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Author Topic: Started a Black Locust bow (new pics)  (Read 3235 times)

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Offline Cardboard_Duck

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Started a Black Locust bow (new pics)
« on: January 04, 2013, 03:12:05 pm »
I came across a black locust stave that was cut out of a dead tree and decided I wanted to try to make a Cherokee style bow. It's going to be 60" TtT, 1 1/8" wide at center and 3/4" wide at the tips bending through the handle. I chased a ring and roughed it out this morning, the sapwood just kind of "popped" off with my drawknife and I went down a couple rings to a nice thick ring.

This is my first time working with black locust and my first Cherokee style bow, so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated :) I thought I read somewhere that these were roughly the dimensions used and that dead BL tree were used...
« Last Edit: February 09, 2013, 01:33:59 pm by Cardboard_Duck »
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Offline richardzane

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Re: Started a Black Locust bow (no pics yet)
« Reply #1 on: January 04, 2013, 03:22:39 pm »
good luck man!

I'm kinda leary of anything cut from a dead tree...the natural oils that give flexibility have leached out leving the wood more splintery.

BL has so many wierd things that can happen inside the wood where you can't see it...small rotten spots between grain and such.
I'm working on a coffee tree bow right now (these trees MUST be related!)  there seems to be a kind of brittleness to these woods....
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when i'm working on things my ancestors worked, singing the songs my ancestors sang, dancing the same dances, speaking the same language, only then  I feel connected to the land, THIS land, where my ancestors walked for thousands of years...

Offline Cardboard_Duck

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Re: Started a Black Locust bow (new pics)
« Reply #2 on: February 09, 2013, 01:27:02 pm »
I finally got to actually work on this thing...

The stave was a little wonky with natural deflex with a little more on one end





« Last Edit: October 05, 2013, 11:03:56 am by Cardboard_Duck »
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Offline George Tsoukalas

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Re: Started a Black Locust bow (new pics)
« Reply #3 on: February 09, 2013, 03:23:06 pm »
That is nice! Osage and BL are the only woods that can make bows from dead trees. JMO. You did really well on that stave. Poundage? Jawge
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Set Happens!
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Offline Pat B

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Re: Started a Black Locust bow (new pics)
« Reply #4 on: February 09, 2013, 04:40:11 pm »
Very nice, simple bow, Duck and well tillered.
 George, around here dead locusts will delaminate while you build a bow with it. Whatever kills them also affects the early growth ring causing them to delaminate.
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Make the most of all that comes and the least of all that goes!    Pat Brennan  Brevard, NC

Offline George Tsoukalas

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Re: Started a Black Locust bow (new pics)
« Reply #5 on: February 09, 2013, 04:41:18 pm »
Interesting, Pat. Thanks. Jawge
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Offline Cardboard_Duck

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Re: Started a Black Locust bow (new pics)
« Reply #6 on: February 09, 2013, 05:07:54 pm »
Thanks guys. Did they leave the bows plain or did they put any marking/decorations on them? I'm thinking of giving this bow to a friend of my wifes, her grandmother was Cherokee.

George, it's pulling about #50 @ 28".
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Offline Badly Bent

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Re: Started a Black Locust bow (new pics)
« Reply #7 on: February 09, 2013, 06:29:00 pm »
Nice :)   I Like the locust bows

Greg
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Offline okie64

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Re: Started a Black Locust bow (new pics)
« Reply #8 on: February 09, 2013, 06:56:39 pm »
Very nice bow Duck, I love the cherokee style bows. Most of the cherokee bows that I have seen were pretty plain without any painting done to them.
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Offline wapiti1997

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Re: Started a Black Locust bow (no pics yet)
« Reply #9 on: February 09, 2013, 10:26:35 pm »
Quote from: richardzane on January 04, 2013, 03:22:39 pm

I'm working on a coffee tree bow right now (these trees MUST be related!)  there seems to be a kind of brittleness to these woods....
They are both in the legume family, so they are related.
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Offline Keenan

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Re: Started a Black Locust bow (new pics)
« Reply #10 on: February 09, 2013, 11:38:59 pm »
 Great looking tiller Duck
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Offline PEARL DRUMS

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Re: Started a Black Locust bow (new pics)
« Reply #11 on: February 10, 2013, 08:23:23 am »
Nuttin wrong with those bends duck. Nice work.
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Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught will we realize we cannot eat money.

Offline Arrowind

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Re: Started a Black Locust bow (new pics)
« Reply #12 on: February 10, 2013, 10:27:52 am »
nice bow!  paint it!  >:D.          Actually I think it would look really good either way.  Nice job!
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Talking trees. What do trees have to talk about, hmm... except the consistency of squirrel droppings?
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