Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: toomanyknots on April 12, 2013, 04:16:30 pm
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Anybody know where I can find some nice quarter sawn hickory lumber? I am in the cincinnati ohio area.
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Try a custom trim shop. It's where I get all my hardwoods.
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Buy a 2" thick flatsawn board (much easier to find than quartersawn) and rip to slats of 2" wide and with the desired thickness. Rift sawn is fine as well.
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Just did that with some hickry, easier to get several good boards that way as well :)
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I agree with Darksoul, you'll get way more bang for your buck doing it that way, providing you have the tools to do it. A thickness planer or preferably a thickness sander would help, but you might get by with just a belt sander to clean them up after cutting. It would be hard to get an even thickness that way though.
I just bought a piece of white oak not long ago. It was flat sawn, had pipe-straight grain on all 4 sides, and was just begging me to buy it and turn it into backing strips. For a little over $50 I got enough to back 14 bows. Last I checked I think 3 Rivers was selling hickory backing strips for $20 each!
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Thank ya for the advice yall. Sounds like a plan. I just went to a custom trim shop this morning Kevin, by the way, with plans to pick up some quarter sawn hickory. Drove a good bit too, had to get a ride even because I don't have a license right now. Walked right the frick out without buying nothin, guy was an absolute jerk. Pissed my morning all up. I will check out my local sources for a good flatsawn piece of hickory with straight grain on the sides (which is what I am looking for I am guessing, right?). Sounds like a plan. Thank ya for the advice yall, as always, it is very much appreciated. (And hopefully, once in a blue moon, put to good use, ;))
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I got some nice 1/4 sawn white oak at a local sawmill and next time they get hickory in there going to cut me out some they were real nice guy. I have talk to some that were real butte too
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I got some nice 1/4 sawn white oak at a local sawmill and next time they get hickory in there going to cut me out some they were real nice guy. I have talk to some that were real butte too
Naw, the guy I talked to on the phone was someone selling the hickory for someone else. So when I got there it was some other guy. I told the previous guy I need straight grain no run out lengths of about 7 to eight feet. I get there and the guy does not want to let me look through the stack, he wants me to buy hundreds of boards without looking at them. If I don't buy the whole stack I can't have any he says. The stack is probably 500 boards, around 4 or 5 inch wide, 5/8" deep, and 12 to 15 feet long. Keep in mind I am in a plymouth grand voyager van. There is one board on top that looks great, every other board on the top of the stack has knots and run off so bad I can't use it. I told the guy on the phone I need straight grain quarter sawn with no knots or I can't use it. The guy I am dealing with now assures me that about every board under the ones on top are nice and straight "if he recalls". I finally convince him to let me look through the stack, which he decides to charge me more for, even though he is still not happy about it in the least, and find that I can't use barely any of it due to knots and run off. As I am looking through the boards, I am setting boards down on one end of the stack, and setting ones down on the floor that look useable. As I am doing that, he tells me "Every board you set down the on the floor, you just bought". I just got pissed and left after that. It pisses me off when people talk to me that like, the guy told me it was wasting his time to cut the ends off of the boards I was gonna buy anyway, I would of cut them myself, the guys wasting my time and gas, just drove 60 miles for nothing, to give him money. And what did he expect me to do with 15 foot board that I can't fit in my van. I mean, I was gonna buy the entire board, and cut the ends off of the board with a handsaw, so I could fit it in my van. And he was peeved about that. Guy was a jerk. I always run into people like that.
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Well I took everybodys advice, and picked me up some 8/4 flatsawn hickory. Once again, the guys there were aggravated I wanted to look at a couple boards before I bought them, which was even more aggravating to me. Told me "it probably won't happen again", haha, we'll see about that! >:D I haven't even got a peak at their 6/4 yet! Anyway, thank yall for the advice, it appears this stuff will work nicely. The stuff ain't perfect I got, one end has a bit of run off, but for the most part they are pretty nice for about 80". I am thinking I will get about 70 backings (estimating low) for about 110 bucks. Thanks for the advice.
(http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb392/toomany7/DSCN1757.jpg) (http://s1203.photobucket.com/user/toomany7/media/DSCN1757.jpg.html)
(http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb392/toomany7/DSCN1758.jpg) (http://s1203.photobucket.com/user/toomany7/media/DSCN1758.jpg.html)
(http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb392/toomany7/DSCN1762.jpg) (http://s1203.photobucket.com/user/toomany7/media/DSCN1762.jpg.html)
(http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb392/toomany7/DSCN1763.jpg) (http://s1203.photobucket.com/user/toomany7/media/DSCN1763.jpg.html)
(http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb392/toomany7/DSCN1764.jpg) (http://s1203.photobucket.com/user/toomany7/media/DSCN1764.jpg.html)
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Yeah, that grain looks pretty straight from here! Do you rip your backings with a band saw or table saw? Since I got my Grizzly, I have been getting pretty good results on the band saw.
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Yeah, that grain looks pretty straight from here! Do you rip your backings with a band saw or table saw? Since I got my Grizzly, I have been getting pretty good results on the band saw.
I just ordered me a grizzly to replace my sorry 1/3 hp craftsman. I am hoping it will be here Wednesday, :). I have an in-feed support thingy setup I made using a rolling pin, haha. I am going to be buying a woodslicer resaw blade for it. Anybody know a better resaw blade than the woodslicer? It seems to dull real fast...
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Well, if you are looking at board stock for selfbows all 3 board cuts will work equally as well. The disadvantage to 1/4 is the edge grain must be completely straight tip to tip with no run offs. The face also needs to be straight. Hard to fine. Flat and rift allow some run outs. 2 per limb for 50#. Jawge
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Missed it. Great stuff! Jawge
http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/index.html
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I found I got better cuts for backings after I made a feather board to hold the board tightly against the fence. It makes all the difference. I also use it to make my first cut on bamboo. I can usually cut it thin enough to the point it is completely flat on the belly so I don't have to sand as much off. You will love the Grizzly when it comes in. I do.
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I just saw your revised post. When I ordered my saw, I got a 4 tpi resaw blade with it from Grizzly which is what I use pretty much for everything. It leaves some saw marks, but handles the 2 in wide cuts pretty easily. There is a company called Wolf something or other that is supposed to have really good blades where I will probably get my next one.
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I found I got better cuts for backings after I made a feather board to hold the board tightly against the fence. It makes all the difference. I also use it to make my first cut on bamboo. I can usually cut it thin enough to the point it is completely flat on the belly so I don't have to sand as much off. You will love the Grizzly when it comes in. I do.
I've used the rockler thin rip jig before for that reason. A feather might work better though, as if the board is not perfectly square with the thin rip jig, it can get stuck halfway through a cut.
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Hmmmm.....sounds like another tool I need to add to my arsenal. :P
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Hmmmm.....sounds like another tool I need to add to my arsenal. :P
It worked good for me using nicely milled and planned lumber, but rough sawn stuff it did not work too good.
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It's a lot easier to rip them on a bandsaw if you have 2 people - one to feed the board and keep it aligned straight, and another to be the "control" guy, to give directions and use both hands to keep the board tight to the fence.
Also if you rip that into 2 or 3 wider strips first, the smaller pieces will be a lot more manageable.
Not saying it can't be done by yourself, but it's a lot easier with 2! Find yourself a helper monkey and you'll end up with less waste and straighter cuts (which also means less sanding!)
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Thats what the majority of large suppliers are like. In a way it's understandable when you look at it from their point of view. Next time you go bear in mind that big suppliers are used to selling large amounts in one go. When somebody asks to look through the whole stack for one board be ready for the roll of the eyes. Keeping them sweet with a few beers has worked for me and they now move stuff about for me. It's human nature to be lazy :)
Hickory costs about $80 for a 5 x 1 1/2 to 2 inch board 7 foot long........and there is little choice....
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Fortunately for me all the guys that work at the local trim shop love seeing all my bows that I bring with me when I come in looking for wood. They HELP me look for straight grained wood :)
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You are near a big city so there must be a hardwood lumber yard somewhere. Quarter sawn Hickory is fine by the way so if you find it and like the grain buy it. Two weeks ago I picked up a Hickory 1" X 6" 8 foot long at a local Hardwood Yard. I pawed through about twenty boards and found a beautiful one. Cost me $6.00.
I like Hickory Boards for making bows. I really can't fell a tree and split into staves in the city. Besides boards are so much eaiser to work with.
Good Luck
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Woodcraft out by basspro has damn near any wood you'd hope to find, domestic and tropical. .
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Any saw mill or lumber yard that has flat sawn hickory will by nature have SOM equarter sawn. The cuts from teh middle of the tree if flat sawn will be quarter sawn. Quartersawing a whole log is time consusming and so most tend not to do it.
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Woodcraft out by basspro has damn near any wood you'd hope to find, domestic and tropical. .
They moved, I used to go there. They moved to out in springdale, out by sears the the mall and all that. I went there the other day, I think they are moving again... I wish they would just stay put for 2 seconds.
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Fortunately for me all the guys that work at the local trim shop love seeing all my bows that I bring with me when I come in looking for wood. They HELP me look for straight grained wood :)
Lucky!, :). That is good idea though, maybe I will bring a couple with me next time!