Author Topic: Vine maple  (Read 2471 times)

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Offline campx

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Vine maple
« on: September 27, 2013, 11:55:52 pm »
Went out this morning, took my girls who are 8 and 5, and got some decent vine maple, elm, and a birch of some sort just to try out.  The leaves on the vine maples are turning orange and red, making them easier to see.  Found some pretty straight VM in a protected draw, so they were growing more vertical and less gnarly than the usual VM i have seen.
Threw the Tikka T3 in 338 Federal in the truck too, just in case a 4 point (American 8 point!) decided it wanted to play.......no luck.

IMG027 by CampX, on Flickr


IMG041 by CampX, on Flickr

Offline campx

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Re: Vine maple
« Reply #1 on: September 27, 2013, 11:58:29 pm »
Oh ya, I tried the "score the elm with a SkilSaw' trick, and man oh man, way easier to split it!  Started the split with a hatchet, then used hard wood wedges I zipped out on the band saw.  Grain ran true, no ripping or tearing across the grain.   I'll be using this method from now on.

Offline huisme

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Re: Vine maple
« Reply #2 on: September 28, 2013, 12:43:21 am »
That vine maple looks awfully clean. How're you going to make a seven-curve snakey character bow from that  ??? ?

Nice haul, get 'em roughed out and strapped down so you can show us those bows that are hiding in them  ;D
50#@26"
Black locust. Black locust everywhere.
Mollegabets all day long.
Might as well make them short, save some wood to keep warm.

Offline BowEd

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Re: Vine maple
« Reply #3 on: September 28, 2013, 01:53:00 pm »
Looks like a classroom of work making D bows.Good score.
BowEd
You got to stand for something or you'll fall for anything.
Ed

Offline b-dog

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Re: Vine maple
« Reply #4 on: September 28, 2013, 04:49:50 pm »
What diameter does maple need to be? I mean on the minimum side.

Offline huisme

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Re: Vine maple
« Reply #5 on: September 28, 2013, 05:05:49 pm »
I made a really light D-bow from a one-inch sapling. It broke  :-[ But I'm sure if I tried again I could pull it off now.
50#@26"
Black locust. Black locust everywhere.
Mollegabets all day long.
Might as well make them short, save some wood to keep warm.

Offline Gordon

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Re: Vine maple
« Reply #6 on: September 28, 2013, 05:27:38 pm »
Quote
What diameter does maple need to be? I mean on the minimum side.

1.5 inches for a hunting weight bow.
Gordon

Offline campx

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Re: Vine maple
« Reply #7 on: September 29, 2013, 08:48:25 pm »
The skinny little staves are gonna be bows for my girls.  Already roughed out the limbs on 4 of them, and have them drying out back. Just got to finish that elm molly I am working on first.......

Offline Carson (CMB)

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Re: Vine maple
« Reply #8 on: October 05, 2013, 01:43:10 pm »
That Canadian VM looks quite different than the oregon stuff. Are you sure it is not Douglas' maple? 
"The bow is the old first lyre,
the mono chord, the initial rune of fine art
The humanities grew out from archery as a flower from a seed
No sooner did the soft, sweet note of the bow-string charm the ear of genius than music was born, and from music came poetry and painting and..." Maurice Thompso

Offline campx

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Re: Vine maple
« Reply #9 on: October 05, 2013, 04:52:15 pm »

Offline Carson (CMB)

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Re: Vine maple
« Reply #10 on: October 06, 2013, 12:19:52 am »
If it is Douglas, dont let that stop you from making a bow from it.  I would guess it is similar to VM in properties, since they are so similar overall. 
"The bow is the old first lyre,
the mono chord, the initial rune of fine art
The humanities grew out from archery as a flower from a seed
No sooner did the soft, sweet note of the bow-string charm the ear of genius than music was born, and from music came poetry and painting and..." Maurice Thompso

Offline vinemaplebows

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Re: Vine maple
« Reply #11 on: October 06, 2013, 01:04:01 am »
It's Douglas. I have made bows from it, but it just is not as "springy" as vine, at least where I have cut it. Just got done cutting some VM today.....oh, and hawthorn. :)

VMB
Debating is an intellectual exchange of differing views...with no winners.

Offline campx

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Re: Vine maple
« Reply #12 on: October 06, 2013, 11:25:01 am »
When you make a post about vine maple, and a person with  the username ' vinemaplebows' responds, you listen!!!
Funny, I am on the look out for hawthorn here too......tough to find, but usually near old homesteads around these parts.