Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Carson (CMB) on April 05, 2012, 02:06:43 pm
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Half-eye's bow tech thread/topic idea got me thinking that a similar concept used for getting general wood characteristics into one place would be a great use of the knowledge and information the collective primitive archer community holds. The content would be a bit more subjective. My thoughts on format are that it would work best as a section under Main Discussion Area, just as bows or arrows or warbows are sections (is that the right term?). This would allow each species of wood to be a single topic (thread) in the Wood Characteristics section. The title/subject of each topic would be the common name/s and scientific name of the species. Then all replies could provide personal experiences, specific gravity, other stats, general thoughts and debate about seasoning, heat, steam, etc. The topic/thread for say osage, or yew would be quite long and cluttered, but what this wood characteristics section could really serve as is a great way to start compiling information on the oft overlooked bow woods. I am thinking of content similar to Baker's list of wood characteristics by species in the TBB vol 4, only more extensive and more of a dialogue and discussion.
What do you all think?
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Maybe you could build a simple line chart with all the characteristics we are concerned with. Some things would be subjective while others measurable. Subjective items simply rate from 1 to 5 and measurable items such as Sg just list.
example, best being 5 worst being 1
Elm wood
SG 70, elasticity 4, tension strength 3, compression strength 3, bendability with steam 4 or dry heat 3, proneness to chysal 4, historisis 4, workability 4, Etc, etc,
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Well, I dunno. Now that the "mass principle" has been developed, we all should know that ANY wood can be made into a bow. It doesn't really matter what the specs of the wood are anymore or what the physical properties are.
What matters now is the moisture content and the soundness of the wood. Other properties worth knowing might be how well it bends with dry heat or steam, how well it resists checking and warping when drying, what is the best glue(s) to use, how well it reacts to heat treating or "tempering", if it can be burnished easily, etc.
I would rather see a list that would be appealing to woodworkers and not engineers. We are making art, not architecture, IMO. ;)