Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Danzn Bar on December 16, 2012, 10:35:47 pm
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I did not want to highjack Will H's post (Osage vs Yew) but why does it seam that Hickory takes a back seat to a lot of other bow woods ?? I think I remember reading in TBB IV that a 1999 Mojam Tim Baker produced the number 1 & 2 bows from Pecan which is very close to pignut hickory.
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Sounds like you set yourself up as the volunteer! >:D Show us what Hickory can do.
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He also mentions, in TBB 1, a great bow made from douglas fir. Point being, every tree, and every stave, is different, and broad-stroke judgements cannot be made about wood species. That's the beauty of this craft, IMO, that every tree has potential to be a great bow and therefore the possiblilities are endless.
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I really wasn't trying to make it about Osage vs yew. I was just trying out a new wood compared to my own personal standby. Some awesome bow can be made from hickory.
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I wasn't trying to make a contest out of it........................Just wondering why more boyers don't use hickory? Or maybe it doesn't seam like hickory is discuss here as much as osage. It seams to be very forgiving and very high preforming if dry.
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My first bow is hickory. I like it a lot. I live in western oregon where it is very wet for most of the year so I only shoot it for a few months out of the year so that it doesn't take set from the moisture. That and the fact that it grows on the opposite side of the country from me is why I don't make bows from it. But the hickory bow that I do have shoots great. I mostly use yew, oceanspray, vine maple and hazelnut among others because they are local and tolerant to the moisture.
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We love Hickory at Twin Oaks. We have about 80-90 we gonna get ready for the Boy Scouts and the Tennessee Classic. First bow I ever made was a Hickory Bow about 8 years ago at the Classic. I'm looking forward to making one next year for myself. I don't currently own a Hickory, cause I make em and give away to friends and family. Currently making a Yew and Sea Grape. Just trying different woods.
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I don't use Hickory, 'cos it doesn't grow over here >:(
Del
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I only make "shortish" bows for myself. Hickory is my second choice of wood ( behind Osage) for the bows I make. If you like hickory try a shortie with some sinew on it. Good stuff.
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Hickory makes a fine bow ,no doubt, just tiller slow and get and keep it dry
through the process. :) I think it responds to dry heat really well if you aren't making really server bends,then I would steam or boil. I have flipped the tips on a few with out a problem but am always worried about it breaking or at least flaking up on the grain when I do it. :)
Pappy
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Hickory is as close to indestructible as a bow wood can be. When I make a bow, I like to take long slivers of the wood and try to break them in half. I can with any other bow wood I've used. I just can't with hickory. Long, thin slivers just won't break. They fold but still stay together. Tough stuff. It just really has to be dry before you use it. 6-8% moisture content is ideal. Jawge
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Why not?...cus hickory sucks...literally..lol. its just another piece of junk whitewood,but requires more babying from high humid climates >:D
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Hawk you are really drinking the cool-aide man >:D. I posted above but here it is again, at least for Shagbark hickory, the stuff is harder to break in tension than Osage, and when dry has almost the same crushing strength (meaning it will take as little set as 'Sage). All in a lighter (mass) package. Although, the keeping it dry thing is a bummer since the wood really soaks up the water.
Gabe
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How would a fellow prove that Hickory sucks up moister more than Osage ?
Or that Osage won't tolerate the summer heat as well as Hickory does ?
So many variables so little time !
You can't make bows if you don't have the wood !!
Have fun with whatever wood the good Lord provides !!
Merry Christmas to all !!
Guy
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Bc hickory is a sponge. >:D
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For me, it is the moisture and humidity. I have a hickory bow I roughed out 2.5 years ago. I started weighing it last year to see what it was doing. I wrote the weight on the belly of the bow each time. The last time I weighed it was 8/16/2011. It was 33.5 oz. Since then it has been tucked away under my bed. I just now got it out and weighed it again, 34.4 oz. It gained 0.9 oz. while it was in my house. It has rained off and on over the last couple of days. If I ever cut down another hickory tree I will have to make a hot box.
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Clint
I wish you wood have had a Osage same size same time to see how much differance was between them!
I keep my bows under my bed to keep them from drying out to much !!
I wish I had some scales to weight them with !!
Have fun !!
Guy
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Hickory is my favorite!!!
It's so nice to heattreat and makes very fast bows.
You can have a standard piece of cheap hickory and can build such a durable and fast bow for five bucks.
If you sealed it right you will have no prob with high humity.
Osage is also great cause it will mostly give a bow - but I have to buy it very expensive about 100$ a stave so it's not reallly a choice :-).
Yew is a Diva - sometimes she doesn't want to be a bow...
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What would be the better finishes for hickory? I have a stave roughed out, still trying to figure out how I want to shape it, but you guys are scaring me with the moisture-thing...
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Any of the known finishes will work fine chiknlady...and hickory will work just fine as long as you keep it in a dry place while working it,and keep it stored in that same dry place when your not shooting it. I'm just a stubborn opinionated pot stirer around these parts..lol :laugh: honestly don't sweat it...its a really small issue that gets over inflated by folks like me ;)
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The fir that was referred to was heart wood from old growth if I remember right....fir in general is not that great of bow wood especially second growth.
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Weylin....................I have just about got that hickory done that you asked for on the first reply. It ended up just shy of 60" ntn, 55# @28", 8 1/2" of stiff handle area, from the fades out to about 6" it's 1 7/8" wide tapered to 3/8" at the tips. Reinenforced the belly at the tips and did overlays with cow horn. I'm real happy with only the 1/2" string follow i ended up with, it being only 60" long. I weighed the bow on scale I had and it weighed only 19 oz . I have a hard time beliving that, but I did trapped the back some, I'm sure that helped. By the way, it really spits out a 500 grain arrow.
Wanting to stain it a very dark black (ebony). Hickory sometimes is hard to stain black, they end up gray with black streaks. Does any one have any suggestions as to a black stain I could use? I'm incline to paint it black, but would rather have "some" grain show through.
Thanks
DB
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Try black leather dye.
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I have used RIT clothing dye on hickory before and had good results. I haven't tried black yet.
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I have used black leather dye on hickory, it will stain it dark and let some of the grain show.
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pinecone and rps3..............I have tried water based leather dye before and it had a green tint. Did you use water base?
ogage outlaw.......did you use the powdered rit dye or the liquid? I've heard of using rit with denatured alcohol. Would that bethe powdered type?
DB
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Let the dye dry then apply another coat. Until you get the result you want then brush lightly with steel wool.
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I mix the powder with denatured alcohol. I turned a hickory bow purple with it one time. It was what the wife wanted her bow to be.
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Thanks Guys appreicate the info.....................I'll post it when I get r done.
Thnaks again DB
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I fool with a lot of hickory here.Rough em out then let them set in front of a fan in front of a dehumidifier while working on them the whole time[that can take weeks] unless you got a hotbox.Seal em up with a magnalac lacquer finish.It's hard to beat hedge over all but hickory heat treated or sinew backed becomes a bow that any self bow maker would like.I leave mine strung for at least three hours at a time hunting like hedge and they hold up great even in the mist but do store them by that dehumidifier like I do all of my bows.If I was to go on a long remote hunting trip with one I would bring along a 6" PVC pipe with silica bags.Which to me is a good I dea no matter what type wood bow you take with you.Leather dye works good for me on it.Sharper bends should be steamed otherwise it is very stubborn IMO to bend dry heat bending.Shagbark and pignut mostly.I hav'nt said anything different than everyone else here which says SOMETHING for old hickory.Top five in my book I'm sure because I've got it all around me here.
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Here you go Danzn Bar.(http://i1163.photobucket.com/albums/q556/longbow60/hickory%20character/101_2018.jpg)
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Back of VM, couple coats of Tru oil
(http://i1251.photobucket.com/albums/hh544/bryceott/77BECA23-07F9-46BC-A8B6-95391C76976D-3422-000003476D3276BD.jpg)
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Thanks pinecone and rps3, That looks good, what i'm shooting for maybe a little darker. I like it!!
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This is hickory with fiebing's black leather dye. the highlights on the back were sanded off and then restained with dark brown.
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/olivewn/DSCN4839.jpg)
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/olivewn/DSCN4842.jpg)
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/olivewn/DSCN4843.jpg)
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WOW...........Those look great.
Weylin,
Love the way you did the two tone. The back of the bow I'm working on now is sanded smooth and trapped. I have another stave I'm working on that came from the same tree and the ridges on the back are much much thinner than yours and run the lenght of the stave. Looks sorta like an old LP record grooves. I think i'll try something like what you did on that one. For now I think coal black will do. Got it drying in my heat tube now. The second coat of leather dye is looking good.
Again thanks for the ideas.
DB