Belly splitting

[kylerprochaska]

Just wondering if anyone can post some pictures  of the process...just so I can get an idea of what im about to do...I don't want to ruin a stave...thanks in advance

-Ky

[Dano]

How thick is this stave.

[radius]

look in the buildalongs...somebody (TIMO?) did a split-along recently

[yazoo]

take 2 small thin sharp wedges,,tap them in the grain you wish to follow,one on either side of stave and in the same earlywood line,once its starts go slowly and hope for the best, this is not an exact science,sometimes it will follow it great sometimes it wont, you dont know till you try,either way it cant ruin both staves, so you will have one anyway, but you might have two, it is worth the risk, I can post a photo tomorrow if you like, I split about 30 staves today, and my inside splits ran about 50/50

[George Tsoukalas]

I lay the stave on its side. I start the split with a chisel and with another chisel I just piggy back both down the stave. Jawge

[Timo]

Condensed version pics.

Like Mike said, just use a small wedge to get ya started. I sharpen mine to make sure I can start it exactally were I want it.If the grain is true and clear,it normally will just pop off following one ring end to end.



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[yazoo]

make sure that the ring you start on , starts in the same ring on both sides, your rings are curved and its hard to start a single wedge without cutting through several rings,real important to get the split started in one and only ring, for best chance for success,

[yazoo]

great pics, much easier to see it done hard to explain,,

[kylerprochaska]

Here is a cross section of my stave to show the rings....I posted it in an earlier topic....I want to get rid of the tight rings to get down to the good latewood, the tight rings are almost an inch of wood that I would have to get rid of using my draw knife (and Im lazy when it comes to a lot of wood removal)

-Ky

http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,14316.0.html

[Pat B]

If you get rid of the tight growth rings with a drawknife you will end up with one stave. There are 2 good staves , even with tight rings, in the top of that split. Some of my best osage bows have had tight growth rings.

[Eric Krewson]

I save all the wedges I cut out while splicing billets and use them for splitting out belly splits on thick staves. I start the split in an end ring with a hatchet and pound these wedges in on the sides. Lots less wood damage because these bend around the ring somewhat instead of being rigid like steel wedges. 

[yazoo]

I thought you were wanting to get 2 bow instead of one, not skipping over thin rings, I would draw knife down to the ones i want and go on..that way there is no risk,drawknifing down to one of the good rings on that piece of wood will only take 5 minutes.. get to work

[Timo]

Grab a draw knife and get after it.