Choosing a design to match your stave?

[George Tsoukalas]

Kirk, I wish this site was around when I started. You have a great attitude. After 20 years or more of making bows, I'm still learning stuff. The 33 " draw bow was 72 " and just short of 50#. Made of osage. I may have been able to go an inch or 2 shorter but it came out well. I knew he add a 33" draw 'causeI watched him draw his glass bow. That was new territory for me. LOL. I draw 26" soaking wet and I don't do this for a living. In fact, I don't do nuthin' for a living no more! I'm aretired chemistry teacher. Keep the questions coming. Plenty of help here. Jawge

[George Tsoukalas]

Kirk, btw, center shot ain't got nuthin' to do with can't. We can. Just don't want to. Personal preference. It's no nock on those who love that design. That's fine. It's not for me. That's all. So don't you center shotters start teeing off on me and David. Jawge

[Kirkll]

thanks David,

i take everything with a grain of salt anymore brutha. especially getting involved in Internet forums. LOL! I think i'll ease into this first project going with the grain to error on the side of caution. i'd really like to do this Osage stave justice.

now I've got some other stave's I've been harvesting i can practice on a bit on too... or should i say i've harvested some wood with the "intention" of using them for bow stave's, at any rate. whether they are actually likely candidates or not, i haven't a clue yet.

 i'll have to quiz you guys on how i should be handling some of this stuff one of these days. i live in the land of many trees here in Oregon, but knowing which ones make good bow stave's, and how to harvest and cure them properly,  is something i look forward to leaning about. That is one part of the journey i'm looking forward to a lot.

i just found a beautiful Madrone tree about 16" at the butt  with very little taper,  that has a good 10-12' section of what looks to be knot free. pretty darn straight for a madrone. I've also heard it referred to as manzinita. i believe that is what the Indians called it. all i know about the stuff is that it compares to Osage in the density part, but the wild grain is usually quite twisted. this particular tree may be an exception to the rule though. its still alive and standing, but mine for the taking if i want it.

anybody else familiar with madrone?

here we go....LOL!

[Badger]

   Kirk, I have made some bows from Madrone but didn't care for it. been a while and I can't remember what I didn't like about it. You might want to look into vine maple and ocean spray, even low and medium elevation yew. Where you live Vine maple is one of my favorites. Steve

[Kirkll]

Kirk, btw, center shot ain't got nuthin' to do with can't. We can. Just don't want to. Personal preference. It's no nock on those who love that design. That's fine. It's not for me. That's all. So don't you center shotters start teeing off on me and David. Jawge

i understand this completely Jawge. i've run the gauntlet on center shot vs to-center and off center.  i can see the center shot fans point on using various spined arrows without effecting arrow flight so much. but personally i'm more inclined to believe in matching your arrows to your bow is more efficient. the archers paradox has always fasinated me. i got into it with a bunch of areo space engineers one time about the concept of stored energy in the shaft itself in the form of spring tension and elestaic colusion. WOW! talk about getting a brain cramp!

it was a fun debate, just the same. but can you say "Splitting hair's"?  lol.....

i'll tell you one that got me going was watching these slow motion videos of the paradox. i watched one the other day from a looking down view on how the string rolling off your fingers effects the paradox on the shaft  that was fasinating. they have a shooting machine that simulates a finger release instead of a mechanical release aid.  after watching this , it brought a lot of other factors into the paradox debate.... good stuff

is it ok to post those kind of videos on this site?

[Kirkll]

thanks Steve,

if nothing else the madrone makes wonderful firewood.... i'm not familiar with "ocean spray", but i did locate a nice stand of yew this fall. i harvested a small tree about 12' high and 5" at the butt. i may have the makings for a stave here. one side of the little tree had some bark damage and a bit of rot..... that's how i justified taking it.
i need to work on getting permision to harvest small quntities on state land, or contact some logging companies that have timber sales contracts. i think the later might be the way to go.

what i need to do is get to know Gordon here better. he's right accross the river from me in Tigard. i'll bet he could get me going in the right direction.

[George Tsoukalas]

Gordon is an excellent bowyer. Have fun with your bowyering. The other possibility is red oak boards. They are fun. Info on y site. Gotta go. Be back later. Doing shelves and then hunting. Jawge

[sulphur]

Kirk, nice to see you over here!  like seeing one of your buddies at a new bar!!  i like all kinds of bows wood, and otherwise.  have fun with the osage.   don't worry about that little kink in the end.  a heat gun with straighten out enough.

[Keenan]

 Kirk, We do have allot of great wood to chose from here in Oregon. Yew, Vine Maple Hazelnut,Service berry, Dogwood,Oceanspray and Juniper just to scratch the surface. I'm on the other side of the mountain range in Bend, But as George said, Gordon is a great bowyer.
  This next spring around the middle of May we will be doing our Central Oregon Bowyers Gathering, and there will be some great help there as well. We try to have as many expert bowyers come as we can to help teach and promote the sport. I'll make sure you get a flier when we send them out.

[Kirkll]

thanks Kennan,

that sounds like the makings for a camping trip to me. i'll bring my wife with the 32" draw length.... yup i said that right... i built her a bow a few years back trying to get her back into flinging arrows with me again, and watched her draw a 30" shaft right off the back of the shelf   i had her do it twice just to make sure i was seeing what i was seeing.

its no wonder she wanted me to lighten it up some. i had it at about 38 @ 28" .... it never saw 32" on the tiller tree. i'll bet it was drawing 50 @ 32".

badger mentioned ocean spray too, and i'm not familiar with that at all. where does the stuff grow, and what's it look like?

yo sulpher,
i figured i better get over here, dig out my hand tools, and shake the fiberglass out of my hair a bit. the icing on the cake has arrived for me my friend. time to learn the true tradecraft.   my wife said she draws the line dressing up in buck skins.... i was bummed.... i told her she'd look good in leather. oh well, i still want some buck skin cothing. i love the stuff.

[sulphur]

  :DLOL 

[DCM]

Maybe you could tawk her into just the tops or bottoms Kirk.

[Kirkll]

Maybe you could tawk her into just the tops or bottoms Kirk.

LOL!  That's funny David.    you know what's really funny is i spent the first part of my life trying to talk her out of her clothes, now i'm trying to talk her into wearing some....i think you have the right idea. if i had my choice on which half, i think i'd choose a beaded halter top. then she could at least shoot her bow while  we are stump shooting without any fear of injury. Ofcourse i'm a firm believer in letting your shooting partner pull their own arrows.