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91
Around the Campfire / Re: What Did You Do Today?
« Last post by Eric Krewson on December 14, 2024, 11:42:01 am »
My brother was a butcher in a large processing facility for over 25 years, he said to never put your grinder blade or plate in a dishwasher because the abrasives in the dishwaher soap would dull them ever time.

I had always washed my cutter blade and plate in the dishwasher and sometimes had to stop the grinder to unwrap all of the sinew that had wrapped around drive shaft and was clogging the grinder.

I took my cutter blade and plate out to the shop yesterday to sharpen them. All I used was a sheet of crocus cloth to polish the edges, I put the cloth on the level metal feed ramp on my jointer and rotated the part in circles on the cloth. I would make 3 or 4 circles on the cloth then turn the part 45 degrees and repeat to make sure every surface was honed equally.  I could tell that all of my edges were very sharp when I finished.

When I started grinding meat, I could tell that my grinder was working much better and not bogging down at all. When I disassembled the grinder for cleaning there was almost no sinew wrapped around the drive shaft at the plate.

My brother was right.     
92
Around the Campfire / Re: What Did You Do Today?
« Last post by Eric Krewson on December 14, 2024, 11:19:51 am »
I killed a doe on Monday (rifle), the deer population has gotten to be few and far between and I needed to ensure I had meat for next year. I like to soak a deer in ice and water for a few days.

I opened the butcher shop to start to process the doe I shot the other day, it takes me a while because I trim every speck of membrane, fat, shot up meat and sinew. 4 hours of cleaning, cutting, grinding, making cube steaks, packaging and vacuum sealing only gets half a deer done and is all of the time I want to stand in the kitchen at one time. I will finish off the rest tomorrow.

As for my equipment, I traded 400 processed wild turkey feathers for the Cabela's commercial vacuum sealer, a friend owed me some money and was broke (she said), she offered me the cube steak maker that her late husband had bought for the owed money. I knew I would never get the cash out of her, she was the shifty type with a tendency to lie like a dog so I took the cuber. I bought the grinder used off eBay for $19, 30 years ago. It is one powerful son of a gun, I do a double grind with a 1/4" plate. I washed it the dishwasher on the bottom shelf last year and the chrome came off the outside of the grinding head but not the inside, lesson learned. I had washed it on the top shelf countless times with no problems

I finished up yesterday and washed everything for round two today.

 

93
Bows / Re: Staining a stave after sealing and oil bending
« Last post by Eric Krewson on December 14, 2024, 11:04:04 am »
I seal staves with shellack, it dries hard and scrapes off easily, after just a little sanding, whatever I had sealed is down to bare wood.

You can put an aniline dye like leather dye on top of a finish and stain the wood through the finish. You have to put another coat of finish over the dye because it is mostly resting on the surface.

Here is an example; I put finish in my bow before I letter them, apply the lettering and put finish over the lettering to lock it in place, the lettering never comes off.

Another example; all of the wood has been preplaced below this lock; the replacement wood was plain with no striping. I stained the plain wood the same color as the rest of the gun and put several coats of finish over the new wood then painted in stripes with leather dye to match the original wood. I put two more coats of Tru-oil over my striping job to keep the stripes from rubbing off.

My point is you can stain over anything, just build up coats of stain to have the effect you want.



 

94
Bows / Staining a stave after sealing and oil bending
« Last post by StrawHat on December 14, 2024, 10:06:49 am »
If you debark a stave and seal the back with TB or other similar products that penetrate the wood, does that inhibit the deepness of the stain color? If the answer is YES, then what other type of sealer can be used so that the stain penetrates deeper. Or what can be done to remove the coating so that the stain will be a deeper color?

Also, if oil is used on the belly to add backset or flip the tips, etc, does that inhibit the  deepness of the stain color? If the answer is YES, what can be done to remove the oil?
 
What I have tried for removal is to dampen the wood with water, then slightly heat the stave (oil floats on water and TB will soften) and use a paper towel or rag to wipe off the oil and TB.
95
Primitive Skills / Re: Life is good
« Last post by chamookman on December 14, 2024, 04:57:44 am »
Good luck Hunting and thanks for sharing Pappy !  (=) Bob
96
Bows / Re: This is the weirdest bow I've ever made.
« Last post by Hamish on December 13, 2024, 10:42:17 pm »
WB there is a guy on youtube, from Europe that uses parallel fibres from woven fibreglass cloth. He combs the transverse fibres out, then lays the long fibres in a bed of epoxy, backing and bellying the bow. Its very much like sinewing a bow's back, in that the glass will conform to the cambered back of a tree stave.

 Not primitive but should increase the draw by at least 20lbs. You could try one course on the back and belly, see how much the bow gains and how it shoots. You could repeat the process again if you need more draw weight.
97
Bows / Re: Tillering in cold weather?
« Last post by Hamish on December 13, 2024, 10:32:47 pm »
I remember reading an article, about 20years or so ago, possibly by Dan Perry(Perry Reflex), where he said that in cold weather a bow becomes harder to draw, as draw weight increases. His fancy yew bows were prone to breakage in tension from these conditions. His whitewood bows were less susceptible to breakage but they were usually a little wider and flatter on the belly.
I don't know how much truth there is as I have never lived in an area where the weather gets much colder than freezing temp.
If it is true, bows tillered under cold winter conditions might turn out underweight in other seasons.
98
Horn Bows / Re: Elk antler bow Hidatsa style
« Last post by tibor on December 13, 2024, 06:30:02 pm »
Quote from: GlisGlis on December 13, 2024, 06:41:47 am
Quote
This is the extraordinary among all the extraordinaries you've made!
+1

Outstanding bow!
you are a real inspiration even if looking at your works of art is a little intimidating
Thank you
99
Horn Bows / Re: Elk antler bow Hidatsa style
« Last post by tibor on December 13, 2024, 06:18:22 pm »
Quote from: WhistlingBadger on December 11, 2024, 02:39:29 pm
Beautiful work!  How does antler/sinew shoot?
The bow is fast, but the antler is stiffer than the horn.
100
Bows / Re: Tillering in cold weather?
« Last post by StrawHat on December 13, 2024, 01:17:43 pm »
Have to love the primitive bow websites. If one has a question about anything in the process of building primitive archery equipment, just log in and ask the question and you will get the answer. Very helpful and thanks to all.
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