Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: goomba on April 02, 2019, 08:24:37 am
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I made 2 other maple bows before and both developed
compression fractures. I'm guessing the reason being
that they were not wide enough or maybe bad tillering.
I'm making another one now. It is roughed out but
not floor tillered yet. I made it wider this time.
I was thinking of trapping the back on it but
not sure if that is necessary.
My target weight is 38#.
Are there any do's or dont's when working with maple?
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What kind of Maple? Maple species vary from crummy to good as bow wood.
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X2
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My friend cut it in the winter and wasn't sure what kind of maple.
He just said it was hard maple. I don't know how he knew that
but that is what he told me.
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Hard maple(sugar maple) has scaly bark, red maple has smooth bark.
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Here's the bark from another stave taken from the same tree.
The diameter of the tree was approximately 6"
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Red, and silver maple never worked for me. I made one good one from rock maple .
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I really like Sugar Maple. Made 3 or 4 from it a couple of years ago. Lite, flexible and takes heat tempering well. Mine were all shorties. 49 inches or so from memory. I did bendy handles with 23" or 24" draw lengths. 35 lbs or so. I believe, and you can do a search and see the posts on them, that they were all somewhere around 1.5 inches wide in the middle. I treated it just like most other white woods as far as dimensions and such. Heat tempering really made a difference on them.
http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,46170.msg628452.html#msg628452
http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,44160.msg595473.html#msg595473
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Those are a couple of nice bows SLIMBOB!
I hope this wood is the good maple and not
the red or silver. Either way I'm going to give it
a try. It is a stiff handle, 64" NTN, 1 5/8" wide
for the first 10 inches tapering to 5/8" nocks.
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That should work. Dont trap the back IMO. Heat treat the belly, early on. Thoroughly so. Then just ease your way up to your target draw length. Good luck with it.
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This thing is almost ready to floor tiller.
I have a question. To get the string tracking
through the middle of the handle I'm going to
have to bend it (it's about 1/2" off center).
Should I bend it now or wait until it is
tillered and heat treated?
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Now. String tracking for me is not a priority, and I won’t bother with it unless it’s a problem. Lever bows it matters. Most others, not so much imo. If you do need to adjust it, I would do it early on. Temper and straighten in one go. If it’s bending at floor tiller, i would get er done.
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Thanks SLIMBOB.