This is the weirdest bow I've ever made.

[WhistlingBadger]

A very crooked piece of rocky mtn maple from up the canyon. It will probably break, and that’s okay. I’ve never worked with this wood so I’m kind of pushing it and seeing what it’s capable of. But ah, if it doesn’t break, it’ll be one cool looking arrow slinger.

I cut it last summer and roughed it out green with a hatchet at my camp site.  Since then, it has been seasoning and i'm finally getting to work on it. I've just done some evening out and floor tillering; I stuck it on the tree just so I could see what the bend looked like.  Initial impression is that this is really springy stuff!  It just acts like it wants to bend and snap back.  I plan to heat treat it then begin actual tillering.

[WhistlingBadger]

(I wish I knew an easy way to change the pictures to a more reasonable size...)

[Selfbowman]

Pretty weird ok. I’ll be watching.

[mmattockx]

(I wish I knew an easy way to change the pictures to a more reasonable size...)

Those are a very reasonable size, I can actually see something in them. Quite the wiggly stave, good luck with it.


Mark

[willie]

one way to skin a cat

http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,60212.msg839112.html#msg839112

[superdav95]

Looks like there might be a bow in there with that wonky stave.   I might be inclined to heat correct a bit more on right limb.  Cool project. 

[WhistlingBadger]

one way to skin a cat

http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,60212.msg839112.html#msg839112

Interesting!  Watching, or even measuring how much the skewer tips move, rather than watching the bend of the limbs themselves, would seem to give a much better idea of how much the limbs are moving.  Thanks for the tip.

Looks like there might be a bow in there with that wonky stave.   I might be inclined to heat correct a bit more on right limb.  Cool project. 

I don't think I'll do any heat corrections on this one, simply because I like how wonky it looks.     But I am doing some research about whether I should heat treat the belly, like I would with hickory.  I don't want to make it too brittle, but...heck I don't know.  I'll probably just go for it.  Kind of going for a quick-and-dirty shooter out of this one, to get a feel for what the wood can do.  I have some straighter pieces that I plan to make into hunting bows.

[Will B]

Very cool, character stave!  Good luck with it

[Pappy]

That should be fun. Don't make them much anymore but use to look for the gnarlyest looking stave I could find to make a bow of, just loved the challenge. 
 Pappy

[GlisGlis]

there are many sites that let you resize your pictures for free if you do not have a resizer on your phone or computer
try imageresizer dot com

[bjrogg]

Interesting piece of wood there Mr Badger. 

Bjrogg

[WhistlingBadger]

Well, after heat treating this thing had even more reflex:  About 7" on the left and 10" on the right.  So, I'm tillering for the right (top) to be about 2-3" higher than the left limb.  Went ahead and worked it to full dray, and will put a few arrows through it this weekend.  This bow is going to be way, way too light for hunting, so I'm kind of rushing through it, seeing what the wood can do, and having some fun.  c. 17#@27".



It kind of looks like the inners aren't bending, but if you compare to the unbraced pic I think you'll see they're actually working quite a bit to straighten up all that reflex.

I'm probably about done with this one.  I cut a bunch of nice juniper last weekend, have a kid's bow I need to finish up in hopes of selling, and several much straighter chunks of maple to play with.  So I might smooth this one up, slap some rawhide on it, and give it to somebody.  Anybody in the market for a really weird looking kids bow?

[Hamish]

Looks pretty cool. Slap a few courses of sinew on it to beef up the weight a little.

[WhistlingBadger]

Looks pretty cool. Slap a few courses of sinew on it to beef up the weight a little.

I thought about that, but it's only drawing about 17# at full.  I need my bows to be at least 50# to legally hunt elk, and I don't think I have that much sinew.   

[WhistlingBadger]

Anyway, I haven't shot the bow yet, but my impression of RMM wood is that it's very elastic and springy, and a real pleasure to work.  Easier to carve than hickory or chokecherry, but not quite as scary-soft as juniper.  Looks-wise it's pretty nondescript white wood with a tiny core of gorgeous, dark chocolate heart wood that all went away during tillering.  Wish it had more of that.

I'll put a few arrows through it tomorrow (have to attend a holiday party with coworkers tonight  ) and let you know how it goes.