Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: half eye on January 18, 2010, 02:17:24 pm
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Sometime back hickoryswitch and bubby were asking about white oak bow wood. I had not ever used the stuff so thought I'd try it for myself. I found the wood easily worked down and carved. The bow pulls very nice and all in all it is a very durable bow. The only thing I have noticed is regarding the the "snappiness" (if there is such a word) the bow imparts a lot of power to the arrows but does seem a bit more sluggish than some other woods I've tried. The other thing is the weight of the finished bow...it sems a little heavier than my others such as elm, ash, even maple.
Here's some photos: I'm going to reduce the profile of the levers some because I plan on dropping the draw weight a little. When I first tillered it out it was drawing 60# @ 12inches...so left the levers too heavy. The bow has been drawn to 30" on the tree but I cant pull it that far.
Use the infor for what ever it be worth.
half eye
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Amazing bow, i love your carvings. the arrow is sick!! how long does it take you to do a carving such as that, what tools do you use? Awesome ;D
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Aries,
If you download a picture that you want to use....about 20-30 min to trace it, With a dremel (or such) and a small "ball" shaped carver (holding it like a pencil) about 1 to 1.5 hours to carve away the background, then maybe 20 min to "shade in some contrast with a wood burner. The burner is only necessary because this is "low-relief" and the carving doesn't really show the shadows as good as deep relief does.
It is not hard to do, your first one or two will probably take longer....but after that you can "whip" them puppies right out and you'll have to remind yourself to slow down a little.
half eye
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Forgive me for my ignorance, but what is a ball shaped carver? Is it a tool I can get from a specialist wood working company, or is it something I can make myself?
If I didn’t want to mess with a wood burning tool (last time I used one was when I was in the Indian Guides, back in the 1830s when I was young and full of life. My name was Shooting Star in that organization. The best part of it was the end of the meetings, when we did the great spirit prayer and then shot each other with imaginary bows and arrows:) ). Could paint also take care of contrasts and so on?
This new design is just so cool. The sides of the levers / upper limbs is also very nice. Thanks for sharing it with all of us.
Dane
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dane,
Here's a pic of the diamond carving heads...they are mostly called by the shape of cutting end (ball, cylinder, point etc.) You can get them from any of those "discount tools" outfits and the like for really cheap....maybe less than $10 for a 12-15 piece set. You can also get them from anybody that sells dremels etc. but they will cost a little more and usually by the each. if you have a choice get the "coarse cut" they still cut real fine and dont clog up as bad.
The ones in the pic are from my carving days, now I clamp them into a handle and use them like a bottoming file....takes longer but I can hang onto a handle but no thumb for that "pencil" hold thing.
half eye
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I would love to see a full draw pic :)
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I probably have those in my shop, and didnt know it. I was picturing some really fancy, exotic tool.
Thanks for clarifying for me!
Dane
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nice bow Halfeye. I really love your carvings you do a great job! :) -josh
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Half eye, somehow you inspire me and fill me with despair every time you post one of your bows, especially considering the frequency with which you do it! It's almost too much to aspire to! Keep 'em coming!
I can't quite make out what the runes might say in that one picture, is it the name of the bow?
Garett
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Zenman,
I dont know what they say, I can write my own but these came off a rock carving in Sweden and I haven't decifered them as yet, dont know if I can cause I know what the letters are but cant speak any of the Nordic languages. They just looked cool and they fit into the space.....
half eye
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Hey, my grandma is 2nd generation Canadian, half Norwegian, half Swedish, and knows some of both languages. What do the runes say in modern script, maybe she'll know. (Maybe you don't want to know, maybe it says "Spineless" or something inappropriate like that...)
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Zen & NTD
Zen I'll decipher that and let you know later if thats ok?
NTD heres those pics
half eye
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Great lookin bow I really like the carving.Ron
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Thanks Ron, Garett, here's a picture of the "rock" the parts I used come out like this....I mean the letters come out like this:
F N Th U R S I : N Z N R ( J or I ) : L I T......the "colon's" are word separators. ( I used the Elder Futhark for the letter equivalents)
half eye
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Beautiful bow half eye was wondering if you were going to do the money shot nude. :o
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Half eye, is carving a hobby for you, or something you do for a living?
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Very nice bow!
I find Oak very hard to work with compare to the woods I tried before. On the other hand I've only tried pretty soft woods..
I would have imagined Oak be hard to carve in.
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Beautiful work,looks very nice. :)
Pappy
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Thanks fellas,
Dave: At my age them money shots ain't gonna happen, thats just too ugly to even contemplate ;D
Lombard: I used to carve at the world-class level (realistic wildlife) but not for the last 10 years because of the injuries, so this low relief is about my only option due to the physical limitations. An example is burning in the barblettes of feathers I used to be capable of about 95-100 lines per inch and now I'm lucky to do 20 and those aren't real good)
T Bod: I think that working the backs and or bellies of this oak is cause it's vertical grained, I have trouble with the edges of the limbs cause that's horizontal grained. Most all of my tools are Cutting Edge types (scrapers etc.) and the vertical grain cuts more even than the horizontal and gives less problems with the tools digging in, or lifting slivers......thats just how it seems to me.
Pappy, Thank you, means a lot coming from you.
half eye ;)
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Another inspiring bow Rich, someday I need to try this perhaps when I'm retired :)
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Nice work, beautiful bow.
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Hey Dana,
Dont forget I seen your bows so dont go there about how nice mine are eh? Truth be told all you fellas probably build more types of bows than I ever will. The retired thing does help some, too ;D
Rothgar: thanks, man. I think I got this carved Mollegabet thing pretty good, but you all didn't hear about the carved pryamid that went away....did ya? I'm going to see if that is viable (carving thin straight tapered bow designs) sort of need a reality check. Everytime a guy gets cocky them bent sticks will put ya right back in your place....at least that's how it works for me.
half eye ;)
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Beautiful bow! Nice job, Tom
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Hehe, you're taking this to a new level with those notches along the outer limbs ;D
I guess this really shows how safe a board bow with good grain orientation really is.
Keep it up! (I really need to try this!)
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Kviljo,
Thats pretty funny....I was thinking the same exact thing about that beautiful bow you just posted....very nice !! Actually I got the notch idea from some carved roof gable ends I saw in a museum display photograph and thought it looked pretty cool.
half eye
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Rich I just read your article in PA and I just want to say well done and I think your article embodies what PA is all about.
The bow you have pictured in the article is fantastic would like to see you post some more detailed pics on here :)
I'm hoping to get down your way this summer and would love to spend a day with you, maybe you could teach this yooper a
new way to skin a cat eh ;) :)
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Very nice example of a holmegaard.The carving is beautiful. God bless
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awesome job , artistic and extremely functional. best of both worlds, rich your an inspiration to us all !
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Thank you fellas, and hey dana your allways welcome at my house....but I bet you can teach me more about bow building than I can you.
half eye
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Excellent bow (Holmgaard style, I presume) And bookmarked for January Self Bow of the Month
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Zen & NTD
Zen I'll decipher that and let you know later if thats ok?
NTD heres those pics
half eye
Very Nice!!! Thanks Half Eye, that's one helluva bow!!
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Don't know how I missed this when it first posted. How many of these relief carved Holmgards is this now? Simply awesome job.
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Jude,
Probably more than I care to use....just tried to get it down good. Working on a different type now to get it to work.
half eye ;)
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we should archive this thread
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I have a stupid question...
For years I have read on various locations and in all the well known selfbow books that you dont violate the rings on back and such. How do you complete such intricate and deep carvings and notches in the limbs without compromising the integrity of the wood and therefore weakening them a point they are not much more than works of art or only good for limited use?
This threw me for a loop...LOL
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Once again, awesome artwork, and a heck of a bow to boot.
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Cool stuff as usual, Half eye. It's always fun to see what you're into.
I have to totally agree with your analysis on white oak. I built two bows with both having the same sluggish performace that you described. The wood came in at a much higher mass than normal with a very lazy response upon release. I also found the wood to take a lot of set later on after shooting it in, too. To be quite frank, its the slowest responding wood on release that I've ever experienced. It is a beautiful wood with a nice primitive look but my experience has not been the best so far with white oak.
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Hey fellas,
Man this bow got dragged back from the dead.....moldy-oldy file
Brock; I use fully quartersawn "boards" for my bows (aka vertical grain) so if you don't get too nutts, ya can carve them. Once they are shot in to a certain draw and weight, I have not had any break on me or any problem with "creeping" limb set.
GMC; I believe that white oak works really good in two applications: 1] used as a belly wood for a high strain backing wood like hickory or ipe etc. and 2] as a thin backing piece if your belly core is of tough (but brittle) types of wood.....but as a self bow they are slower and heavier than other woods.
Rich
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I agree.
I actually thought about giving my last white oak bow more than a good heating to see if it would resurrect the thing but lost interest. It's still parked in the corner, maybe one day. :-\
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Brock; I use fully quartersawn "boards" for my bows (aka vertical grain) so if you don't get too nutts, ya can carve them. Once they are shot in to a certain draw and weight, I have not had any break on me or any problem with "creeping" limb set.
Thanks....beautiful work for sure. That makes sense even to my novice brain. Appreciate the response.
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Rich the wood wor on this bow is tremendous. I think u got a few of them thinking! Back to the drawing board...lol This is one of my favorites...I'll tell u I like quite a few u made to be honest!!!
Russ
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Holy crap Rich!!! That thing belongs in a museum! Missed it the first time around, glad it was brought back up.
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The carvings are awesome, Half-eye!! Beautiful.
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and they keep on coming ,great job and imagination,
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One of the most beautiful bows I have ever seen.
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thanks again fellas, but this post is so old I mostly forgot about it.....in old man and dog years
rich
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still a cool bow :)
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That's a beauty! Well done. Don't know how I missed it. LOL. Like I'm not on here enough as it is. :) Jawge
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That’s a really fine lookin bow you made there Rich. Keep up the good work.
Bushman
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I really like this bow half eye you do some awesome work.