Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: sweeney3 on January 01, 2013, 11:35:33 pm
-
Went to collect some hickory with another fellow the other day. Got a couple bonus pieces too...
-
I have begun the next ERC longbow. It's a ways from a bow yet, but it's getting there...
-
And one more... The knots cleaned up pretty well in the reduction process. Right now the blank is an even 75" long. I'm thinking I'll leave it at that or maybe 74" and shoot for about 48-52 lbs. Going to try to get a backing on it Thursday so it can cure well over this three day drill weekend. Might have to put it aside to whip out a board bow for a couple of students though. I said I'd get them done over the holiday break, but I got distracted...
-
Wow that is some beautiful wood... If you ever want to trade some send me a pm... I would love to get my hands on some.
-
Beautiful.
-
Man, I'm jealous. I love ERC, can't cut enough of it! I've got staves laying around the have bows planned that I simply haven't gotten to. Looks like you are going to have a beautiful bow there.
Kip
-
Got tip tapers roughed out. As usual, I'm not totally square, but that's usually okay. If it makes it to bow status and doesn't like being shot right side up, flip it over.
-
Wow that ERC sure is nice wood. Looks like you got some really nice pieces. How is this stuff for ELB's? Can it handle the sort of weights like 120# 130#?
-
i can handle upwards of 110 but that might be pushing it, it would be wise to make the bow longer because it is very explosive.
-
The little bit of erc I've been working recently has been very difficult in not impossible to work with a rasp, as it is super prone to grain tear out, and seems a bit brittle. Have you been experiencing anything similar?
-
Is that amount of heart wood typical? Or was it cut at a higher elevation? I'm knew to middle tennessee and I haven't found any w/that much or that pretty of heart wood.
chuck
-
I use a rasp for the majority of the middle level roughing and early tillering. I haven't had any trouble with it before, but you sure wouldn't want to use it too late in the process. The wood is very soft and a little bit of rasping goes a long way.
As far as heavy ELBs go, I haven't tried that kind of weight. I've only made hunting weight bows around 50 lbs with it. As far as the general design goes, they do very well. ERC is well suited to long bendy handle designs, though you might flatten the back a bit as it's a little tension weak. In the past I have backed them with rawhide. I don't have any at the moment, so I'm backing this one with linen. I know I know... Not supposed to be a good match. But this one is 74+" long, and only 50ish hopefully, so I hope it will handle it.
There is nothing special about the amount of heartwood on this one. The ratio you see is because I removed a large amount of sapwood. Probably an inch and a half or two inches of it. Ideally, you would of course chase a single ring after doing that. ERC rings tend to be about a half a pencil lead thick and all kinds of windy, so I just tried to get it as smooth as possible before backing.
The last one I made was in a similar manner though a bit shorter, at 66". There are assorted pictures of it with some deer and stuff the past couple years in the Shooting and Hunting thread. I hope this one turns out as well. We shall see.
-
Getting there. Got about a three inch brace on it. This is at 46 lbs from the three inch brace. Quite a ways to go but it's making progress. About exploded.......my shoulder.....getting it braced. Still pretty heavy.
-
Hey i have about 6 staves that look just like yours. I noticed that yours have some prop twist. How did you deal with that. Does ERC take heat bending well?
Also two staves have knots about 62-63 in up the stave. Can i still make a bow around 55# @ 28?
Your bow looks beautiful so far. What finish are you putting on it when finished?
Thanks
-
Got it off the tree last night. 52#@27.5-28", 74" tip to tip. I have pics on my laptop but can't upload the ones from my phone as they are too big. I'll post pics today after work.
Prop twist: I honestly don't worry too much as long as it isn't a lot. I just take wood off the high side and hope for the best. ???
Heat treatment: I have never tried heat with ERC, but have read that it does not respond well. It is a very brash wood, so if you were to heat treat, I would suppose steam would be better than dry heat. Just a guess though.
Knots: depends how bad they are. I just try to get the back as smooth as I can and back it well, then make the belly knots as smooth as possible. Amateur, I know, but so far so good. I'd say try it and see.
-
Sweeney I bet that bow is awesome! Do you round the belly when you make an ERC bow? I don't have any experience with ERC yet but I just found a tree on my in-laws' farm that's gonna be mine next year. I can't wait to try it.
-
What are the physical dimensions of your bow? Also how long did you let the staves cure before you started work on them?
Grady
-
Here we go...
This should be the braced and full draw. I don't know where my unbraced pic went. Effing computers. Hate em. Anyway... I just twisted up a string and got it on it and put a few arrows through it raw. Pretty nice so far. It seems to shoot better right handed than left, but that could be because my left hand is pretty sore now. Tendonitis or some such, so maybe I'm just shooting it better right handed. Still needs more sanding, a finish, a handle wrap, string silencers (I use cut up jute cord. Cheap.), and some time, but I'll do all that as it gets shot in case tiller needs adjustment.
-
Sorry guys. I just saw your questions...
Oscar: I don't exactly round the belly, or I haven't yet anyway. I leave it flat to even the compression forces as much as I can. I do round the edges pretty deeply in, so it could be considered a mild crown I suppose. Semantics. Anyway, on the other I had knots running at an angle from the belly out through the side of the limb, so I wanted as much wood left around them as possible. On this one, I backed it with linen as that was what I had lying around. Having read that linen is a poor match for ERC, I wanted to distribute the compression forces across the belly all I could, hence leaving it rather flat and smooth. It does not exactly match any particular historical or prehistorcal design, and I make no apologies for that. It works (so far). ;D ;D
Autologus: It is 74" long, a schosch under 1.5" wide at the center of the grip, and I dunno how thick. It takes me forever because I worry about going to light so I start tillering with dang near a log and rasp it down from there, so I've never measured final thickness; just stopped when I got to a good weight. I guess that would be an idea for the future huh??? I'll check and see. Oh, and I cut and split this stuff last week. It had been standing dead on a friend's place for a while, but I don't know how long. ERC takes next to no set anyway, so it can be a good thing to start training it to bend while some moisture remains. Not saying I did that. Just that it could help. I split of a piece and started reducing it. Got it to blank stage and glued on the backing before I went to drill. At that point it was a pretty small piece of wood and I use wood heat, so it was quite dry.
Well, I gotta run. I'll throw up some more pics as (if) I finish it out, and maybe a few detail shots of that one I made a couple years ago, since I have a lot better camera now.