Sassafras

[NorthHeart]

JonW thanks for posting that link that provides some hope and inspiration.  I have plenty of rawhide and i cant come up with a good reason not to add the cheap insurance.  Ill degrease this stave and get the rawhide laid down in the next few days, then work the width down at the tips.  Maybe give it 2 weeks to dry then get it to the floor tiller stage and see where we are.

[NorthHeart]

Rawhide on and thinned a bit, not yet to floor tiller though.  I didnt mention it, but this stave was dry and grey in color kinda like a fence post that had been outside for years, that could make be an issue, but hey it smells good and its pretty.  Whether it wants to be a bow or not were about to find out.

[Hawkdancer]

Whoa!  That reflex looks like my hickory stave!  Probably smells a lot better though!
Hawkdancer

[Pat B]

Sassafras has an off white coloration anyway. That shouldn't be a problem unless it wasn't handled properly when cut.

[Jim Davis]

Heart wood of sassafras is very rot-resistant But of course you probably have sap wood at least on the back.

[NorthHeart]

Got some tillering done on the long string up to 40#.  Im looking at an area on the left limb in the center, it appears to my eye to be bending more.  My concern is that in that area its much thicker.

When push comes to shove what do you give precedence to...how uniform a limb appears visually, or what the tillering tree tells you(even if its significantly thicker in the area of question)?

Im thinking whoever said this might end up a light bow is correct, the tips are already quite thin in thickness.  It feels like red oak to me.  Oh well give me your suggestions on tiller its gonna make something or it aint!

[burchett.donald]

       240, let the wood tell you...If it's bending then stay off of it...Is that the area you mentioned grey discoloration...
                                                                   Don

[BowEd]

From your top view pic of your future bow with parallel width limbs looks like a gradual thickness reduction is best.Take your time and good luck.

[NorthHeart]

       240, let the wood tell you...If it's bending then stay off of it...Is that the area you mentioned grey discoloration...
                                                                   Don

Thanks Donald.  On this bow ill pay less attention to the thickess of the wood and pay full attention to the BEND of the wood.  Do you apply this concept to every bow design?  Ive heard it both ways from different bowyers...but havent made enough bows yet to form a solid opinion.

Regarding color...it might be hard to tell but you can kinda see that in the pic the color of the wood almost matches the old grey board the tree is on.  From the back down through about 1/3rd of the thickness it is more whitish, where i left a little bit of the sapwood on.

[burchett.donald]

  240,
         With a "stave bow" there can be so many different variables that could cause thickness differences in a tillered bow...Knots, ring thickness, grain, etc...I have never had two limbs exactly the same thickness after final tiller...I think we have all been to a point where we say why isn't that limb moving because it looks thinner in that spot...The way I see it, if it's bending, I move on to the stiff area whether its thicker or not, the wood is telling me it's bending here...With your Sassafras, I would suggest using as much of the limb as possible to relieve stress, no long stiff tips...Just my HMO...
                                                                                                               Don
                                                                                                                 
                             

[burchett.donald]

 240,
           Another variable that will throw you off if you are looking at thickness taper is crown...So many times I have had undulating crowns in a stave...High crown in one area and a few inches down the stave you run into a flat crown...From the side view during tillering you can see thickness differences...The high crown will seem to be thicker... to answer your question, I may not apply this concept to a laminated bow...I would apply it to a stave bow everytime...I must say, I have never had a finished bow balance on its static fulcrum perfectly...In other words one limb was always slightly heavier than the other due to possible wood density which is another variable...Thicker rings on one end and thinner rings on the other is the norm...Let that stave tell you what it wants...

                                                                                       JMHO, Don

[NorthHeart]

Donald that explanation helped so much, thanks for going into such detail. Those are some of the same things i have noticed when looking at a stave but i really needed to hear someone else confirm it.

[burchett.donald]

 Thanks 240,
                      I want to see the full draw when your through...I have never worked Sassafras but read it can be a critical wood to bend from previous posts...You take your time and show us a bow...What ever happens, we can learn...  Keep us posted...Use all that limb...We are in your corner...
                                                                                                                                    Don
                                                                                         

[NorthHeart]

Got the bow braced to 4", pulling 26" @ 13".  It kept some reflex too.  Well see...

[burchett.donald]

  240,
            Looking good man...From my screen looks like a couple scrapes just out of the upper fade...And a few at the bottom outer...Nice reflex so far man...I usually exercise 25 to 30 pulls between scrapes to get it moving...Sometimes a second eye is refreshing, JMHO...What do you see...
                                                                                                                                                  Don