Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Lee Slikkers on March 23, 2011, 11:31:51 pm
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Well, I've been working on the HHB stave and decided to add a little reflex on the Caul with the heat gun. Here's a shot of "her" cooling down.
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_neJ--vb8EaA/TYqUGJYtyFI/AAAAAAAAA4U/Q_DoaDQyxJE/s800/CIMG0585.JPG)
Here are a few of the materials planned for the build...some Goat rawhide, Choke Cherry bark and some White-tail antler for tip overlays. At least I think those are the material...it's an evolving project.
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_neJ--vb8EaA/TYqUY6XkNhI/AAAAAAAAA4Y/F6Ydvm3r2uk/s800/CIMG0586.JPG)
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_neJ--vb8EaA/TYqUsbISAkI/AAAAAAAAA4c/4NACC6YEEuA/s800/CIMG0587.JPG)
Until later...
Thanks~
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Looking good. HHB is some good wood.
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Cool this is going to be a nice one! I look forward to seeing more :o
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Ok, so here are a few more pics of the progress so far...
Got the Rawhide backing glued down (sorry, forgot to snap pics of that part of the build) and then waited a week for it to fully cure/dry. Last night I got the Cherry bark glued down and unwrapped it and cleaned up the edges of it this morning.
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_neJ--vb8EaA/TZoY1MvoZDI/AAAAAAAABA0/HrAkFaZNHMU/s640/CIMG0601.JPG)
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_neJ--vb8EaA/TZoZDYAkwaI/AAAAAAAABA4/tNRZsgyDqQU/s800/CIMG0602.JPG)
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_neJ--vb8EaA/TZoZLxiOKUI/AAAAAAAABA8/Y4YA6NfYTY8/s800/CIMG0603.JPG)
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_neJ--vb8EaA/TZoZYaMyKwI/AAAAAAAABBA/-HYvEU8BGvo/s800/CIMG0604.JPG)
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_neJ--vb8EaA/TZoZjvxGT0I/AAAAAAAABBE/7ppLlKg-xkU/s800/CIMG0605.JPG)
(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_neJ--vb8EaA/TZoZvssoXdI/AAAAAAAABBI/LxXpBvOWr3w/s800/CIMG0606.JPG)
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_neJ--vb8EaA/TZoZ_5SQtvI/AAAAAAAABBQ/omJSAMqTNjw/s800/CIMG0607.JPG)
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_neJ--vb8EaA/TZoaPjOrWQI/AAAAAAAABBY/ecjAMzTmnQY/s800/CIMG0608.JPG)
Going to give the Bark backing a week to dry/cure as well and then onto the tillering tree and long string...thanks for looking.
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Man thats looking good! what species of cherry is that? The bark I get here I think is choke cherry and has more of a redish look once scraped and sanded, I really like the way yours looks! This is shapeing up to be a great bow! Keep up the good work
Josh
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I love that cherry bark. I've made a few bows with it. You probably didn't need the rawhide as cherry bark is very strong on it's own but it will be extra strong now!
Josh, on the first cherry bark backed bow I built I cleaned up the bark to show of the beautiful coppery colored surface. The ones since I left all the lichens and moss on and just sealed over it. Makes a great camo effect.
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I love that cherry bark. I've made a few bows with it. You probably didn't need the rawhide as cherry bark is very strong on it's own but it will be extra strong now!
Josh, on the first cherry bark backed bow I built I cleaned up the bark to show of the beautiful coppery colored surface. The ones since I left all the lichens and moss on and just sealed over it. Makes a great camo effect.
Cool I will have to try that! Have you had problems with the moss and stuff coming off and leaving spots of the back un sealed? I am guessing you just seal the back very well so it cant?
Josh
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Around here this stuff is called Wild Cherry or Black Cherry...I was hoping to find some of the ornamental species like the Birch Bark Cherry (really dark burgundy colored) or Chinese Cherry but I have already walked every stitch of woods that I have access too and really couldn't hope to find a mature ornamental just growing in the middle of no where so I "settled" on our local variety (and I SOOOOO hate settling) anyway, I will keep my eyes peeled for such a Cherry in the future and then maybe I will be satisfied with myself.
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Lee, that looks like the correct type of cherry. Did it peel around the trunk or up the trunk?
Josh, I just added Tru-Oil just like on and other bow but I did put it down a little heavier. So far no problem with it coming off.
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Thanks pat
Lee regardless what kind of cherry it is it looks great! I think the stuff you are talking about real dark burgandy is what I have. I have in up to 18" long if you want I could ship some to you so you can find that satisfaction with your self ;D
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Thanks Pat, this bark came off "around" the tree vs. vertically...I located this small stand of Cherry along a sandy spring creek and this particular tree was all dead standing with the exception of one lone branch which must have kept is alive during the year. I am not sure how harmful the removing of this type of bark would be to a perfectly healthy tree but I felt better taking these strips from this one. I suppose the tree would live ok assuming no disease affected it until it could start to repair the scar (not unlike a Cottontail girdling all the small saplings in our area during the winter months)
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Stripping the bark will usually kill the tree. The cambium between the bark and wood is the only living portion of the trunk. Striping the bark exposes the cambium and dries it out. I think most folks that collect cherry basrk get it from dead trees. Easier to get and no damaging to a living tree.
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Thanks pat
Lee regardless what kind of cherry it is it looks great! I think the stuff you are talking about real dark burgandy is what I have. I have in up to 18" long if you want I could ship some to you so you can find that satisfaction with your self ;D
Oh boy, it's not very nice to tempt me like that Josh...LOL! It would look pretty dang nice against the contrast of some Osage though huh? Anything in the lower MI area that you would want that I might be able to send you for a swap?
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Thanks pat
Lee regardless what kind of cherry it is it looks great! I think the stuff you are talking about real dark burgandy is what I have. I have in up to 18" long if you want I could ship some to you so you can find that satisfaction with your self ;D
Oh boy, it's not very nice to tempt me like that Josh...LOL! It would look pretty dang nice against the contrast of some Osage though huh? Anything in the lower MI area that you would want that I might be able to send you for a swap?
dont worry about it I will let you know when I send it out I have your address still from the bow trade address list, if I cant find your address I will PM ya ;)
Josh
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That cherry bark is nice looking stuff. Good work so far.
Darcy :)
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That cherry bark is nice looking stuff. Good work so far.
Darcy :)
Thank you kind Sir~
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Looking good Lee, I got some choke cherry bark that Pat sent me and plan on backing a yew bow with it. Looks awsome the way Pat described it, looks awsome the way you got it on that HHB as well. I had one tillered out and was just about ready to back it when she blew on me. I would of really been bummed if I had already used my cherry bark, bad enough I blew a yew stave.
Stiks
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Thanks Stiks! I like it so far but do hope the Tru-oil makes the bark "pop" a little more, I think it will...
Sorry to hear about the Yew. That is a wood I really want to work with at some point but I think getting a few bows under my belt will help nudge me towards better success with it. I sure hope this HHB doesn't blow since I got the rawhide and bark on it but I guess we'll find out soon ;D
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Welp, seems I have my 1st casualty for the "corner of shame"...
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_neJ--vb8EaA/TaYbLxAFmDI/AAAAAAAABHM/KDWx8iF4gg4/s800/CIMG0629.JPG)
Heard a few ugly sounding crackles...
(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_neJ--vb8EaA/TaYbWbc5F9I/AAAAAAAABHQ/orYqJIR2q-w/s800/CIMG0631.JPG)
and then this happened. I rasped down through the side to find out why and it seems some worms had been here before me.
Here are a couple shots of the tips I was working on...still had a lot of fairing in and finish work to do on them but I was starting to like how this "stave" was coming together.
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_neJ--vb8EaA/TaYbkgojCRI/AAAAAAAABHU/WW1tVFXvKZs/s800/CIMG0632.JPG)
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_neJ--vb8EaA/TaYbxKjnoRI/AAAAAAAABHY/3WVyXgfTfSs/s800/CIMG0633.JPG)
Maybe next time :-\
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:(
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It might just be the picture or my eyes but it appears that some bug damage might be the culprit of the mishap.
Mark
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My last osage failure had that same look to it. I'm developing a healthy hatred for the little borers. That is too bad. Sometimes the wood just won't be a bow.
George
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My last osage failure had that same look to it. I'm developing a healthy hatred for the little borers. That is too bad. Sometimes the wood just won't be a bow.
George
Well I had a hint of their work when I cut the profile on the bandsaw but hoped I'd out run their work once I got far enough into the stave. Learned my lesson...no more working on staves that show any hint of bug activity. Speaking of which, guess I'll use this example as a good teaching lesson and will get to splitting and debarking all the Osage I hauled 2 weeks ago. That might drive the point home just a bit more >:D
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Bummer that was looking good. If you an't breaking you aint making
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Lee,
I work with borer wood all the time. The big ones have yet to cause a failure. It's those little ones like you could see on that side profile that get me. I've only seen them in wood that's been down a long time. The osage I didn't debark is infested with large borers that are easy to see and deal with. I split a fence post the other day that was full of the little ones and got the chain saw and cut it into fire wood right away. But, I've been treating my wood now and will be debarking and sealing a bunch here too. That is for sure the way to go.
George
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To bad man. those nocks look awesome as well as the cherry bark.
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Lee ,I am building my first and come here for inspiration, solace and to go ooohh and aaahhhhhhh .
This atrocity brought tears to my eyes , man.
But you are getting the cherry bark you really wanted and the next one will have better juju.
Remember to post the pictures. :)
Lane
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That hurts me to see. A man puts a lot of work into these bows and to get it to that point and have it fail hurts even more. Can you imagine how our ancestors who built their bows with stone tools must have felt when that happened? Sorry for your loss man. :(
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To bad,that was really shaping up nice.The tip and bark looked great. :(
Pappy
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That sucks :(
I received a stave a while ago that had the exact same looking borer holes on the inside.......was almost impossible to see from the outside. Better luck with the next piece.
Darcy
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Thanks for the sympathy folks...I'm sure some of you have been in my shoes and it doesn't feel good. I was just PRAYING I wasn't going to be that "guy who broke his first several bows" but it is what it is...
I was pretty happy with where I had come with it for my 1st effort at this addiction but I get to try again and I'm sure this one will be even better. I can also play around with some leather dyes and finishes on the cherry bark to see what looks good so the piece will not be a total loss.
On to the next one...I only have until July 4th to get one completed :o
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It happens, get another one bending and this will soon be all but a faded memory.
Stiks
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Lee that's aweful... "the horror!! The horror!!!
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:-[ Been there recently with an Osage bow. Had a small borer hole i didn't see.
Katt
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R.I.P R+CBHHB
you never got to shoot an arrow...
we mourn your passing.....by a nice warm fire... *cough cough*
Luck with the next one, Lee.
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Sorry to see your loss, but it's part of the process. I try to not look at a broken bow as just a broken bow, but look at the things I learned along the way. It eases the pain a bit. ;)
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I used the largest piece of my last broken bow to hold up my sagging Jeep rear hatch so there was value even in it's demise. But, one of the boys building knives with me spotted it last night and now it's at his house. Funny what 12 year-olds think is important. Anyway, we make em and brake em. Hopefully more of the former and less of the latter.
George
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Oh man, heartbreaking. Those overlays were looking incredible too. I feel your pain. Join me in cracking open a beer in honor of your fallen bow... (I probably would have toasted your success the same way... or the fact that its Friday... or any other reason, but the bow was looking real nice in any case) .
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Thanks again guys...all part of the journey I suppose. It will be put to good use as a test piece for dyes and finishes, etc. Although my two young boys were both begging to have it even it it didn't work...they wanted an "indian" weapon to run around our woods with ;D
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Sorry your bow failed, Lee but it happens to all of us. Part of the learning process. ;)
This is a good reason to not do any finish work to a bow before it is shot in. Even as much as narrowing tips and shaping the handle area is not necessary to tiller a bow and lots of love and work go into that portion just to be lost in a failed bow.
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Good advice Pat, I'll heed those words as I go forward on it's replacement.
(already have a pile of scraper shavings on the floor...one pile is a nice golden yellow color and the other pile mixed in with it is a nice light "softwood" color)
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That's a shame, Lee, a real shame. Any chance you can save the cherry bark?
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If you used TB glue you can heat it and it will release. I've done it with hickory backing and if you are careful I think you could do the same with cherry bark.
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Not sure if it would be worth the effort & hassle to attempt a save on the Cherry bark. I could really only use it on a bow with the exact or smaller dimensions...maybe a kids bow but I don't think a bark backed bow is all that great of an idea on a kids bow at they tend to be fairly heavy handed with most things.
I have a friend here on PA that is kindly sending me some different bark and I still can access the 3 trees I've taken pieces from this spring.
Thanks again~
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That's the way it goes. It was looking good. Can you chisel off the bark? But I've been there. If I ain't breakin' I ain't makin'! Jawge