Good time to cut wood?

[stuckinthemud]

Think you might only need to tidy up that top ring, hopefully one of the experienced warbow guys will chip in but the sapwood looks good as is for a big war-bow

[Ruddy Darter]

Thanks stuckinthemud, yes I'd like to just clean it up and do minimal although the rings look well defined and easy to chase down to a single ring, one of the pics gives an idea of ring count and I'm just going work it to dimensions and whatever weight it comes out at,  I'm not chasing a draw weight as such and no more than 140 draw, anyone have ideas on it's  full potential out of interest? Or what would be an ideal weight best suited for this stave?
And can I work it down to near dimensions (going to let it acclimatise for a week or so)  or best leave as is while I let it season for a few months? Thanks

 R.D.
 

[FilipT]

How much did it cost?

[Ruddy Darter]

$$$ too much for me  ,   I'm not too comfortable admitting I've paid for wood let alone a fair amount,  but this is a one off that I can't really afford but hopefully give me the chance to make a good yew bow for myself, 

 R.D.

 

[WillS]

I'd take the sapwood down a lot, personally.

A lot of people are still making "warbows" with thick (1/4" or more) sapwood and Victorian style nocks.  When you look at the original military weight yew bows the sapwood is almost non-existent.  Ian Sturgess' recent video is an excellent example of how it should be done and how far you can take the sapwood down.  If the cross section is correct and is a fat galleon section, you should ideally be able to see the heartwood on both sides as you look directly at the back of the bow.  It needs about 3 or 4mm sapwood maximum, but pacific yew can definitely take that.

European Yew is different, and some needs to be thicker, but that stave you've got is beautiful, and just needs a whisker-thin backing of sapwood.  It's the heartwood that gives the power, so have as much as possible!

[Ruddy Darter]

Thank you WillS, and advice taken on board. I noticed a slice off the sapwood on one side and looks like it will still be on the bow when reduced so I'll definitely take it down passed that,  I'll aim for something like you say, I will l in eave as it is until I take off what wood I can so i don't dent it.   I'm going to take my time with this.  Nice one.

 R.D.

[Ruddy Darter]

Just noticed a sharp angled scallop slice away right at the centre which may dictate I have to leave it 5 or6mm sapwood so the round belly profile fits within,  not a problem as I like the look of quite thick sapwood. I glued some wood stirrers together so I could check the profile and see what I could fit in (estimate. Have to get one of those steel comb profile gauges). The centre of the belly grain is right about on that angled edge. I roughly estimated the flat crown that has a little rise at the centre which may give me a couple more mm when I get to it.
Just for the centre what dimensions would be good to aim for for a130@31 for Oregon yew if anyone could offer an opinion? (40mm x 36mm including 1/4" sapwood?)
And a good length? (I had in mind 78&3/4" )
 R.D.

[Marc St Louis]

Not sure why anyone thinks the sap should be taken into consideration when cutting wood.  I cut according to the growing season.  I refuse to cut any whitewood during the growing season because I want my back ring to be as thick as possible so that means early Spring then Fall into Winter, never in the Summer.  If you wait too long to cut in the Spring then there might be issues with the wood being saturated with sap, this can cause problem with drying with the possibility of drying checks forming even if the bark is left on.

[Ruddy Darter]

That's what happened to a couple of logs of Holly I got,  in fact all Holly I've ever got,  I think it was cut mid-late spring ( I found it in a log pile from woodland clearance, I didn't cut it) I split and debarked and removed pith and in a day the back split tremendously all over. It was for carving wood so not too much a pain,  I filled the splits with woodglue to save as much large sections as possible.  If I ever get Holly for a bow I'd be tempted to keep the bark on even if cut late winter,  and maybe p.v.a over the bark too, I did this for one piece I found and it seasoned well indoors with no checking at all,  but was too knotted and crooked for a bow. I reckon it's one to season slowly, and as a stave not half log.

 R.D.

[stuckinthemud]

Kept the bark on my holly to slow its drying, no checks at all except for an inch or so in the ends  - was a half, log, good long length but not too fat around

[Ruddy Darter]

I managed to source a couple of ash staves (Fraxinus excelsior), they look quite good to me,  clean with only a very few little pins on the back. One will need a little straightening.
They were cut a little under a week ago(not by me) and I've just finished taking off the bark and painted the ends(wood glue and p.v.a.). A couple of pics of where I'm leaving them, they will get a nice little draft from the gap under the garage door. Good enough place?
They are just rough quarter split... Is there anything else I need to do?
Should I tie them to a form at all or o.k. Like this?
And what sort of draw weight could I expect from these staves?  (They are 79" long,  4"wide x 3" deep.)
Thanks for any advice, 

 R.D.

[stuckinthemud]

Hopefully you have painted the end 3 or 4 inches of the staves - just painting the exposed timber on the end isn't enough - but sealing with PVA is fine. I know some of the guys on PA tie their staves down to prevent movement while they season, equally some don't - I don't but then neither do I object to straightening the wood, since most of my timber is bent to some extent before I cut it - finding arrow straight logs ain't easy, as you already know    If you're going for recurves, then pre-bending green wood is easier than bending it once its dry but that would require you to rough out the stave straight away - not a big deal, and will dramatically reduce its drying time.  I'd have thought that staves that size will pretty much give you any draw weight you want.

[Ruddy Darter]

Thanks for that stuckinthemud,    I'd only painted an inch or so on the ends,  just painted some more on.
I'll probably rough them down some over the weekend.

[WillS]

Yeah you can make any weight you want out of those.  As a rough idea, my last heavy ash bow was 145-150lb ish, and it's 40mm x 30mm.

Start extra long, then knock it down to about 77" maximum after brace height.  Keep the belly roundish (unless the wood is telling you to square it off by taking a bit of set) and round the edges of the back quite a lot.  Good luck

[Ruddy Darter]

OK,  thank you WillS. 
 
 R.D.