Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: eskimo on July 10, 2012, 08:01:13 am
-
Well, I've been lurking here for ages, reading, learning, and blowing out three bows (I think) and learning more. I was going to post after my first successful bow, but that has yet to materialize. And I've never posted because most of the questions I've had are pretty easily searchable, with many great answers from long time members to other fledgling bowyers.
I'm based out of Juneau, AK, where the only local woods we can really get are conifers, which from my understanding so far make poor bows (been wanting to try with sitka spruce, but haven't yet). So the medium I've been using is oak, and sometimes pretty poor oak at that. Think I've finally got a decent piece underway, chased a ring all the way through and had a good time doing it, but haven't gotten further than that. I'll make sure to post pictures once I progress.
And now comes the reason why I've finally decided to post. I think my Dad has been holding out on me. He has a 10' long, 8"x4" ish piece of what he called "orange wood." It took a while, but I finally figured out that he must mean none other than osage orange! The straightness of the grains on this are amazing (compared to most of the wood I've been working with) and I'm thinking that I want to buy the wood off him. Here are some pics
End rings
(http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/3585/dscn0499bj.jpg)
Close up of the wood grains, is this osage?
(http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/2959/dscn0498l.jpg)
And a long shot of the piece
(http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/5206/dscn0496c.jpg)
So, there you have it, has he really been holding out? If he has, I think I see the potential for many bows out of this piece of wood, but if I do end up buying it, where do I even begin in cutting this out into workable staves?
So, that's me, good to meet ya, and, I hope to be posting around here more often.
Thomas
-
Welcome to pa...
Nope,not osage...sorry to burst your lil happy bubble you had going....and i cant say for certain what it is....
-
Nope. Not Osage. Can't make out what it is. Should get a bow out of it though. You can go Bias Ring. At 4" thick, I would go flat ring as though it were a stave.
-
I'm 90% sure that's White Ash (Fraxinus americana). And a good board at that! Really nice grain. Should make some excellent bows. It's good in tension, but not great in compression. Try to leave the belly flat of all the bows you are going to make from this board.
-
My guess wold be Ash also,not Osage but still should make some mighty fine bows. :)
Pappy
-
Perfect stave in that board, right down the center is a ring you could chase. I would chase that ring instead of building bias ring. Chase the entire top of that board and you will have enough for 3 real nice staves. That little bare spot right in the center of the board would be a perfect place to start. Take the exact measurements of the board as it sits right now and then weigh it, we could figure out the specific gravity, this would give us all a better idea of what kind of bow you may want to make out of it.
-
Looks good enough to chase a ring. Can I see the edge grain that will show if you can chase a ring? Jawge
-
My site may help you.
http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/index.html
Jawge
-
Eskimo, if you have never chased a ring before just start on the outside edge of the board and chase down one of those lines at a time, you have about 6 on the lft and about 9 on the right. You will wind up just to the left of center. If you do it just right you have 6 staves in the board.
-
nice find in your dads shop, hope you get a lot of shooters out of it.
-
Here are two edge grain shots, I thought I had taken some pictures of them to begin with. I realized there was a stamp on the side, which seems to indicate that this board (At 7" x 3" I wonder if it could be called that anymore, Lumber?) is from Cortland, with a number that seems to be some sort of identifier, order number or something. Shot off an e-mail to 'em, see if they can help.
Here's the best end grain shot I could get
(http://img835.imageshack.us/img835/1825/dscn0501w.jpg)
And here's the oak board I started chasing on, 88" long
(http://img560.imageshack.us/img560/334/dscn0503r.jpg)
And finally, a size comparison
(http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/8059/dscn0504mw.jpg)
George, I have been to your website several times, and thought I remembered most of it, but looking at it again has told me where I need to go next for the oak board.
My pops has some use for the the big board right now, but once he's gotten what he needs out of it, I'm pretty sure I've got it after.
Thanks for your responses, it's good to feel welcome.
Thomas
-
My guess is red oak . If you can get a clean slice off of the end (just enough to get the paint off. ) you will know right away. Oak has Medulary rays that shoot out from the center of the tree perpendicular to the growth rings. They show as speckles between the grain on the face and sort of blotchy patches on the edge grain.Google" quarter sawn oak" for pics. Ash doesn't have them.One way or another ,it looks like you have quite a few staves in that board.good luck!
-
That big board is definetely NOT red oak.
-
Finally ripped some of it out, chopped off one end, and said,
"Well I'll be damned"
Looks like some sort of oak now.
(http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/8858/dscn0505d.jpg)
-
if it's an oak i would say white oak(good wood) those pores look to small to be red oak, sometimes it hard to tell with boards.
-
Now that you know it's Oak , If you look at a piece that has been planed on the face or edge , The pores on Red Oak will be open , and the pores on White Oak will be closed (filled with a sort of foam like the pith of a tree ).It looks like tight rings ( Grown in colder climate, shade or poor soil. ) which usually means harder , more dense wood.Should work out well for you . Red or White , Oak is a good choice for a new bowyer.Not very finicky and easy to work with good sharp tools.