when to cut?

[terence pinder]

well i have decided to use birch for my first bow. i have found a stand of straight and tall growing birch anywhere from 6-12 inches in diameter.i would like to cut it now so i could season it in my basement. will i encounter any problems cutting it now, should i peel the barl off and split the logs in half. i know to coat the ends with glue or paint to avoid splitting. any help is greatly appreciated thanks guys.

[DanaM]

Terence welcome to PA, What type of birch? Most likely its best to cut in the late spring or summer when the sap is up,
sure makes getting the bark off. I think with birch you have to split at a minimum or the wood will rot
very fast as the bark is water proof. Definately seal the ends, then work at getting the bark off and seal the back.
One thing with birch is the barks grain goes around the tree not paralell to the wood, makes it quite difficult to use a draw knife
on until the outer bark is off. At least with paper birch which is all I have experience with. Also I take wood whenever I can

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

[George Tsoukalas]

What Dana said is right on. But you need some wood now. LOL. I suggest you cut some saplings. Think about doing a boardbow too.
Sapling bows are a pretty neat way to start. Double you draw and add 20- 25% for a length. Pick a nice straight hardwood such as hickory, ash maple, hop hornbeam, etc. Avoid osage, mulberry and black locust. These are woods that function best with heartwood backs and a sapling wouldn't have enough heartwood. Look for a sapling 2-3 inches or so. Choose the best side for the back. Knots and imperfections on the back are to be avoided. Mark 2 lines down the length of the stave to delineate back from belly. Remove the bark Remove the belly wood with a hatchet. Mark a 4 inch handle length- 2 inches on either side of the middle. Leave that area alone while tillering. Hack away the belly wood with a hatchet. You can narrow the stave to 1.5 in wide to just past mid limb.. I use the hatchet. Drawknife too. Leave the handle full width for now. Later make it 1.5 in wide.  Taper the width to 1 inch nocks. Later make them 1/2 inch. Begin to floor tiller the stave. Just start the wood bending. That will make it thinner and less likely to warp as it dries. Let it do so. You can check periodically with a moisture meter. 6-10% is good depending on the wood type. Hickory likes 6-8%.  Others like 8-10%. You can also monitor the weight of the stave with a scale. Follow the Bow Making Directions on my site. Help and comments welcomed. Jawge

http://mysite.verizon.net/georgeandjoni/archer.html

[Hillbilly]

I prefer to cut bow wood..........any time I get the chance to cut some. It is harder to get the bark off of winter-cut wood, but it's not usually that big of a deal. Winter cut wood has advantages, too, such as it doesn't seem to check and warp quite as bad. I would cut one, split it into quarters, peel the bark, and seal the ends with glue. Take one stave and rough it out to near-bow dimensions, and you can start working it in a few weeks. Like Jawge said, sapling bows are a good way to get your feet wet in bow making, too. A 2" hickory or hophornbeam sapling can make a surpisingly good bow.

[terence pinder]

thanks guys   it is paper birch, in my area theres poplar, willow, spruce and maple(not sure what kind of maple)and birch. so i figured birch would be my best bet to start with. but lloydminster did just get a home depot so a board bow may be in my future.

[DanaM]

Terence where ya at sounds like your up north like me, if you have maple most likely
there is a variety such as hard(sugar), red, black and Norway. hard maple is good bow wood followed by
the others will also work. The poplar, willow, and spruce are to be avoided. Get your self a good tree book
as I'm sure there other bow woods around. Good Luck.

[Hillbilly]

Sugar maple is good bow wood, better than birch.

[terence pinder]

its not hard/sugar maple just the stuff us farmers plant for windbreaks. it might be vine maple because my greatgrandpa back in the day used to weave the sapplings into fences and when they grew the fence just kept getting bigger. about 200 yards of his maple fence is left on the original homestead.

[mitchman]

that sounds cool can you post a pic of that fence terence

[Gordon]

George that has to be about the most succinct (and still useful) description of making a bow that I have yet encountered. Excellent!

[terence pinder]

it is pretty neat , but hard to see now because half of the limbs have fallen down iwill try to get a decent pic or see if my gramps has one.