Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: CherokeeKC on November 08, 2015, 08:49:34 pm
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This sapling was cut 2 years ago. Its oval in cross section with the long part of oval in line with the curve of the sapling. This thing has loads of pin knots. It does have less pin knots on the inside of curve which i would make the back to have reflex from the start. The sapling is 1 3/8" on thick end and 1 1/4" on thin end. Im not necessarily looking for a hunting bow just want to try my hand at it. Maybe get 40-45 lb draw at 28". Do you guys think this sapling is even worth messing with given the dimensions and pin knots? How long should I keep it? Its about 8 ft long as is haha.
(http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/ab144/charnockk/Mobile%20Uploads/20151108_201518_zps6wxqkwtf.jpg) (http://s858.photobucket.com/user/charnockk/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20151108_201518_zps6wxqkwtf.jpg.html)
(http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/ab144/charnockk/Mobile%20Uploads/20151108_201539_zpscgstuaiu.jpg) (http://s858.photobucket.com/user/charnockk/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20151108_201539_zpscgstuaiu.jpg.html)(http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/ab144/charnockk/Mobile%20Uploads/20151108_201552_zpsos1tkmv4.jpg) (http://s858.photobucket.com/user/charnockk/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20151108_201552_zpsos1tkmv4.jpg.html)
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Privet is supposed to be very simaler to red oak as bow wood. I'd go for a full width 65in+ bendy handle bow.
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I found privet to be excellent ! On Par with Lilac, Serviceberry , and Hop Hornbeam . Very dense . To be fair , the piece I had was about the same size as yours and had 40-50 growth rings. Northern climate.
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Well then, I'll have to give privet some thought next time I run into a row of the stuff!
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Yes sir there's a bow in there
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Ok thanks guys. I guess once i decide on length i should keep the width throughout each limb until the tips?
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Yes till about the last 12"
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already done ... but i do not think it is necessary to let such a thin sapling dry for so long ....
anyway it's done and doesn't matter any more
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Ekalavya i didnt keep it this long to dry it. Life just became busy and I have not gotten to it.
I will post pics along the way of the progress
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Bubby i just searched the forum for privet bows and saw the one you made earlier in year. Awesome bow! How wide and deep did you keep your tips? What diameter sapling was that?
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Cherokee I think at the handle it was 1-3/8" and i left that the natural size, i narrowed the tips a ft from the tips to 1/2" and after i was done they are around 3/8" i steamed in the recurves
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I have tons in my yard I need to get rid of. I will be watching. Please be extra clear on the roughing out and dimensions. I would love to try one.
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Heck yeah, go for it. Cut out the best part of the stave at least as tall as your eyebrow if you can get it and make a flatbow with a small handle, parallel sides out to 2/3 the limb, and with or without a tiny reflex or flipped tips.
I have never used privet, but similar looking plum, mulberry, elm, serviceberry, chokecherry, and hawthorn staves have netted me decent bows, some pretty stout, and some that had to settle for 38 lb depending on the wood and how things went.
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The one i built was about 1-3/8" at the center i made a four in. handle and 1-1/2" fades i reduced the limbs to the pith and clamped it to a board after spraying the back with several coats of lacquer and it was 60" long
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@Cherokee
The same with me. Most of time my staves are just laying around in my appartment ,
my cellar , my parent's home ....
and then i got some spoon of motivation and yet another bow is made and then i shoot
thirty shots with it until a dog steals my quiver
i can not work under pressure and i think that really kills bow making ...
even today i worked for almost two hours just to get 4" more draw out of a stave which
is lying around since september .... anyway not so bad a result when i compare it to my last
ash bow were i used the caliper all the time .... (at least i did not much of usually tillering)
i think making bows secretly makes it faster ... no one wants that much comments on an
unfinished stave ...
as for your stave ... if it's not straight ... there are many ways to straighten ....
google "Saplingturnier 2014" (sapling tournament 2014) ... just to see which impossible
something can get a bow which at least draws 35#@28" ... ((within less than 70 days or
so , cause that's in the rules))
one of them was even a privet (Liguster in German) and i think the guy who made it
was an artist .... so they saw a reason to propose his disqualifaction for that
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Iv narrowed the last 12" to tips on each limb. Its cut to 64" or 66" i cant remember lol. I scraped the back with my drawknife then worked around the 14 pin knots with a cabinet scraper. I circled all in pencil to make sure i dont lose sight of them. Do you guys think i should put super glue on the pin knots that have a very small hole in them? The limb has an additional 14 or so pin knots on the sides. These may or may not be removed during tillering. Do I need to be worried about any pin knots on the sides(http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/ab144/charnockk/Mobile%20Uploads/20151120_151533_zps6i4ym7f3.jpg) (http://s858.photobucket.com/user/charnockk/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20151120_151533_zps6i4ym7f3.jpg.html)(http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/ab144/charnockk/Mobile%20Uploads/20151120_151454_zps9dsffe4n.jpg) (http://s858.photobucket.com/user/charnockk/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20151120_151454_zps9dsffe4n.jpg.html)(http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/ab144/charnockk/Mobile%20Uploads/20151120_151547_zpstgfjad60.jpg) (http://s858.photobucket.com/user/charnockk/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20151120_151547_zpstgfjad60.jpg.html)(http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/ab144/charnockk/Mobile%20Uploads/20151120_151605_zpsob39ix72.jpg) (http://s858.photobucket.com/user/charnockk/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20151120_151605_zpsob39ix72.jpg.html)(http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/ab144/charnockk/Mobile%20Uploads/20151122_191304_zpsb4q53war.jpg) (http://s858.photobucket.com/user/charnockk/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20151122_191304_zpsb4q53war.jpg.html)
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CherokeeKC, it looks like you are doing a nice careful job. I'm enjoying reading and seeing your progress. :)
Also, that little drawknife looks very cool. Looks like some rod bent and welded to a blade. Did you make that?
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Thanks. Im wondering if bow will hold together with all the pin knots. We will see. One reason Im "taking my time" is i have 3 young boys and I have been on backshift for 2 weeks so has been a little hectic haha.
The drawknife is a planer blade brazed to metal handles. An older guy that gave me my first bow making lesson sells a few at primitive skills gathering we have twice a year. I think he only made 3-4tho.
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thats looking good,, :)
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Maybe keep some sinew wrapping material around for those pins.Might not ever need them though.Osage most times holds together but that's osage.
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I didn't worry about'em at all, maybe superglue them
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Thanks guys. Ok i may put a little super glue in them. Wont hurt anyway. Im not sure i am all the way to the wood on yhe back. There is still a brownish tint to it. It isnt bright white like where i narrowed the tips. I was scared of going too deep haha. Maybe i was through phloem but not through cambium? This pic isnt the best because of the lighting but the difference in color is more than what pic portrays.(http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/ab144/charnockk/Mobile%20Uploads/20151120_151634_zpsjkdmvbmy.jpg) (http://s858.photobucket.com/user/charnockk/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20151120_151634_zpsjkdmvbmy.jpg.html)
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It should be white white
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Do you think it will have any negative effect leaving it like it is?
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I know some guys leave a little cambium for a camo effect
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So i have worked the limbs down more with farriers rasp and slimmed the last 12 inches of each limb. Its bending now. When do you guys put it on the long string? Does anyone think any of the knots near edges of limb below are a problem(the last pic of knots is the one that really worries me)? Also I have read before linear cracks are ok so i shouldnt have to worry about this crack (last pic)? (http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/ab144/charnockk/Mobile%20Uploads/20151203_110928_zpskiuww3jt.jpg) (http://s858.photobucket.com/user/charnockk/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20151203_110928_zpskiuww3jt.jpg.html)(http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/ab144/charnockk/Mobile%20Uploads/20151203_110937_zpspcmxxuje.jpg) (http://s858.photobucket.com/user/charnockk/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20151203_110937_zpspcmxxuje.jpg.html)(http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/ab144/charnockk/Mobile%20Uploads/20151203_110905_zpsbayuy5wb.jpg) (http://s858.photobucket.com/user/charnockk/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20151203_110905_zpsbayuy5wb.jpg.html)(http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/ab144/charnockk/Mobile%20Uploads/20151203_112243_zpsmn7nc1rg.jpg) (http://s858.photobucket.com/user/charnockk/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20151203_112243_zpsmn7nc1rg.jpg.html)(http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/ab144/charnockk/Mobile%20Uploads/20151203_112255_zpsusbqwmvk.jpg) (http://s858.photobucket.com/user/charnockk/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20151203_112255_zpsusbqwmvk.jpg.html)(http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/ab144/charnockk/Mobile%20Uploads/20151203_112309_zpsioar0wbk.jpg) (http://s858.photobucket.com/user/charnockk/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20151203_112309_zpsioar0wbk.jpg.html)(http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/ab144/charnockk/Mobile%20Uploads/20151203_112214_zpsewqicts6.jpg) (http://s858.photobucket.com/user/charnockk/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20151203_112214_zpsewqicts6.jpg.html)
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Radius those edges i don't think I'd worry about those knots, get it bending about eight inches at floor tiller you can check the bend in a window or a mirror , get it bending even then put it on a string just long enough that you can get the string in the nocks
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Ok will do bubby. I didnt intend to narrow the tips that far into the limb but oh well.
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So, the knots are a concern,. but not a huge one. i have done several different woods that are all knotty like that and it works itself out, kinda.
The small diameter of the stave allows the crown to take so much more of the tension strain than the rest of the stick, that as long as you don't just level over knots on the back and off to the sides of the crown and violate the grain, it is fine and just goes around them.
On small diameter wood like that, i just work around knots toward the tips where you are narrowing the bow, leaving the grain intact, and widening the limb slightly as you follow grain around the knots. Little side bumps here and there. This is perfect if they run diagonally from inside the branch to the open back, or from inside to exposed belly. Just leave a little extra wood width.
Knots and pins that extend straight across the belly, leaving a weak spot are a bigger problem, but they only exist on one side of the limb. If they make a shallow groove or knot I file them out and blend the groove into the rest of the limb. Leave the opposite (left/right) side (bow upright, looking at the belly) just like it is. So, the limbs stay the same net thickness, they just take a little rollercoaster dip in and back on one side of the belly. You will have a few of these, sort of alternating side to side.