There's nothing like a stave

[MaceG]

     Tried a red oak board bow. Had it tillered. Broke the second time I strung it. Just seemed wrong from the beginning. Flat, dry, coarse, dimensioned lumber with a barcode sticker. That ain't no way to start a bow.
     So today, I grabbed up my hatchet, climbed up a ditch bank, stuck my hand in god only knows what kind of poo, waded through the briars and weeds and chiggers and got me red maple to turn into staves.
     Came out scratched up, dirty and soaked with sweat.
     Now, that's the way to start a bow.
     There's a connection there you just can't get with a board.

[youngbowyer33]

its happened to many times,thats why i tried a board bow

[El Destructo]

Ain't nothing wrong with Board Bows....Big Archery Companies made them ands sold them for Years ...mostly every Bow that was made for Hunting...Schools and Target Shooting when I was a Kid were all Board (dimensional lumber) Bows....may have been Hickory or Lemonwood....but a Board just the same.just have to pick a good Board....and coax the Bow from within it......JMO

[JustAim]

l hear ya Mace. l've made a few board bows but l have way better luck with tree staves. And the adventure you had sounds alot like mine....just about a month ago l was out in the woods in 100 degree heat cutting down ash trees for firewood and bow staves, dripping in sweat and fighting off mosquitos when my chainsaw went psycho on me and damn near cut my foot off. Good times  

[sailordad]

too bad a bot your bow,good luck with the staves
personaly, i think thers nothing like mking a board bow.
i prefer staves,but i can make a board bow soooo much quicker than from a stave
plus for about $10 i can make several board bows to help put those smiles, we all love so much, on other peoples faces

[Dauntless]

Chasing a ring on a board is a nice way of getting back to the "natural order" of a stave.

Cutting wood yourself can be a bit of an adventure.  Try doing it in the dead of night 

[Del the cat]

Yup...can't beat the price of a stave youve 'found' or cut yourself.
And splitting it is always exciting, will it twist or run off? where to make that split...?
You are starting the bow as soon as you see the tree or log, in immediate connection with the wood, it's just your job to tease the bow out of it.
Someone asked me if I was interested in buying a bow the other day...
I said..
'Buy...bow... sorry I don't understand the concept  ' 
Tell us the price of that Maple again... Nuthin' ? Thought so, and you got some exercise too and avoided any domestic chores ...what a bargain  
Del

[MaceG]

   Exactly, Del.
A stave is like a daughter, a board is like your daughter's boyfriend. 

[nugget]

I have not had good luck with board bows. I enjoy the whole process of taking a stave from a tree and making a bow out of it.

[cracker]

I like them both I think it may be a bit strange that the best bow I ever built was out of a board since I do lean a little toward a stave.Ronnie

[Del the cat]

A stave is like a daughter, a board is like your daughter's boyfriend. 

<flump thud...falls off chair laughing>
Del

[Justin Snyder]

When you guys find an Ipe tree growing in your back yard let me know.  There are so many exceptional types of wood that don't grow everywhere that it would be really silly to handycap yourself by discriminating against boards.  Of course I look at it a little different. If you have a hard time with a board bow, I think you need to make more not less. Anything that is difficult makes you a better bowyer.

As for cost, well that is all perspective. A $4 board from the store on the corner is a lot cheaper than $20 worth of gas and 3 hours to go cut a tree. A trip to the hospital to take care of the hernia from loading that 600# log. Then you have time splitting, drying, chasing a ring, and that is all before you can start roughing it out.

If you aren't breaking a few you aren't pushing the enough.  Justin

[woodstick]

thats the way to do it right there. good luck.

[JustAim]

When you guys find an Ipe tree growing in your back yard let me know.  There are so many exceptional types of wood that don't grow everywhere that it would be really silly to handycap yourself by discriminating against boards.  Of course I look at it a little different. If you have a hard time with a board bow, I think you need to make more not less. Anything that is difficult makes you a better bowyer.

As for cost, well that is all perspective. A $4 board from the store on the corner is a lot cheaper than $20 worth of gas and 3 hours to go cut a tree. A trip to the hospital to take care of the hernia from loading that 600# log. Then you have time splitting, drying, chasing a ring, and that is all before you can start roughing it out.

If you aren't breaking a few you aren't pushing the enough.  Justin

l'm not speaking for anyone else but for me its cheaper and much more fun to cut down and split my own bow wood, since l live in the country l have to drive about 30 miles one way to find a store that sells decent wood for bow making. So its better for me to just walk out behind my house and cut a tree down, and l'm in no hurry to make bows away so waiting a few months for it to dry aint nothing. Ipe and osage are both excellent bow woods, but any decent bow wood can equal or out perform ipe or osage if made properly and l have great bow making woods just 50 yards from the house. And besides, l'm out there cutting firewood for winter anyway so why not...   

[MaceG]

It's the closest a man can come to giving birth.