"Finishing" questions

[Guessed]

To prevent my stick from getting bone dry how do I seal/finish it? I've seen some stuff about "tru-oil" but you have to wait a week or so for it to dry?

What about like, sap or pitch? Will either of those work? I might even be able to get some bear fat/grease, will that work?

What I want to do is put some birch bark on mine. How do I go about this?

[Zion]

I'm no expert on bark backs, but i know once the birch bark is glued on you would want to seal it tightly with thin glue or some other kind of sealant, like tung-oil, tru-oil, or any other wood-finish in multiple coats so that the back isn't damaged and so it is securely planted on the back.

 A wooden bow doesn't even have to be sealed to be finished, but it is good to do so because it protects the wood from water and other harmful things. When you apply the oil just wait until it's completely dry, then apply more coats if you want. Usually 3-4 coats is just fine. 

A  lot of people on here like to seal/oil their bows with all-natural materials. I don't have any knowledge of sap, but fat makes an excellent sealant. A huge variety of oils and fats can be used to seal a bow.

[Pat B]

Wood is hygroscopic, meaning it takes on and releases moisture to the atmosphere as the relative humidity(R/H) increases and decreases. There is nothing you can do to prevent this but with a good sealer you can slow the hygroscopic rate.
 I use Tru-Oil on all my bows and have for years with good results. Generally the first coat(I use 5 or 6) takes the longest to cure so I wait until tomorrow to buff it down with 0000 steel wool to level out the finish before adding another coat. If the humidity is low I can get 2 coats a day on a bow. If the humidity is high I do one coat a day. After the final coat is completely cured I rub it well with 0000 steel wool to level out the finish and then I give the bow a quick spray of satin poly, primarily to cut the shine of the Tru-oil. I'm sure it adds some protection also.
 I have used hand rubbed bear grease on a few bows with good results. With oil(grease) finishes you need to add more as needed over time. An old woodworkers addage is...one coat a day for a week, once a week for a month, once a month for a year and once a year after that. Now this is for furnature, etc but that should work for bows also.
  I do use pitch varnish I make to seal arrows. I guess it would work for bows too but I prefer Tru-Oil for most of my bows.
  Birch bark was used to seal and protect sinew backings on Asiatic horn bows and would work fine for any bow but you will still have to seal it even though it is water proof. Generally it is mostly decorative as you only use one or 2 thin layers to cover the bows back.

[Bryce]

I second that Pat.

I use 6-9 coats of Tru-Oil.
I do the first 2 coats in a day leave it over night then steel wool. And repeat till Its done.

With bear grease I've read that the wood needs to be warmed up to open the pores of the wood.
I have a few jars of grease but have only used it to heat great bows.

-Pinecone

[Pat B]

When I use bear grease I hand rub it vigerously creating heat from the friction of hand rubbing. It can get too hot to continue with bare hands and is plenty enough heat to help the grease sink into the wood.

[Guessed]

Ah, thanks for the help. Tru-oil it is then.

I was in a hurry to type my post earlier since I was taking off out on the lake to go look at some islands. I forgot to mention that I just want to seal it (somehow), then apply a (paper) thin layer of birch bark all around the bow for "cosmetic" purposes. Maybe in the future if I can get enough sinew I'll lightly sand it down and then back it.

Before I do that though I need to truly finalize my bow which leads me to this question: my draw is 28.5" (I'll just say 28 though), how long does my bow need to be? Is there some sort of formula to figure it out?

Before I start cutting some length off again I just want to make sure I don't muck it up. My town being a lousy town there's no place to buy actual bowstring so I'm using a boat rope, it's doing surprisingly well. The nearest place to buy b-50 or something is Winnipeg which is 2 hours away.

In the "arrows" board I mentioned my bow is 5'6'' tall, I feel this is too long. I'm 4 inches taller than my bow lol.

Anyway, sometime soon I'll take some pics to judge the (bad) tillering. I might even take a video of some arrows being shot from it. I'm also in the process of hacking out one of those measuring/tillering sticks, when I do that I'll slap in on a scale. (man i make long posts lol)

edit: soon i'll have more technical questions, once i write them down lol

[crooketarrow]

  I wax all my personal bows but when most people by a bow the down what to have to redo it once and a wait. I use spray polly.
  I've use bear grease before it works good also. But a bow heated with a hair dryer lets the wax fill the pours and go's deep. No better natural water replelent than wax.
  I rewax my bows everyyear what I like is everytime it's waxed your bow looks new again. I've had bows 12 ,15 year rewax them at sold them and the people would have never know if I would'nt have said anything.

[Pat B]

In a perfect world and with good tillering twice your draw length(2x28.5) will work. Add 10% to that would be a safer choice.   I prefer my bows to be 62" to 66" and I'm 5'8" and draw 26".

[billn]

I like my bows to be as long as I am tall (6'), or a bit longer. But then I make English style long bows for target shooting, not something more maneuverable for hunting.

When tillering a bow, I sometimes to tiller for a couple of extra inches of draw, ignoring whatever the draw weight becomes at that longer draw. For example, if I want 35# at 28", I will tiller it to 30". It is a kind of round-about process. I tiller at whatever draw length gets me to 35# until I get close to the 28" draw length. I then tiller to 30", being careful that I do not end up at less than 35# at 28".  I reach the 30" tiller and 28"-35# at the same time. Usually very little additional tillering is needed for the 30" draw.

This works well for a growing child, where you are hoping they can use the bow a bit longer. It gives a safe additional two inches of draw, as well as increasing the draw weight a bit.  Not ideal, as the string follow increases slightly, but I think the compromise is worthwhile.  But I wouldn't recommend it for a beginning bowmaker.

I use Tru-Oil on all of my bows, hand rubbing thin coats - even the first coat. I put a bit on my fingers and rub into the bow until it is no longer slick, then dip my fingers and repeat until the bow is covered.  I hang it to dry enough for the next coat, which doesn't take long with the first coat -on a warm and low humidity day, I do one limb first. When I do the second, I make sure to not bump that wet limb against anything.  By the time I am done with the second limb, the first is often dry enough for the second coat.  Subsequent coats take a bit longer. I don't sand until after the second or third coat.

I don't wax the bows or use any other type of finish over the Tru-Oil.  I apply the handle treatment after the Tru-Oil has completely cured.

Bill

[Guessed]

After applying the wax I realized there's no way anything would stick to it afterward lol. So much for the birch bark.

That was a great post 'billn.' I see now what I should have done, which is "hack away" at the belly enough to bend the limbs until I get close to whatever weight I wanted then "fine tune" it from there. I think anyway.

In blindly rasping away at it then tying a loose string on it I made it a really light stick/bow. In fine tuning it even more I made it even more light. I remember rasping away and thinking of another post someone made of what I wanted the weight to be, at that point though all I knew was 'rasp belly.'

So far this is the most important thing I've learned (billn's post).

edit: my time 'back home' is running out, i really wish my dad didn't chuck out that big piece of oak i gave him, i could have made 3 bows out of that thing

[billn]

I work most exclusively in Yew, so here is a very basic description of the process I use. I am sure there are far better and more thorough descriptions elsewhere on this site. Every bowyer develops their own favorite procedure, and that procedure will vary a bit from bow to bow.

1) scrape the back (sapwood) to one growth ring as much as possible, allowing for knots and other imperfections.
2) Mark out my desired bow shape and start using my spokeshaves (I don't often use my draw knives unless the stave is way oversized) on the belly, doing floor tillering until the wood starts to bend enough to use the tillering fixture.
3) Shave the edges to a bit outside my layout lines. I have a small palm plane that I use for this, unless the bow has wavy edges.
4) Continue removing belly wood until within about about 6" of my draw length.
5) At this point, almost all the rest is done with a cabinet scraper. Yew is soft and easy to work - I have actually made bows using only scrapers.
6) When within a few inches, I bring the edges to my layout lines rounding the edges - if I can do so without getting the weight too low. If I get overambitious on the belly, then I will leave the bow a bit "fat".
7) I then continue on the belly until within an inch or so, then fine tune on the edges to my final draw length. I don't mind going slightly past my layout lines.
If I have to remove more from the belly, I do so extremely carefully. Removing wood from the belly has far more effect than removing it from the edges. It is easy to end up with an underweight bow.
9) Sanding/burnishing does not seem to have much effect on the draw weight -possibly because my scrapers leave almost a glass smooth surface. 

Bill

[sleek]

I am wondering, under what oven like conditions do you live that will make your wood bone dry? You ( coming from a guy who lives in tulsa where even hickory has a rough time ) shouldnt have that problem unless you keep your pet bow in the car with the windows rolled up for long periods of time. That can leave to dehydration and possible fatal distemper. I actually leave hickory bows in there sometimes just to help them out.  So why are you worried about it?

Disclaimer...

I have never broken a bow due to moisture content and have never lived in an arid climate

These opinions are not the opinion of Primitive Archer, its affiliates or that necessarily of a sane person...

^ I am gonna make that my tag line, soon as I figure out how....