Handle layout on a quarter sawn board - question.

[rossfactor]

Decided to make a bow out of some quarter sawn white oak stock.  Don't make a lot of board bows so I had a question.

This quarter sawn board has nice straight and parrallell grain going down the back of the board.  However since it will be a stiff handle bow,  I'll necessarily violate those parrellel grans when I cut in the narrow handle.  Obviously the handle is not bending so violations there are not a problem, but at the outer fades some of these 'edge' violations might be in a slightly bending portion of the limb. 

Do you board bow guys think this is a recipe for trouble? I imagine this is an issue that always comes up when making an unbacked, stiff handled board bow out of edge grained stock.

Thanks,

Gabe

[tom sawyer]

You want the bow to quit bending about an inch before the fades, not into the fades.  Then you'll be OK.

How are you assessing the straightness of grain on your quartersawn board?  The flecks in the wood?  Its a little tough to tell whether you have good intact fibers from one end of the back to the other.

[bubby]

I've made a bunch of those Gabe, only had one sliver lift on maybe 30 quartersawn bows, and I wasn't shooting the bow if you know what I mean , Bub

[bubby]

oh yeah, and white oak is damn near bullit proof, it breaks after hickory, at least that's my experience, Bub

[blackhawk]

Yup..I'm with bubby...should be aok Gabe...just make smooth fade transition and keep your edges radiused/rounded as usual with anything else......are you "plum" all out of real wood? And that's why your playing with the house trim? ..lol

[rossfactor]

Tom - the growth rings are clearly visible on the face of the board, 'edge ringed' as it is called. That is the same as quarter sawn correct?  Those rings are both straight (relative to the boards edge) and parallel (relative to one another) down the face of the board.

Also, do you define the "fade" as the thickness taper or the width taper?  I've always defined it as the thickness taper in which case -- the bow stops bending when inner limb thickness increases enough relative to mid/outter limb thickness. Which in this case is right at the width taper for the handle.  This means I have one or maybe two growth rigs which terminate at the width taper when some bending (less then mid limb but some) may still occur at full draw. 

Thanks Bub.

Gabe

[rossfactor]

Thanks Hawk.

The world would end before I ever run out of Plum.    I'm making this bow for someone else. Plus, its good for a guy to branch out now and then.

Gabe

[rossfactor]

Yeah bowman, thats how I played it.  But I cut my limbs a hair thinner than I should have so I had to eat into my width taper a little bit.

gabe

[randman]

Quatersawn is when the annual rings that are running straight and parallel down the face of the board are also straight up and down on the end of the board(also called vertical grain). If its cut like that it will look the same on both faces of the board and if it's white oak you should be able to also see hella "flake" (tiger stripes) on both faces of the board. You only see the "flake" if it's cut nearly on the quarter. Quarter sawn white oak can be amazing looking with a good stain on it.

[tom sawyer]

Tom - the growth rings are clearly visible on the face of the board, 'edge ringed' as it is called. That is the same as quarter sawn correct?  Those rings are both straight (relative to the boards edge) and parallel (relative to one another) down the face of the board.

Also, do you define the "fade" as the thickness taper or the width taper?  I've always defined it as the thickness taper in which case -- the bow stops bending when inner limb thickness increases enough relative to mid/outter limb thickness. Which in this case is right at the width taper for the handle.  This means I have one or maybe two growth rigs which terminate at the width taper when some bending (less then mid limb but some) may still occur at full draw. 

Thanks Bub.

Gabe

The fade i'm referring to on a stiff-handled bow is where the width tapers in abruptly and gets thicker (2-3x as thick in the handle area) at the same time.  But this doesn't mean you have to tiller the full width just outside the fade so it bends all the way into the fade.

Yes I believe edge ringed and quartersawn are the same.  You can see the rings run straight up and down the limb, but is that piece oriented perfectly parallel to the length of the tree?  the rings are going to show up straight either way.  You'll need to look at the fleck in the wood on the sides of the piece to see if the grain runs straight.  It probably does pretty close though.  Not trying to scare you off the piece, just throwing out the free advice.  Its pretty simple to see how grain runs on a flatsawn board.  The quartersawn stuff is more tricky.

[bubby]

rift sawn, quarter sawn, white oak is some tough stuff to break, rift sawn sometimes will get some limb twist

[Squirrelslayer]

slightly off topic but still about white oak. can you use a heat gun to reflex the tips? im also considering making a bow from either ash or white oak not sure which to go with. -Jez

[bubby]

yeah , on big bends I use steam

[bow101]

Bubby has ton's more experience than me..! It will be years before I gain the practical experience and knowledge of most bowyers. Having said that I have broke every board oak I tried.

(1) Yes it was my fault in been hasty.
(2) Bad tillering (not taken off enough material and not paying attention to the tiller tree)

Having said that again I built 2 maple boards, so far they are still in one piece, Both pulling 27-28" 50-65lbs. So that makes me happier using maple, on the other hand the last 2 are numbers 7&8 so my weeeee little bit of experience is paying off and lot's of help on this Website    ...