Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Jonas on October 20, 2016, 02:52:08 pm
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Hello again,
this is a bow i finished a few month ago. Elderberry is a great bow wood in my opinion, al least if you can handle the knots. The bow as a low D-Profil and bends less at a big knot. There is a big reflex in the lower limb and a reflex at the end of the upper limb.
The lenght is 66 inch and the bow weights 17.98oz. The finish is with danish oil.
Greetings from Germany
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More
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And three more
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Beautiful wood and bow! I love elderberry, supposedly it can be used to make even bows up to 150#. My first functional bow was from elderberry, 28# @ 28".
I will mention that tomorrow I will go cut some 7 feet tall elderberry, thick also, so you can be little jealous of me haha. I will use it for warbow.
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This is the kind of bow that comes to mind when I think of primitive archery. Nice work!
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Wow awesome bow! Nice job.
Elderberry huh? Do you know the latin name on the wood by any chance? My dad got alot of elderberry on his property and wanna know if it's the same kind. :)
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very nice looking bow...have to try elder one day
dave
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Chris, I think this is Sambucus nigra
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Great that's the same kind. Have to try one too then. Theres ALOT 2" straight trees on his property. :laugh:
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Thanks :)
Try it Chris, it s worth it! There is a saying here in Germany amongst bowyers which is (roughly translated) "Elder is the Yew for the poor people!".
One advice: (I hope you understand me, thats hard to translate for me)
If growing as one main trunk, elder is very likely to have spiral growth (there are exeptcions of course, too). If you can, try to find elder where there are secondary trunks growing verticaly from a main trunk. In my experience these trunks have a very good growth
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In lesser known bow woods, in section about elder they mention "treat it as a light yew", so it seems that is one good school of thought. Although it probably can't survive "D" shape.
Thanks, Jonas, I'll see tomorrow what I am dealing with, all I know was that my dad told me its big elder, and straight. We'll see if he lied!
I could put a picture of trunk here if you don't mind when I cut it so maybe you can see from picture is it good or not?
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Very nice looking bow
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So using branches actually? I'll try som different pieces. One thing I've noticed In my limited experience with finding Bow wood, is that geographics plays a big part too.
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Great looking Bow, and great pictures also ! Thanks for sharing - Bob.
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Beautiful wood, very nice looking bow from what looks like a challenging piece of wood.
Pappy
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Nice work. I've found Elder to be a very good wood. I have my eye on a piece for a flight bow :laugh:
I had one bow that was fast as heck until I forgot it was only tillered to 26" and it went BANG at 28"
Mind it was a very good quality BANG ::)
Del
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Very nice, love the simple stick look
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Slick looking stick.
Great job.
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Good looking bow. I always appreciate simple things like that.
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Very nice bow from that challenging piece of wood with those knots.Fine pointed tips.Elderberry here never seems to get big and thick enough to get a bow from.
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Nice work. I like it
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it's really a nice bow. Very well executed.
I have a helderberry stave waiting for some attention and I planned to make it a stiff handle.
After seeing yours I'm tempted to go for a D style.
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Very nice bow. Poster child for this site!
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Absolutely outstanding sir !!!!! The entire look of the bow is indeed a poster child for this site. These "simple" bows take a truly skilled bow maker to bring out their beauty....well done Mr. Jonas
rich
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Thank you :)
@Chris: Here is a picture of what I mean. These "secondary" trunks are in my experience less likely to have spiral growth.
@Stalker. sure, you can do that ;). But if you look closely, I dont think you need my help. The bark of elder is very easy to read, so its no problem to find out if it has spiral growth (at the latest, you will see it when working with the draw knife). If it has spiral growth, I would try a flat bow. If not, try a D-profil. Most times the belly is not the main issue but the back.
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Ok. I can see what you mean. I'll try to find some similar
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Beautiful bow! Very clean and simple. Great work.
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Jonas, cut the tree I mentioned. It is 206 cm long and 6 cm in diameter. Has 5 cm reflex on the tension side. I am not disappointed! :)