Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: BowEd on October 23, 2022, 08:53:21 am
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Came across this picture looking for others.First year I made bows I filled this 8' bucket up 3 times during the winter preparing staves.Did'nt have the band saw then in the background.Hatchet,draw knife,and a pocket knife were my tools.I forget how many staves but quite a few.
(https://i.imgur.com/ZNaRpEW.jpg)
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At first I was going to throw mine away but thought it might make good fire starting material. And it’s turning out to be great for that. It’s Osage shavings and does a great job.
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I've got a huge pile of shavings along the edge of the woods here.Enough for 100 life times of starting fires.I get lucky once in a while and catch a few garder snakes under it.Their after the crickets there.
I do start every first fire in the stove for the winter with a flint and steel though....It's tradition!!
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I don't have a bow grade bandsaw either. Now that am older I wish I did. But...Jawge
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I use my shavings for fire starter too. Don't make too many bows anymore so I've had to hit up my wood turning buddy for shavings. He's got plenty. :OK
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Mostly osage stave shavings in there with some hickory and black locust.Think there was some kentucky coffee tree in there too.
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I do this once or twice a year, burning any osage is hard to do but once done I forget about what I burned until the next time. The take down bow in the pile failed at the takedown sleeve and splintered back 3 or 4 inches, no point in going any further with it.
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The thing about getting a band saw is you can crank out more bows faster.
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I'll tell ya 1 fella whose got a large shavings pile and that's the "Bow Making Machine Badger".
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Hey Ed, I haven't made a bow in 3 years. After I retired, I quit using the bandsaw for staves because I needed the exercise. Not making bows has taken it's toll on me. I need to start back even if it is just exercise. I would like the job of cleaning up staves. That's what made me think of that mobile tree unit. I never timed how long it would take me but I am guessing about 20 min each when I was really going at it. On a lazy day, it might take an hour. It really does a lot for your upper body strength.
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Steve, when you say clean up a stave I’m curious to what you consider cleaned up? Bark and sapwood off, or chased to a single ring? And what method do you use to get it to that point?
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When I cleaned the staves from the monster tree I had a pile of shavings the size of a small car. I keep a couple barrels full of shavings for fire starter.
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Yea your right Steve.It's good excersize.Many on here don't realize the amount of shavings you've pulled through your good years,and what you've done for the self bow making world.I still have that hickory of yours.It's in the lower to middle 40's @ 28".It developed a negative tiller but I figure to balance it and heat treat it to raise the poundage some.It'll be an outstanding shooter.Got a nice bullsnake skin from WillB to put on it.I'll see if I can get a deer with it sometime.Thanks.
I don't make near the number of bows per year any more either.There used to be bowyers on here 10 years ago that cranked out outstanding high poundage bows every week.
I'm sure there was a heap of shavings from that good old tree Clint.Good thing about those large trunked logs is that most all the pin knots are gone.Clean free wood but you never know sometimes splitting wood and chasing rings.My pile shavings on the edge of the woods I guess would fill a pick up box a few times.Never burn it.It's laying in a wash kinda out of the way.
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Steve, when you say clean up a stave I’m curious to what you consider cleaned up? Bark and sapwood off, or chased to a single ring? And what method do you use to get it to that point?
When I clean up a stave I take it down to one ring and remove all loose material and splinters.
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I am definitely an amateur in respect to you, and have always let my staves dry with bark on, but find it amazing that you could get one cleaned up in 20 minutes. Is this with freshly cut Osage, and do you use a draw knife start to finish, or how did you go about it.
I started a thread not to far back asking how hard it is to take freshly cut winter Osage bark and sapwood off vs. seasoned with bark and sapwood on. I’m looking to learn a better ( easier) way process some staves before I get any older. I’m also retired and would like to put up some stock for future use while I still can physically.
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Steve can comment here too but,some staves will have it's own set of challenges.Especially those pursuing character bow staves/holes/excessive pins/knots big and small/whoop tee doos/and very thin ringed staves.Those will take more time.
A decent ringed clean straight blemish free or a few pins type of stave does not take very long like Steve said.Perfect ring counts of between 7 to 10 RPI are ideal,but not totally necessary.No special rig to hold the stave either.Just leaning it up against a tree using a draw knife cleans up the bark/sapwood/and to 1 ring in less than a half an hour.
For storage to dry a little early wood left does'nt hurt any at all.There'll be plenty of clean up done after actually making the bow anyway.Shellacking it well on the back and ends and up on a rack to dry.
After drying this is where owning a band saw cuts work and time immensely getting the bow to floor tiller shape.
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Thanks Ed. Whenever I harvested trees, by the time I got them cut, loaded hauled home and unloaded I was physically spent. Then I would try to get them split in the next few days I would just spray the bark down real good with an insecticide and put them up for storage. I was still working so time was limited also. Now that I’m retired, and think I have a place about 45 minutes from home that I can make multiple trips, cut 8” to 12” trees, and just cut what I can handle start to finish. So of course I’m just looking for advice from people I know have a lot more experience than I do.
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Sometimes yes it can take a few days to clean up a dozen staves or so.One reason why I like cutting in the fall or winter.The wood wasps on osage here are dormant then and I'm not pressed on time so much.You may not have them there.
Getting them cleaned up within a short week works.
The great time saver using white woods is something to look at too.Cutting just after leaves have emerged and popping the bark right off is a great time saver without ring chasing work.Hickory/elm/ and ironwood are good for this in my area.After bark is off a good shellacking on back and ends is still necessary.Storing white woods off the ground in a shed is best too.
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I struggle with splitting. I often go for two bows out of 1 stave and sometimes it is so close if I don't get it perfect, I can ruin both. I am not fast at splitting at all. It is my least favorite thing.
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Yes I've wasted plenty of wood splitting them also.I've never been a fan of scoring with a skill saw,but have done that on occasion with elm.
The most efficient wood I've split is hickory.That being because the log is dead nuts straight....ha ha.
No matter what there's a lot of waste splitting logs.
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Before making bows I always had to scrounge for good kindling/fire starting materials, now half the fire ends up being little stuff just to get rid of it.
I gotta ask Ed, what are you doing with the garter snakes???
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I put them on the back of bows.It takes at least a 24" garter snake for me to do that.I'll put them on bows I feel worthy of it.
I'll show a nice BL static recurve done some time ago.
I keep them around for trade for others also.
(https://i.imgur.com/sOsVZE0.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/yHpdW4C.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/4LKHja7.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/ZKegctm.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/yKdh9VA.jpg)
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Wow, that is gorgeous! The ones around here are yellow/black, I like the red...
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Their unique in their own way.Rather thin skins.Usually the longer skins will be females.
It's not every year I can get a few.
The year we sided the house in the spring leaving the wood siding piled on the ground there was quite a few between the boards.
Now their under the shavings pile occasionally.
Your right some are more yellow striped.Matching them can take time sometimes.
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That is a good-looking bow Ed
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that's a beauty... You're really testing the woods properties with that design. It's me or you also heat treated the belly?
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The belly has horn laminations on it.It was rather narrow for black locust.Still 64" long though.Some sinew under the garter skins too.
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That’s as good as it gets. Beautiful bow Ed.
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I usually only get time to work on my bows in the winter. I put my shavings in some barrels and my buddy uses them for cooking maple syrup.
Bjrogg
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Sinew backed black locust with horn laminations on the belly? That must be an incredible shooter!
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It performs very well.PITA to string up though.
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Sinew backed black locust with horn laminations on the belly? That must be an incredible shooter!
Ed went a little crazy a while back when horn belly lams caught his fancy. He got wrapped up in pushing his skills up to the next level, as that bow surely shows. You gotta watch this guy. He gets the bit between his teeth and sets his eye on something, shavings tend to fly until he gets it right. You could do worse than dog his heels and pester him with questions. Ed's a wealth of information and he's never stingy with it.
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Well JW has seen a few of my creations.
Bow making from natural materials is a blast once a person gets to understanding the qualities different components have to offer.
Getting the ground work down from making good self bows is a good start.There are certain things a person can not deviate from with bow making.
Then a person can expand with ideas knowing what works and what does'nt work.It'll give you insight that sometimes is not easy to get others to understand.Some don't feel the need to go any farther and some do.
You can't be afraid to fail.A person just needs to keep trying.
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my only problem with trying a lot is that I don't have many staves left, and the few I've got have quite a bit of problems ( a lot of sideways bend/uneven reflex, knots I can't work around,...). I've tryed looking for good bow wood in my local stores but I could not find anything good or unexpensive, so my resources are quite limited and I can't really afford many mistakes. That's why I'm trying to procede as slow as I can with my current build :BB
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Once a person makes enough bows,some staves that a person thinks are undoable become doable.To get into extreme profiles there will be unforseen challenges to overcome even if you have access to many staves.
Making mistakes is all a part of learning.
Good luck with your current build.