Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Badger on June 07, 2015, 12:59:07 pm
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Usually when I rough out a stave I remove the belly wood one growth ring at a time until I get a slight flex, at this point I stop, and round off all the corners and make sure both sides of the limb are the same thickness and start to build my tapers. . Ideally I will end up with nice litte V's pointing toward the tip after this stage.
It always puzzles me how the growth rings on one side of the bow can end up almost a 1/4" thicker than the rings on the other side when the are only about 1 1/2" apart. I don't run into this often but it is not all that unusual either. My quess is that even though the sides of the limbs are cut at 90 degrees to the back it is somehow not how the tree grew.
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Pretty normal for a non circular tree to have undulating ring thickness as viewed from a cut across the grain.
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I know it is not all that unusual but still seems odd for such a large variance over such a short distance.
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Sometimes the trunk will be growing next to another tree or limb that inhibits the growth in an area. Also a leaning tree will often have thick rings on one side and thin on the other side. A stave split from the transition in rings will look like yours. And osage trees often have ridges that run up the trunk that cause changes in ring thickness.
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I Know they still make good bows but if you are sending it out someone I kind of worry about how they might react to it.
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Here are two staves that I recently cut that show the different ring thicknesses.
(http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r55/clintanders/Mobile%20Uploads/20150607_134447.jpg)
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The one on the right would be fun to chase a ring on...... ;D
DBar
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I'll put your name on it then ;D Guess I kind of owe you one for the auction skins anyway.
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Guess I kind of owe you one for the auction skins anyway.
No way Clint, that auction was fun... ;D ;D ;D
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You definitely live up to your name outlaw.
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You can get a variation in ring thickness between the South and North side of the tree especially the farther North you go
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Just sounds like a stwist.
As long as you tiller it right it'll come out right.
WOODS WOOD
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I do see that pretty often in Osage, I use to built a lot of Ash and Hickory and you could almost vet the V I called it right down the center and the tapper and limb thickness side to side would stay almost prefect while tillering a stave, not so with most Osage I deal with. Like has been said, I don't think it effects the bow but a little different to work with and you have to be careful if you try and use it for any kind of guide as I am sure you already know. ;) :)
Pappy
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Hey Clint....if that concave staves back is like that the whole length I'd chase a ring the opposite way and make a backwards bow. Bet ya it'd work. ;)
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Yep ,it will work Chris. ;)
Pappy
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I would definitely flip that inverted stave over, even slightly concave works better flipped. Concave is kind of a pain to work with.
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Isn't that the technique used by one of the modern bow builders .....kinda like a tape measure, the shape adds rigidity to it. I think the theory applied to bow making means Less material for the same draw wt., equals a faster bow.
I think I would try it if the concave was fairy consistent down the bow.
Just my two cents.
Mark
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the shape adds rigidity to it.
Mark
It will indeed add rigidity. And it will increase the likelihood of a catastrophic bow explosion too >:D
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I had that in a bow I recently finished and sent out to someone. It never occurred to me that it should be a point of concern when sending a bow out. It is just how that piece of wood was, and it was a nice piece of osage in every other way. I don't think it detracts from a bow in any way.