New guy with some terminology questions.

[Westbound]

I wanted to start out with a question about terms used in construction.
Once I know these terms, I won't be reading posts scratching my head 

What does it mean to "chase a ring"?

What is a "Holmegaard"?

Thanks,
Justin

[Pat B]

Chasing a ring...These rings are actually the annual growth rings of the tree. On a stave bow you want one continuous growth ring from one tip to the other. To get to this ring there are 2 way to go....with whitewood, when cut during the growing season the bark will peel off. The growth ring under the bark(not the cambium layer) is your back ring so you don't have top chase a ring, it is already there.
  With woods like osage, locust, mulberry, etc you want to use a heartwood ring as your bow back. To get there you must remove the bark and the sapwood and if an appropriate ring isn't right there you will have to remove heartwood rings until you find an appropriate ring for your bows back. This is what is known as chasing a ring.
   A Holmegaard bow is an ancient design that was discovered in a bog in Europe. The design is unique and very effective, and being that it is an ancient design makes it that much more interesting.

[DanaM]

Chase a ring refers to primarily osage orange, black, locust and mulberry on these woods the sap wood is removed and
one growth ring on the heartwood is exposed or "chased" generally this is done with a draw knife and a scraper.

A holmegaard is a type of bow with wide working(bending) inner limbs and narrow stiff non bending outer limbs. See Dane's thread on this page for a picture of one.

[Hillbilly]

Chasing a ring is getting the back of the bow down to one continuous growth ring from end to end of the stave so that it doesn't break under tension. With whitewood staves, you can peel the bark off and you already have the unbroken ring. With heartwoods like osage, locust, and mulberry, you usually have to take off the sapwood and follow the ring you want down the back of the stave. It is simply "peeling" off growth rings until you get down to the one you want. A Holmegaard bow is a style based on an ancient bow found preserved in a peat bog in Denmark. About 1/2-3/4 of the way down the limbs, they somewhat abruptly taper to narrow, thick tips. Most of the modern variants are probably more abruptly tapered than the original. Search for "Holmegaard" on the forum, should be plenty of pics.

[Hillbilly]

Looks like we were all typing the same thing at the same time.

[Westbound]

Great!

Thank you for the quick replies!!!!

For my first bow, i plan on selecting red oak from Home Depot. 
The next bow I plan to use osage orange (or bois d'arc as we say in Texas).  I'm assuming this is where I will get my taste of chasing a ring.
Since these will be my first real attempts at bow making, does anyone have any ideas on using broken bow parts as an atlatl 

[DanaM]

Looks like we were all typing the same thing at the same time.

Great minds think alike eh

I don't see why a limb couldn't be turned into a atlatl.

[Hillbilly]

Yep, bow limbs make great atlatls. don't ask me how I know.

[koan]

They also make great necks for a didley bo, lol....Brian

[DanaM]

Also make nice walking sticks and tomato stakes

[Westbound]

One more terminology question if y'all don't mind.
I know what R/D means, but what does FG mean?

[sailordad]

fg is a nasty term on this site unless your in the "anything else" area

fg = fiberglass     not primitive so people get offended when ya talk about it in any where other than the "anything else" section

[JackCrafty]

This is what happens when you chase a ring for too long.....




A Holmegaard is someone who guards your Holme. Holme is primitive slang for "the place where I keep my archery stuff".





And FG is, of course, short for Fart Gas.

[Bear67]

thank you to every one who gave info to this post because as a new person to this site some ot the terms are difficult.  we need a deffinition of terms page. so us newbies can get the jest of what you guys are talking about. HEHEHEHEHE.  again Thanks.