Can this noob make a bow out of this?

[Dane]

Say, Wolfsire, what strikes you as bad about trying your hand at bows made from boards? Tim Baker seems to like bows from boards, and so do I, I saw with much humility.

[wolfsire]

Say, Wolfsire, what strikes you as bad about trying your hand at bows made from boards? Tim Baker seems to like bows from boards, and so do I, I saw with much humility.

It is not so much "bad" as a non-abo feel.  And I am not ruling it out, except for the moment.  Nowithstanding the unicorn parts that my crossbow was made of, the point of that device was to utilize (without woodworking, which I am slowing learing) bundle bow and cordage backing technology.  Gaining a little confidence with that success and a couple of others, I want to take on wood, but working with a board feels like buying a bow or kit, even though it is clearly not.

Even using a dremmel, it feels good to grunt caveman style, while working on a stick that I found in the "wild."  (now if I found a board in the wild ..., actually, but that is for the future ....)

Sort of the same reason I tying to avoid buying oak dowels, which are only $1, but instead go looking around for sticks to dry, scrape, bend, etc. for arrows.

[Dane]

I do respect your feelings. But read the article on bow boards in Vol. 2 of the Bowyer's Bible. As Tim points out, it is still wood, but you are freeing the bow from a board instead of coaxing it from a stave. I am not sure how ancient the craft of cutting boards from logs is, but pretty ancient, even if the idea of using boards is not quite that old.

Besides, some rare woods, tropicals, for instance, can only be had as boards in this country.

Dane

[Aries]

With all of these low diameter limbs and trees you are mentioning, i would attempt to decrown the surface on the back of the bow to increase the performance. Good luck!   Ty

[wolfsire]

With all of these low diameter limbs and trees you are mentioning, i would attempt to decrown the surface on the back of the bow to increase the performance. Good luck!   Ty

Ty, that is soemthing I will consider, if I understand it.  Is decrowning flattening the back and violating the rings?  Does it then require backing? 

I have managed to dry heat bend the stick and take out about half of the sideways bend, so I rough cut it to shape (sparing the back) and will try to boil and bend the tips.

Dane, I dont have any of TBB   But as I said, I'm only passing on boards for now.  I may have to start looking at those as I have not had much success in finding dry staves in the desert.

[cowboy]

Hey wolfsire - I wouldn't shy too far away from board bows. I've accumulated quite a pile of staves over the last year and am currently working on two red oak boards just out of curiosity - like Tim Baker says in TBB 2 they are still wood which comes from trees. I just wanted the experience and their real easy to work with, may snap during tiller I don't know but I will at least be a little more educated in the ways of self bowery. Kinda fun to take a break from drawknifing them rings down for a change...

[deerhunter97370]

Wolfshire, I agree with you about the boards. It feels more apart of you to go from tree to bow. I think the key to becoming a good Bowyer is working wood. So as long as you have wood to work whether its a tree, limb, or board your learning. Joel

[wolfsire]

Well, to answer my subject question the answer is no. 

Here is a pic showing my attempt to unbend after a dry heat.  I did this three time before roughing it out.  It took out about half the bend.



Notice the double bend in the right tip.  After roughing it out, I boiled that tip for half an hour, stuck it in a hole in a board and tried to bend out one of the curves.  While trying to get an overbend just right before tying it down ...  Snap!  The area of break was about 1" at it widest and oval, 3/4" back to belly.  Probably a little less on both those measurements.  But as the curve in the wood went sideway, I was bending against the 1" and the front and back of the wood exposed to the tension and compression went through a couple exposed rings.



I gave the wood a good look over to see if I might be able to use what was left to make a deflexed bow, to avoid further bending, but I do not think it will work.  I would need to cut away too much to straighten it out.

I do like working this type of wood, though.  It is hard and smells like popcorn.  I made an overlarge broadhead with a small piece.  I'll go back and look at the pile and see if I can come up with two pieces that I might be able to splice, possibly as a backed bow so I do not have to worry about the grain as much.

I'm not sure how much pressure and leverage was applied to get this break, but if any one can let me know any insights into the unknown type of wood (best guess some form of acacia) based on this post, I would appreciate it.  Does the manner of break suggest that it is stronger in compression than tension or vice versa?  I would guess the former.