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Author Topic: Birch?  (Read 3669 times)

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Offline Arrowind

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Birch?
« on: April 29, 2012, 07:10:35 pm »
I picked through a hickory stack at the lumber yard the other day and found a nice straight grained board. 

When I was checking out the guy doing the measuring said "and this looks like a piece of birch.."

I said, "really?  I got it from the hickory stack.."  then he said "oh well it has some streaks in it..no it's hickory, yeah it's hickory.  It's just that sometimes things don't get put back in the right place..."

Anyway I got it home along with a piece of ash and a piece of black walnut.  I cut the ash to size and into board staves with the table saw then got ready to cut the "hickory".  I thought well this will be a lot harder on the saw (usually it is).   It just didn't seem as hard to cut as it has in the past.  I cut 4 board staves at 64" and grabbed one to lay out a bow.  Got it laid out and ready to cut with the band saw.  Again it seems like the saw is really working well, the blade was magically replaced with a new sharper one, or the "hickory" I have is not as dense as others I've worked with.....and again when I did a little sanding it just seemed way to easy to sand out some tool marks...

I'm starting to think the guy was right...with his first thought.   

So IF this is really birch what would you suggest I do differently? Or what should I prepare for?     I have already cut the wood to 2 inches or a little wider and 64" long.  My intent is to make a 64" recurve.  I imagine I need to back it.  (I was planning to back it any way) I'm thinking of using silk.  Any suggestions?

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Offline Dauntless

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Re: Birch?
« Reply #1 on: April 29, 2012, 08:12:59 pm »
A couple of things can help you identify the board. Mesuring density is probably the easiest way to go. Otherwise a board identification guide can help ( http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lgwm3gz7rT1qe53lro1_500.jpg ). Finally a bend test will tell you if the wood is very tension strong (hickory) or a little britle (birch).

2" wide sounds about right for birch anyways, especially if you back it.
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Offline Arrowind

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Re: Birch?
« Reply #2 on: April 29, 2012, 09:17:38 pm »
Cool.  Thanks.
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Offline Youngboyer2(billyf)

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Re: Birch?
« Reply #3 on: April 30, 2012, 01:18:52 am »
Black birch makes better bows than white, right? I might be able to cut some black birch qt my friends and was wondering
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Offline Arrowind

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Re: Birch?
« Reply #4 on: April 30, 2012, 01:33:44 am »
Quote from: Dauntless on April 29, 2012, 08:12:59 pm
A couple of things can help you identify the board. Mesuring density is probably the easiest way to go. Otherwise a board identification guide can help ( http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lgwm3gz7rT1qe53lro1_500.jpg ). Finally a bend test will tell you if the wood is very tension strong (hickory) or a little britle (birch).

2" wide sounds about right for birch anyways, especially if you back it.


It's Birch.  based on your recommendation I found a website and one of the tips was to try smelling the wood. Duh.  I found a fresh cut piece and then shaved a little of a piece I KNOW is Hickory and sure enough they are different. 

I'm a little dissapointed because I wanted Hickory but I'm excited too.  I'm excited to try a new wood.  I've been wanting to try Birch, though not the top of my list it's on my list so here we go.  I believe the particular species I have is American Birch or Yellow Birch...at least that's what the lumber yard advertised it as....   
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Offline Arrowind

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Re: Birch?
« Reply #5 on: April 30, 2012, 01:35:10 am »
Quote from: Youngboyer2 on April 30, 2012, 01:18:52 am
Black birch makes better bows than white, right? I might be able to cut some black birch qt my friends and was wondering

I'm not really sure.  ???  I've never tried any birch...we'll see how it goes.
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Offline RobWiden

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Re: Birch?
« Reply #6 on: April 30, 2012, 01:51:30 am »
    I wouldn't try to make a recurve out of it. I have quite a bit of experience with birch and its main weakness in my opinion is in compression. Better to have as much of the limb as possible working in order to avoid frets.
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Offline Slackbunny

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Re: Birch?
« Reply #7 on: April 30, 2012, 11:54:19 am »
Birch should have slight minty sorta smell to it. Quite often birch boards are mistaken for maple boards as well.

I have worked with birch in the past and I havn't really been impressed. I found it to be quite finicky. That being said, given the right design it can make a decent bow.
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Offline Arrowind

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Re: Birch?
« Reply #8 on: May 01, 2012, 02:04:39 am »
Quote from: RobWiden on April 30, 2012, 01:51:30 am
    I wouldn't try to make a recurve out of it. I have quite a bit of experience with birch and its main weakness in my opinion is in compression. Better to have as much of the limb as possible working in order to avoid frets.

Dang it... Not what I wanted to hear.  I already steam bent one of the tips...guess I'll give it a shot and see what happens.
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Offline Arrowind

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Re: Birch?
« Reply #9 on: May 01, 2012, 02:11:08 am »
Quote from: Slackbunny on April 30, 2012, 11:54:19 am
Birch should have slight minty sorta smell to it. Quite often birch boards are mistaken for maple boards as well.

I have worked with birch in the past and I haven't really been impressed. I found it to be quite finicky. That being said, given the right design it can make a decent bow.

Yep.  That's sounds right...it definitely has that sort of smell.  The grain is really really straight....I'm going to follow through and see what happens...   I'll prepare myself not to be overly bummed if it doesn't work out

Thanks for commenting on this.  I appreciate it.
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