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Author Topic: Dogwood bow  (Read 5218 times)

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skerm

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Dogwood bow
« on: April 11, 2009, 04:06:04 am »
Hi!

I was doing a little spring-cleaning on my computer and I was looking over all my bow making photos. I made this bow I'll show you here in March and I thought you might like it. It's made of cornus alba (I guess), which I think is also called dogwood. Please correct me if I'm wrong. I made it from a sapling with about 2" in diameter. It had 4" of reflex after drying. I tried to steam and heat bend to reduce the reflex, but it didn't quite work out, so it had 3" of reflex when I started.
The bow measures 76" from nock to nock. The handle is 19/16" wide and 1" thick. The tip diameter is 1/2". The draw weight is 67# at 32".

This is a picture of the roughed out stave for drying (click on the thumb to enlarge).



When I was done, the reflex was gone.



I steamed and bent one of the tips a little sideways to get the string centered.





Usually I make my bows bend less in the inner parts, but this was the first time I used this wood and I wasn't quite sure how much it can take. It has some small knots on the back and one part I didn't quite know what to make of, see the pictures below. I thought the outer limbs already had some stretch in them because the went from reflexed to straight, so I left it bending less there at full draw.





Cheers,
Daniel
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Offline DanaM

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Re: Dogwood bow
« Reply #1 on: April 11, 2009, 06:59:20 am »
Looks good to me that dogwood is tough stuff :)
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Offline deerhunter97370

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Re: Dogwood bow
« Reply #2 on: April 11, 2009, 07:25:03 am »
Skerm, I hope my two dogwood staves that I cut last week turn out as nice as your bow Good Job, Joel
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Offline Hillbilly

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Re: Dogwood bow
« Reply #3 on: April 11, 2009, 10:09:23 am »
Looks like it turned out good, nice bow.. Where are you located? The flowering dogwood we have here is a good bow wood. I have one about 3/4 finished from it, and I'm impressed with the wood.
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Smoky Mountains, NC

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Progress might have been all right once but it's gone on for far too long.

skerm

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Re: Dogwood bow
« Reply #4 on: April 11, 2009, 10:13:40 am »
Thanks! This is indeed tough stuff. There's another sapling where I got this one, guess I'll cut it next winter!

Hillbilly, I live in Austria.

Cheers,
Daniel
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Offline OldBow

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Re: Dogwood bow
« Reply #5 on: April 11, 2009, 11:48:07 am »
This would be a fun candidate for April Self BOM. I would have to have larger pictures, though.
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Offline George Tsoukalas

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Re: Dogwood bow
« Reply #6 on: April 11, 2009, 01:19:50 pm »
That is a great bow! Nice job. Old Bow. just click on them. Jawge
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Offline bambule

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Re: Dogwood bow
« Reply #7 on: April 11, 2009, 03:53:55 pm »
Yeah Skerm, very nice done - I saw it on FC or FA first.
Haste fein jemacht ;D

Greetz
Cord 
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Offline Pat B

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Re: Dogwood bow
« Reply #8 on: April 11, 2009, 05:08:45 pm »
Nice longbow, Danial. Is Cornus alba a tree or shrub type dogwood? Our Cornus florida is a tree but Cornus amomum is a shrub type. I have both to try.
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skerm

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Re: Dogwood bow
« Reply #9 on: April 12, 2009, 01:54:22 am »
Thanks everyone! :)
This dogwood grows as a shrub. It makes good arrows, but there are a few thicker ones like the one I used and as it turned out it works also pretty well for bows.

Cheers,
Daniel
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Offline Pennhawk

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Re: Dogwood bow
« Reply #10 on: April 12, 2009, 08:50:14 am »
Good looking bow.
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Offline OldBow

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Re: Dogwood bow
« Reply #11 on: April 12, 2009, 01:19:37 pm »
Quote from: George Tsoukalas on April 11, 2009, 01:19:50 pm
That is a great bow! Nice job. Old Bow. just click on them. Jawge
Good grief ::) Thanks George.
Quite the weapon, skerm. You could hit a Montana elk from you are.
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