Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: BowEd on October 08, 2012, 09:46:06 am
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This week I'm sending a black locust stave to someone.I had three nice straight ones.Split them out and let the natural splitting line be the edge of the stave in a wedge shape.No twist to these staves at all.Debarked,sapwood removed and shellaced.A year later two of them have warped sideways.They were narrower than the one that stayed straight.The straight one was 4 to 5 inches wide on the back.This warping is no good.I usually cut a stave wider than thicker to counter act this sideways warping.
I store mine in a steel shed horizontally on a 4'X8' shelf way off the ground.I suppose it could be just unseen things going on in these staves to do this.I'm not one to store them vertically.How does everyone else store their staves,or was there anything I could have done to stop this from happening.Does anyone else see this going on too.
My hedge staves stay good as does the hickory& elm.Not sure this is the right place to ask this but here goes.
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Good question. I just might have lost a Black Cherry stave for the same reason. Fat end stayed straight, narrow end warped badly. I've had little (read no) success straightening Cherry. My 72" beautiful stave will end up being 54" to get past the bend. No bueno.
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I guess there is always this option to steam the whole thing in a stove pipe and clamp her straight and then hope it holds.My experience to make steamed wood hold is to heat treat it afterwards with the heat gun then she stays better actually changing the structure of the fibers.A bit of extra work but worth it depending on how you look at it.
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It's got to be things going on in the wood because you will see boards in a lumber yard warped a bit only being 3/4 inch thick 6" wide.
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If you reduce staves unevenly they will warp because the drying rate is different depending on the thickness. If you plan to reduce staves make them even thickness and width. Also, if you reduce a stave that is still relatively "wet" it will have more of a tendancy to warp. Allowing it to come to equilebrium with the R/H before reducing it will help to prevent this.
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When you split wood you release unseen forces, in a sense, as someone put it. There are internal forces with the wood from the way it grew. Jawge
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Yea this stave reduction should be done in stages to counteract this warping.Date em let em set a few months then reduce em and keep the conveyer system rotating out the door with finished bows.Then it's best to cut hedge in the fall to bypass the old wood wasp or spray it good.Now taking the bark off a hickory after cutting which is easier in the summertime is different.I quess you adjust to each kind of wood.I still think a lot of it due to these unseen things going on in the wood itself.
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I'm with the "unseen forces". The Cherry Stave I mentioned was given to me. The ends and the back were varnished, sap wood intact. It was straight as an arrow when I got it. Put it in an indoor closet for about a year. Dug it out a month ago and found it warped and twisted. It was more narrow on one end, and lesson learned, I should have maybe reduced it then. Didn't.