First Ocean Spray bow lifts a splinter

[Don Case]

Cool! Have fun.

[steve b.]

I'm still skeptical about a nick on the back of this OS bow causing it to explode.  I mean it wasn't even a finished bow.  60+ lbs. might have been too much for this particular stave but it sounds like it was pulled about half way, tops, and then it broke.  The 3" of set is puzzling too.  Even with a violated back it should have survived for awhile.
I have a VM bow that I've shot alot and it has a huge gullwing bend because of it's original 5" set back handle.  And it has rot running through both limbs.

As far as debarking or not.  I debark as soon as possible because i don't want to fight it later.  With VM it peels off like celery when green but at some point as it dries it also pops off in sheets and leaves a  pristine back.  When there's lots of knots I peel off the smooth stuff and wait for that shrinking to take place to pop the bark off around the knots.  I just use a screwdriver or whatever to pry up the bark and it'll just pop off all around the knots.  So I never nick the back cuz i don't use a blade.

For OS, I cut the trees down, get it home and asap use the drawknife to slice off the outer bark, leaving the cambium.  I then grab my cabinet scraper and scrape off the inner bark.  This all takes place in just minutes.  If you let the stave sit for awhile the inner bark will oxidize like a peeled apple  so its easy to see the bark vs. the wood, the latter remaining whitish.  So I just scrape off the dark stuff which comes off mushy--kinda like scraping off mud since its all so wet.

I've only ever left the bark on one bow and it was hazelnut so I have virtually no experience with leaving bark on when cut in winter or summer.   That bow developed cracks all over the bark even though I sealed it.  Whenever I drew it I could hear the crackling, but never a problem.  One day I scraped off the now hardened bark and there were no cracks anywhere in the wood.  So I think it would have been fine with those surface cracks in the bark.

I always want to see the back of any bow that I'm making because of the inherent cracks and/or rot so I don't want to leave bark on a serious bow.  But I love the look of the polished bark such that  Bryce posted.

FYI.  I'm tillering my TD OS lever bow right now.  One limb is flat on the back and the other is crowned.  Its 1.5" wide for the first half of the limb and its bending even though its very heavy right now.  I'm curious if it breaks, which limb will break.  I'm anticipating that the crowned limb will lift the splinter even though its very clean.  The flat backed limb is knotty, bumpy, and wavy.  I should know tomorrow and I'll post the results. 

[Bryce]

Well steve I don't have that bow anymore I made it for my nephew but the stats are 56" ntn 52@28"
He only pulls 22" but he'll grow into it:)

But I have another one I finished up the other day that I might get a finish on soon maybe I'll bring it over.

[steve b.]

So you say, "well steve..." as though I said something antagonistic toward OS, or the bark left on?  Note that I said " I have very little experience", but only commented what little I knew because Dan asked.

I'm off Tuesday/Wed so please come over and show me your stuff and get that board I have for you!

[danlaw]

It can happen over a tiny knot if over sanded. I decrown the backs sometimes and leave more over the knots. Rawhide as well. Sinew looks good too.

[Bryce]

So you say, "well steve..." as though I said something antagonistic toward OS, or the bark left on?  Note that I said " I have very little experience", but only commented what little I knew because Dan asked.

I'm off Tuesday/Wed so please come over and show me your stuff and get that board I have for you!

Oh no, I didn't take it like that at all. Was just saying I don't have that one for yah to look at anymore.
It's hard to relay emotion over text 

[steve b.]

Gotcha.  That bow looks alot like the plum on the cover of one of the TBB's.  Gorgeous!  Primitive!

[Bryce]

Thanks buddy

[Dan K]

It can happen over a tiny knot if over sanded. I decrown the backs sometimes and leave more over the knots. Rawhide as well. Sinew looks good too.

re you referring to a tiny knot on the back of an Oceanspray Danlaw?

Thank you Steve for your input!

Hi Dan
I've been going over this splintering so I went back to your first post in this thread
"I found a near perfect Ocean Spray's stave this last summer. I rought it out and cut a relief in the belly to avoid checking. It worked. I waited for the moisture to drop bellow 10% before cutting the profile"

Way back(6 months ago ) when I started I made this bow  http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,41218.0.html
When it finally died it was from chrysals, the back was fine. It was seasoned for at least a year. I had gathered it on a whim and forgot about it.

Your bow and the one I just broke were collected in the summer. Mine was in August. You waited til the MC was 10%. Did you check that with a meter? Then you cut the profile. Did you happen to check the MC on the fresh cut edge. I don't have a meter. I weigh my staves and when the weight stabilizes I think it's ready. The stave I'm waiting on now had pretty much stabilized. After I roughed it out it started losing weght again. Unfortunately this coincided with or cold snap/low RH week. You can probably tell where I'm heading here. I don't think we waited long enough no matter what our methods say. What do you think?
Don

Here is some good info Don C shared with me off line and thought it valuable to share with the community.  Hope you don't mind Don!

After reading this and comments from others I believe my set came from moisture, regardless what my meter said.  To counter this from happening again I think I will let a younger stave dry after roughing out the profile and floor tiller.

Reading the discussions about chrysalis, I'm thinking that may have been an issue.  I never really examined the belly close enough during the tillering process to say for sure.  Next time I will examine the whole bow throughout the process.

[Dan K]

I thought it looked like some grey brown near the center of the stave.  in that last photo, maybe just the pith and it looks bigger/more widespread than it is.   

Seeing as how it is lifted in the same spot as the opposite limb, maybe you were stressing those inner limbs in your design, thickness taper.  If you are not willing to let the wood take the fall...then I blame you!   

Carson -After further reading on this wood and others experience, I'm starting to think the wood may have had a fault.  I still have a lot to learn however this could have been a factor for sure.

[Don Case]

I'm kind of mistrustful of moisture meters although I've never used one. It just seems to me that you're measuring the dryness of the surface not the center. Has anyone checked the MC of a stave after it seems to have stabilized and then roughed out a bow and then rechecked the MC on the freshly exposed wood? I'm sure the manufacturers wouldn't sell us a pig in a poke. I'll have to check my genealogy I must have ancestors from Missouri 

[Don Case]

Reading the discussions about chrysalis, I'm thinking that may have been an issue.  I never really examined the belly close enough during the tillering process to say for sure.  Next time I will examine the whole bow throughout the process.

Dan
I've just had the one experience with chrysals but I found them by chance when I was rubbing my fingers up and down the bow during tillering. They were vey noticeable. I don't think you would have missed them. Maybe someone else will chime in? Mine stood out(or rather-in) like a sore thumb.