that will do a better job, or scraper planes if you still get tear out.
Rasps, files and card scrapers will also get the job done

[ryder]

Interlocked grain timber will tear out like that if you use a regular spokeshave, or plane. There are high angled planes and spokeshaves, 55-60 degree bed angles that will do a better job, or scraper planes if you still get tear out.
Rasps, files and card scrapers will also get the job done

Thanks for the info, will have to keep an eye out for tools like that. It only wants to tear at the edge of the bow at least.

I still have the stave drying, had hoped it would be done by now. Every day it drops more weight on the scales.

I worked the belly down a little thinner to get it bending a little against the floor 2 days ago, as it dries this wood is getting very, very hard. Even freshly sharpened my edged tools (planes and spokeshave) just seem to skate off the surface now. maybe I just need to learn to use them better, or maybe all further work will have to be done with the rasp and scraper.

[Hamish]

Another thought, high speed steel blades for spokeshaves and planes are awesome for dense hardwoods.
If you don't already know about it HNT Gordon of Australia sells all of the above. Pretty pricey but top quality. There are cheaper Chinese made ones around on ebay(they work pretty well too, but aren't as well made).

[phyankord]

TBB series?

[PlanB]

A scraper might work better on that grain.

Most everybody has a dull file kicking around. It makes a very handy scraper. For a good hard steel scraper, without spending bucks, you can carefully grind the teeth off of an old file (but don't overheat it). Grind a round profile on the end for hollowing work, and then stone and roll all the edges.

You can shape a file scraper differently for different purposes. And if you want to get fancy with a two handle version, grind the square end into a second tang, heat it to anneal it and, while hot, drive it into a second wood handle. Best on tht type to also drive on a metal ferrule from a sawed off water pipe section.

[ryder]

TBB series?

My apologies, I mean the Traditional Bowyer's Bible series. Volume 1 is getting harder to find these days, particularly in hardcover.

A scraper might work better on that grain.

Most everybody has a dull file kicking around. It makes a very handy scraper. For a good hard steel scraper, without spending bucks, you can carefully grind the teeth off of an old file (but don't overheat it). Grind a round profile on the end for hollowing work, and then stone and roll all the edges.

You can shape a file scraper differently for different purposes. And if you want to get fancy with a two handle version, grind the square end into a second tang, heat it to anneal it and, while hot, drive it into a second wood handle. Best on tht type to also drive on a metal ferrule from a sawed off water pipe section.

Thanks for the tip, reckon I have a blunt file or two to test that out on! I've been using an old steel rule as a scraper, honed with a stone - works really well for fine work, but only for fine work.

 

Another thought, high speed steel blades for spokeshaves and planes are awesome for dense hardwoods.
If you don't already know about it HNT Gordon of Australia sells all of the above. Pretty pricey but top quality. There are cheaper Chinese made ones around on ebay(they work pretty well too, but aren't as well made).

Thanks again, will check them out!