Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: vinemaplebows on March 02, 2013, 08:29:57 pm
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So, I post this for pearlie I want to see him talk nice about ERC, and BUILD A KILLER BOW FROM IT! So stats 68 long I think if I were to do it again, I would stay around 66. 1 3/4 at fades, purple heart handle build up with some other wood I can't remember I built this bow some ten yrs ago..... anyway 55@28 maple backing. I was building quite a few cedar bows for a while yrs back, and really like the wwod "if" you can find it realtilively clean, I still have clean boards of it today.
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Amazing bow. Also amazing that you have boards of clean erc, :). How do you feel about a erc board bow with a bunch of knots in it, backed with something like hickory?
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Sweet!!!! Is that rattler backing?
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Amazing bow. Also amazing that you have boards of clean erc, :). How do you feel about a erc board bow with a bunch of knots in it, backed with something like hickory?
You know I really don't know how I feel about it, because I was trying to build bows for other people, and therefore I always tried to get as near perfect wood as possible......for myself I thought it would be a challenge, and had considered it, but I live so far away from a hardwood store now I just never got a knotty piece I would try it in a heartbeat though!(it would look cool in my opinion) One more thing this was a billet glue up, and it is easier to find clear shorter pieces than full length boards.
Yes, rattler backed, osage limb tip overlays.
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That's beautiful! I have a few clean boards of erc, I know a guy who makes furniture from it and he has hundreds of lumberized board he'll sell. I might have to try one like that now. How do you think it would hold up under hickory?
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Not a problem, I think I would keep it to 3/16 or even thinner to not add any undue weight, but I have also backed it with bamboo again thin!
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Sweeet bow! But how do u think ERC would do as a self bow? It seems like all erc bows i see have a backing, probably with good reason lol ???
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Zion,
I think it is bowyer skill 80%. 20% picking the right piece and carefully evaluating what that particular piece can handle. A lot of new bowyers will try to force "their" needs based on past experience with other woods rather that letting the wood dictate what "it" needs. I suggest any bowyer to overbuild a bow, especially if they have not worked it before.....when you get a feel for the wood do what you think it will take. Mine is backed because I am on the west coast and can't cut my own.
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Beautiful bow and I think you're right "CLEAN" makes ERC alot more user friendly. I have an ERC ELB that really shoots well but it came from a "CLEAN" near perfect stave.
Great bow!!!
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We’ve used the knotty stuff, just as it came from the harvested tree (small knots ) with no problems .... and we used the typical thin Hickory backing ... Made Great shooters ... Good cast , Light in hand !!! All mine were “man tall” ... made to shoot heavy “logs” ... ;D
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Very nice bow Brian. I would attempt an ERC selfbow if I had the stave. I wont go looking to cut any as I only want one. I havent seen any around me yet I would want to harvest, 99.9% are knotted up messes it seems. I guess a splice would be a better bet?
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PD, easier to find a good ERC “board" ... (heresy) ::) hahahahaha :laugh:
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Nice bow!
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Pearl you want a clean board?
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How's this for a clean stave of ERC? ;D I've been sitting on this piece of wood since 2006. There isn't even a pin knot in it.
Brian, that bamboo backed ERC you sent me a long time ago is still shooting fine.
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Now that is a thing of beauty! You find that in some dark hollow? Bet you could get a nice english longbow from that, maybe 2 OR 3. Nice piece!
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Yep, found it back in a thick swamp. There was 4 or 5 but I only had time to cut one. it took me an hour to get it down out of the other trees after I cut it. It wouldn't fall. And I was planning an ELB.
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Now that is a thing of beauty! You find that in some dark hollow? Bet you could get a nice english longbow from that, maybe 2 OR 3. Nice piece!
Yes, that is nice!
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Pearl you want a clean board?
I would gladly take one if your offering Brian. Thanks. I have a piece of hickory I could use, or bamboo.
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Yep, found it back in a thick swamp. There was 4 or 5 but I only had time to cut one. it took me an hour to get it down out of the other trees after I cut it. It wouldn't fall. And I was planning an ELB.
Hmmmmmm..... Sounds a little sneaky to me! Haha!! That is a sweet chunk!
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Sweet piece there Eddie.......... get to shaving I want to see the ELB you pull out of that one :)
That's a rare stave!!!
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This isnt a selfbow, and ERC has a tough time handling any type of tension on the back.
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your point?
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Good clean ERC is very hard to come by whether in stave or board form. If you can find it you sure have something.
Grady
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your point?
The real way to test a woods strength is to make an unbacked bow from it. It seemed you were trying to prove ERC is valuable as a bow wood but you backed it with maple. That's all. I have tried ERC before and i won't again.
Nice bow.
Take care.
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<snip>The real way to test a woods strength is to make an unbacked bow from it.<snip>
There is a fallacy at work here. All an unbacked bow proves is that the wood has adequate properties in the realm of tension strength to make a bow. This is an important test, ...but it is only one area of "strength" to consider relative to the value of a bow wood. There would seem to be many more properties of a particular species of wood to consider. ...like compression strength, elasticity, density or mass to capacity ratios, fiber or grain pattern, ...etc.
OneBow
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The real way to test a woods strength is to make an unbaked bow from it.
and there was a lone gunman and Anna Nicole married for love ::) ;D
I know you can make a unbacked epe bow but most wouldn't, when you can get a screamin' bow buy backing it with boo, so epe is a second tier wood?
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Someone send me a clear 70 inch stave, and I will prove you wrong! :laugh:
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Lol! No doubt you could easily prove that wrong, but its hardly necessary. If the search function worked better, there are already plenty examples of erc self bows on this forum alone. John McPherson has been training special forces in Advanced survival training for quite a few years and part of the curriculum is for every student to make a survival bow with nothing more than a field knife. The only wood they use...... unbacked erc limbs. Most of these operators have never made a bow in their life. It's not that hard to do and it doesn't require a seventy inch perfectly clean stave. It does however, require you to leave your yellow wood mentality behind. I love osage, but I believe it has spoiled a lot of bowyers that try to make an Osage bow out of lesser woods. It just don't work, most of the time anyway. BTW, beautiful bow Brian! Josh
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Just to be clear, I'm not accusing anyone in particular of having a yellow wood mentality. I meant that part in a more general application. Josh
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yeah, that bow is a beaut, Bub
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Ryan Yoon has made a nice erc longbow out of a stave that I gave him at Mojam last year. Unbacked, tho he did plug some pin knot holes that showed up. One thing that he did was chase a ring for the back. Took some doing but that might be part of the "secret" to success...