Author Topic: Guide books??  (Read 4192 times)

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Offline BigWapiti

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Guide books??
« on: October 13, 2007, 03:55:46 pm »
I'm looking for a good guide book, with pictures, showing how to build a bow from cutting the tree, to shooting it for the first time.  I have the Bowyer's Bible, but have been impressed only so far that it has worried about every little detail that I am afraid to even start now. 

I'm wanting to work some vine maple, since I have so much of it around me -- probably a tough wood to start with, I suppose, but again, its available and I can do a lot of trial and error.  BUT, I'm really looking for a good guide (a picture book would be ideal for a dope like me).  I can read about this stuff all day long, but to really understand it, I need to see pictures.  All the books I've seen so far, fall short.

So, I have gone out and cut some 2" to 4" rounds, about 5' in length - split them using a band saw -- but I have been reading from 3 different books and each seems to say somehting completely different - and very little pictures to help explain.

Is there a good 'start to finish' book - particularly one that discusses vine maple?   Or is there anyone who has posted something online?

Help??  I really want to make a go of this.

-Mike
Mike B.
Central Washington State
"Take a kid hunting, it'll make a WORLD of difference" -me

Offline Justin Snyder

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Re: Guide books??
« Reply #1 on: October 13, 2007, 06:14:19 pm »
I think this site and the shared knowledge of the members is the only thing that meets your requirements.  Justin
Everything happens for a reason, sometimes the reason is you made a bad decision.


SW Utah

Offline BigWapiti

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Re: Guide books??
« Reply #2 on: October 13, 2007, 08:27:35 pm »
Thanks for the reply Justin - well, I guess I'll start with a couple questions?  I'll post some picts too to help explain -- maybe.

Seems that all the books talk about sealing the ends w/ paint or glue, I've done that.  Some say not to do anything until they are "cured", others say rought it out first.   Thoughts on this? I'm anxious.. :)

For the pictures, the first pict is of all the staves I cut the other day - the trees (vine maple - Central WA Cascades - East slopes) were cut ranging between 2" and 4" in diameter.  Then I split them in 2/3's, keeping the larger piece which was the top side of the VM as it was growing - still trying to figure out this tension vs compression stuff.    I used a bandsaw to make the cuts, I also cut the sides of each stave - thinking it would help rough out and help cure.

The way I cut them was to contour the growth pattern -- see the second photo (dotted line).  I put a dot of ink at the 'point' of each growth ring, which showed me the center of the tree.  But when marking out to cut the edges, I basically stayed with the contour of the outside edge and too 1/4" off - leaving me with a 2.5" wide roughed bow.  If looking at it as if you were shooting the bow, it would look like a wiggly snake rather than a straight cut (make sense?).   Would this be correct?  or should I lay it out to cut a perfectly straight edges??  nothing seems to say exactly what to do here - so I made a best guess.

Third pic was to show the bow back, I left the bark on as its pretty hard to remove this time of year.   What do I do here, scrape it down to the sap wood, no further?  or try to get to a ring?  Do I wait to let it 'cure' first?

Crud, I'm not really sure where to start here - but as I said before, the native americans didn't have the internet either -- maybe I'm making too much of this??

He'p?

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Mike B.
Central Washington State
"Take a kid hunting, it'll make a WORLD of difference" -me

Offline BigWapiti

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Re: Guide books??
« Reply #3 on: October 13, 2007, 08:28:43 pm »
also, should I be strapping these staves to a long metal bar to keep them from curling as they are?
Mike B.
Central Washington State
"Take a kid hunting, it'll make a WORLD of difference" -me

Offline Justin Snyder

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Re: Guide books??
« Reply #4 on: October 14, 2007, 12:24:07 am »
The bark has to come off some time, so why not now.  I believe with vine maple you just remove the bark and you have the back.  I have no experience with this, but I believe that is what I have seen the others do.  If you take it down to near bow dimensions, it will dry faster, but might twist.  The curling is reflex because you cut from the top of the branch. That is very desirable.  Justin
Everything happens for a reason, sometimes the reason is you made a bad decision.


SW Utah

Offline DanaM

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Re: Guide books??
« Reply #5 on: October 14, 2007, 09:39:36 am »
I agree with Justin on getting the bark off now, as the stave dries it will get harder to do so. I have only debarked one VM stave
and my advice is to go slow, do it in good light bright sun is ideal, and use a scraper not a draw knife, the bark is not that thick, but the growth rings are very thin
so it will be easy to violate them. As for strapping them to a pipe I think as they are pretty thick you may be allright but keep a close eye on them if they start to twist correct it. They should dry into a natural reflex if cut from the tension side(up side). Perhaps Gordon will see this post he is the man to answer VM questions.
Welcome to the site and post some pics of yer progress.
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Offline Hillbilly

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Re: Guide books??
« Reply #6 on: October 14, 2007, 10:52:45 am »
Looks like you're off to a good start. Just follow the grain of the wood, looks like that's what you did. That's the big thing. Don't try to make a straight bow out of a snaky piece of wood, or a snaky bow out of a straight piece. The reason that you see different advice and opinions is that there is no one way carved in stone to do this. Many different things work. There are many paths that all arrive at the same destination, just pick one and go down it.
Smoky Mountains, NC

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

Offline BigWapiti

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Re: Guide books??
« Reply #7 on: October 14, 2007, 10:30:02 pm »
Ok, thanks for the posts!  I'm going to ask some questions on another post. I started three today - scraping bark.....
Mike B.
Central Washington State
"Take a kid hunting, it'll make a WORLD of difference" -me