ERC success to explosion ratio

[upstatenybowyer]

No worries Bob. That's one sweet looking piece of ERC! I know you'll do it justice!

[gfugal]

Here she is still to thick and I need to get the back to a single  ring. I thinned the sapwood, now to reduce the belly to get it around 50/50 and at the Elm warbow specs.. Not trying to hijack your thread Jeff but I had this hankering to try it out and the perfect stave for it. I cut it 6 months ago so I"m not rushing it.

Make sure its plenty long. ERC is not an ideal long bow wood. It likes to be wide and thin. It will give out in tension if it bends too far or stressed due to the fibers being further from the neutral plane. The way ELBs get away with this is by being long, thus not requiring it to bend so far. However, thats with a wood better suited for that design (something strong in tension). To make it work with ERC just make sure its even longer than the long bows are normally.

[Dictionary]

ERC bows are good to make on the fourth of july. The sound of them exploding blends in with all of the commotion and fireworks happening outside

[mwosborn]

I am 50%.

First one was a success.  Mostly sap wood, sinew backed.  Here is the link to when I originally posted it - http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,38400.0.html.  I did shoot a deer with this one 2 seasons ago - still a good shooter.


Second one exploded.  I wanted a all heart wood so I worked down to the first ring of heart wood - had some violations however.  Backed with rawhide.  She didn't hold.  Here is this one - http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,44910.msg607200.html#msg607200

My suggestions - make it long, back it, wide back and rounded belly, don't expect much more than 50# at 28.  Good luck.

I still want to make a all heartwood erc - next one will be backed with sinew.  Someday.

[LittleBen]

2 successful sinew backed. One 64" and 45# @26", one 58" and 45#@26"

1'limited success with a selfbow. Lasted about 200 shots, then eventually lifted a huge splinter on the back. Never blew because it lifted when I strung it while too dry. It now lives permanently strung on a wall, with the splinter glued down. It would never survive full draw I'm sure.

The 64" sinew backed bow had the sinew removed and is waiting for new sinew. The 58" is going strong and a very fast shooter. I have another 60" in the works that will also be sinew backed after it gets recurves.

The real trick is that you need a lot more wood than you think. So for light weight or short drawnor both, it's not bad. But to make a heavier bow for 28"+ draw, you'd need a rather long wide stave.

Also, I must live in the land of ERC because there a tons of them, but in all he years and hundreds of trees I've looked at, I've only gotten a few decent staves. I've seen a set of 100% clean billets, but I'm sure they are ridiculously rare.