Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Parnell on February 05, 2010, 09:12:08 pm
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Otherwise known as Australian Pine in the Casuarina family. I've been spying around to find one to cut and gave it ago this evening in the pouring rain. It was great!
I hope this stuff turns out great because I've hit the jackpot on where to find it. Not that it's difficult in these parts.
Apparently, this stuff is very dense. I've read online of anywhere from .8 to 1.2 in specific gravity. I think it will come in around .9
This stave is straight and about 8 feet long. Tomorrow I'll get the chain saw to clean up the split end. It should be a clean 6'. I'll try to split it tomorrow as well. Also, I took a few saplings to dry out and see if they make for good arrow material.
I'm going to leave the bark on and let it season. I'm thinking I may get a thicker sapling and try a D bow from it after it dries for a month or two. If I put it in the car down here it should dry out pretty quickly.
This wood has a slew of names but the one in the subject I couldn't pass up for obvious reasons. Would that it could be Osage... Apparently, this stuff has an outrageously high amount of thermal capacity when burning. I've been reading that it could arguably be the worlds best firewood.
Anyway, here are pictures.
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It is very dense. I measured the density if a piece years ago. I just on;t remember what it was but it was denser than osage. Jawge
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I cut it this evening with a folding pruning saw. That was my workout for the day...
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Well it split. A bit of twist, though. This was my first stave split, green wood, and it was pretty dense stuff. I made wood wedges out of a hickory board end I had left - they worked great.
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I saw a couple of bows made out of it. They were pyramid style about 2" wide at the fades.
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Pine huh who'd a thunk it.... ::) Good luck on your adventure, let us know how it comes out.
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Ryano,
No Casuarina is not a pine, I am not sure which of the two species grown in the US Parnell has it is either Casuarina cunninghamiana known to us in Australia as River Oak or River Sheoak, or Casuarina equisetifolia generally known as She-Oak.
Craig.
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If it doesn't pan out for making bows, it is frequently used with other woodworking, turning especially. If you find any that has especially large axillary rays it could be lace figured sheoak which is quite sought after.
If you cut some more and want to get rid of some chunks too small for making bows, let me know.
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I think it does jthompson, however, I don't have any others I've cut for comparison. Tell you what, I'll remove some of the bark from the cut off ends and try to post a picture. Let me know what you think.
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A picture with some bark peeled off. I assume this is what you mean by axial lines?
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Yep, that's them, like the rays in oak on steroids. If you were to quartersaw the wood, you'd see the rays like you do in oak. If there were about 5 times as many you would have lace sheoak. Looks like a good bit of twist to that piece.
That piece looks like its got a small vase or bowl inside. (Can you tell another of my addictions is woodturning?)
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I brought this down to closer to dimensions today. It's 67" long and 2" wide. It's mostly dry but needs more time. The bark just peeled off in one big long piece. That's nice. The axillary rays that you'll see is what I'm wondering about. What are people's thoughts? I could scrape the back down and sand it to try to completely get rid of them or I could look to back the bow with say silk and just leave them as is. This wood is so tough and these rays seem so interwoven that I'm stronly questioning that they'll let go if backed. But what do I know?
What do yall think??? ???
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Unless they ran close to or off the limb, I don't see why you couldn't jsut leave them. But backing it with silk would be a nice insurance- as well as a way to cover them and protect them from the weather. Just my thoughts though.
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I don't think you'll be able to scrape past the axillary rays in that. From what I've heard Bois de fer, AKA sheoak, is a very hard, durable wood so you should be OK not backing.
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I would not Sweat them at all...but if it would make you feel better....Silk or thin Deer Rawhide would do great....JMO
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That is some nice looking stamped concrete, oh I mean bow wood. I would back it if you are worried about it. If nothing else it will make you feel better.
Tell
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I feel like this stave is dry. It hasn't lost any weight in weeks so I'm going to give it a go. I've started my reduction, I'm going with a flatbow, 65" long 1.5" at fades down to .5 and I'll go from there. I don't think I am going to back this bow. May as well make an interesting project out of it to see if the wood will hold up, as I don't think there is any evidence of it elsewhere, so what the heck?
There is a little twist in the stave but not a lot. So, anybody want to take a guess as to what type of heat will be best for working with this?
I'll post as I go!
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The second picture has a glimpse of one of the rays - how it runs down the side just above my hand. It's still not even close to ground tiller. I'm rasping at this point, though. The band saw has done it's job.
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Looking good! What weight are you looking for?
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I'm turning into a 55 lb. flatbow man. That's where I'm finding my ideal power/comfort range. D bows I'm liking more upper 40's to 50.
I may smoke this bow over a fire, from some advice given to me...
Just not sure if I should take out twist and add reflex first.
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Hey Parnell, Looks like you got a tiger by the tail !! A guestion though,, did the bark bleed kinda red? And does the tree have long buches of needles
aaaaaaaat the end of the branches? The bark and the grain pattern looks the same as the "Australian Pine I posted on. "bowstring"
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Heya Bowstring,
It's Australian Pine, I'm just going with one of the other about a hundred names for this tree. I'm trying to get away with Australian Pine because, well, it's not pine, and I think that name is misleading as well as colloquial. I liked the Bois De Fer name because another name for Osage is Bois D'Arc. So I figured, well, why not Bois De Fer, others have called it Ironwood, which is misleading to because I think HHB is also called Ironwood and Beefwood is another name more commonly used but I think it sounds kinda nasty, Bois De Fer rolls off the tongue a bit better, me thinks.
Just my thought process. ;D
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maybe a spokeshave would help you get to floor tiller better than a rasp? JMO
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I use a surform rasp which, I've found takes it off plenty quick from when I get it close enough with a bandsaw. Haven't used a spokeshave, I have one but there's just something about them which I haven't gotten the feel for yet...
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No not a pine. Very dense. I made my bow 1.5 in and should have gone narrower for 50-55# probably 1.25 or 1 3/8 in. The stave I had also had drying cracks on the back so I backed with silk. That leads me to believe that it needs to be polyed asap if you take the bark off. Jawge
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I was curious about that when I cut this tree. I left the bark on the staves for a month before I started thinning them. I had some left over chunks that I left some with bark on and off. I didn't see a difference with them in drying checks. Those lateral lines on the wood are just naturally there. Now, the ends of the stave did get some small splits even after being sealed with Titebond II. But they didn't run far and I left the staves longer than I needed so I just cut them out.
I've been givin some good experiential advice to smoking the wood and processing the back. This one will be experimental but I think I'm going to go and cut some more trees over the next week to start and get a better perspective on this wood. I'm starting to think about doing one of these in the not so far off future using no power tools or synthetic materials. That's been on my list for awhile...
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I saw an add for this wood from a Saudi charcoal manufacturer, he wants to buy 2,000 tons of it. Steve
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Parnell - you get an extra piece there, toss it up my way!
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It's in the tiller. I added some reflex to the tips yesterday - this wood is the easiest to bend with dry heat I've used so far. Easier than Osage. Got some work to do tomorrow evening on the tiller. It's drawing about 40 lbs. @ 18 in the tiller tree picture. I'd given this bow some time smoking over a fire this past weekend...
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Where have you got to with this? Very interested in outcome....